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Highlights of sportsmen–related testimony during the 2013 NY DEC budget hearing DEC Commissioner Joe Martens Discusses FWS audit of budget causing problems with eligibility for federal sport fish and wildlife restoration funds: CFAB, FWMB, and NYSCC License fees and Conservation Fund, among other things. Mark Grisanti, 60th Senate District, Chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee License fees, pheasant farm, conservation fund, federal sport fish and wildlife restoration funds Sean Ryan 48th Senate District Pheasant farm, fish hatcheries Sweeney assembly Federal sport fish and wildlife restoration funds Daniel Stec 114th District Assembly Opposes Land Acquisition with EP funds which were increased $19 million this year Otis, 91st District Assembly Wants the DEC to emphasis engineering solutions for flood mitigation over eco-based land solutions. In other word; construction instead of restoration of natural systems which buffer storms and floods with associated benefits to recreation and ecology. NY Audubon Society Testifies about federal sport fish and wildlife restoration funds and sweeping of conservation fund. Hunters may be surprised that a NY bird watchers organization, has been watching the federal funds paid into by sportsmen via excise taxes on guns, ammo, archery gear, and some hunting and fishing equipment other than guns and ammo and outboard oil. Nature Conservancy Explains its role as a land trust, including its purchase of the Finch property to be sold to the DEC over a five year installment. William Cook, Citizens Campaign for the Environment Explains he was involved in from the beginning of the EPF and indicates the original intent had only the purpose of land acquisition. This fund now has several accounts for diverse uses, however it puts the strain on the DEC to administer the fund into those diverse uses, such as pumping water in Queens to alleviate basement flooding of residents. Grisanti - Asks DEC to look at an agriculture special interest “ASAP”

The New head of the DOI President Obama on Wednesday will nominate Recreational Equipment (REI) chief executive Sally Jewell to head the Interior Department, according to a White House official who asked not to be identified because the public announcement has not yet been made. The choice of Jewell, who began her career as an engineer for Mobil Oil and worked as a commercial banker before heading a nearly $2 billion outdoors equipment company, represents an unconventional choice for a post usually reserved for career politicians from the West. But while she boasts less public policy experience than other candidates who had been under consideration, Jewell, who will have to be confirmed by the Senate, has earned national recognition for her management skills and support for outdoor recreation and habitat conservation. In 2011 Jewell introduced Obama at the White House conference on “America’s Great Outdoor Initiative,” noting that the $289 billion outdoor-recreation industry supports 6.5 million jobs. Jewell, who is being nominated to succeed Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, would take over at a time when many conservationists are pressing Obama to take bolder action on land conservation. Salazar devoted much of his tenure to both promoting renewable energy on public land and managing the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. On Tuesday former interior secretary Bruce Babbitt gave a speech at the National Press Club calling on the president to set aside one acre permanently for conservation for every acre he leases for oil and gas development. “It’s that simple: one to one,” Babbitt said. “So far, under President Obama, industry has been winning the race as it obtains more and more land for oil and gas. Over the past four years, the industry has leased more than 6 million acres, compared with only 2.6 million acres permanently protected. In the Obama era, land conservation is again falling behind.” Facing congressional opposition and budget constraints during Obama’s first term, Salazar emphasized the importance of enlisting private sector, state and local support to protect major landscapes through America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. Jewell emerged as a strong advocate of the policy, and is likely to continue such efforts. While public lands protection has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support, this issue has become increasingly polarized, and the 112th Congress was the first one since 1966 to fail to designate a single piece of wilderness. Environmentalists such as Babbitt have urged Obama to use the Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the executive authority to set aside land as national monuments, to protect ecologically valuable areas in the West. Jewell has pushed for land conservation both in Washington state, where she lives, as well as nationally. She is a founding board member of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, which focuses on a stretch of land spanning from Puget Sound across the Cascades, and helped lay out a plan for the National Park Service as a commissioner on the “National Parks Second Century Commission.” Wyss Foundation president Molly McUsic, whose group focuses on land conservation, wrote in an e-mail that Jewell “understands the full economic potential of America’s resources.” “She knows the oil and gas business from having worked at Mobil and in the banking industry, but also understands the growing economic potential of America’s $646 billion outdoor recreation industry,” McUsic added. “She knows that to grow the economy, development of energy resources must be on equal ground with the protection of places that drive tourism, travel, and recreation.” While Jewell is more closely identified with the Democratic Party than the Republicans, she made a high-profile appearance with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) back in 2008 when he was running for president. McCain spoke with Jewell and others at an environmental policy roundtable outside of Seattle, during which the senator argued that he had stronger environmental credentials than either Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton, who were both vying for the Democratic presidential nomination at the time. Other contenders for the Cabinet position in recent weeks included former Washington governor Christine Gregoire (D), Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.).

It's almost end of season and my husband only got ONE deer this year and he's only got a buck tag left. I think it's so dumb how all these people are posting pics of dead deer after dead deer on facebook—they can't possibly have tags for all those!!! Sometimes playing by the rules doesn't seem fair. Hunting licenses cost so much, you have to tag your deer, you can't hunt after dark, can't use decoys, and on and on. Do you play by the rules ALL the time? Should we pick and choose which laws to actually abide by? Ever gotten caught? You know, of course, the second my husband takes the chance and shoots a doe without a tag for it he'll get fined. Just our luck.

Nows the time! The poor economy is just another argument for a dove season in NY. Most opposition is from national groups, so syncronizing with other states trying to pass the same legislation would dilute the power of national AR groups.

Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) are lands that are supposed to be managed for wildlife; wildlife study; and wildlife-related recreation. Wildlife-related recreation is hunting, trapping, and bird watching. WMAs have different rules & more restrictions than other "state lands". Many states include the language "public hunting area" and/or "open to licensed hunters & trappers". Which sinage do you think is more informative? I like the green signs and detest the yellow ones. I want the DEC to use the green signs. What are your opinions?

Over the past year, DEC and Dr. Angela Fuller, Assistant Leader of the New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Cornell University, have begun two black bear research projects in south-central New York. The projects will provide information on black bear populations that will assist in developing effective management strategies for this expanding population. Specifically, the projects will generate an estimate of how many bears exist in the study area and will provide an understanding of where bears spend time and how they move through landscapes. This will help DEC predict where bears may continue to expand their range and where human-bear interactions may occur in the future. With one field season now complete, we recently received an update on the research progress. Project Update The study area (1,013 mi2) encompasses portions of Steuben, Allegany, and Livingston Counties. Beginning in May, 2011 the research team (graduate students Matthew Adams and Catherine Sun and their 8 technicians) under the advisement of Dr. Fuller, has been collecting hair samples from black bears using barbed wire corrals and has been trapping and tagging black bears. They will use genetic techniques to identify individual bears from the hairs collected from the barbed wire. The tagged bears are being tracked using radiocollars that send the researchers hourly text messages with a GPS location of the bear. The research team captured 42 black bears (25 males, 14 females, 3 cubs) and fitted 20 bears (11 adult males, 5 adult females, and 4 yearling females) with radiocollars. Over the course of 10 weeks, they deployed 223 barbed wire corrals and collected hair samples at 115 sites. The research was conducted on both public and private lands, including 154 private landowners, 26 state lands, parks, and county forests. The researchers are extremely grateful to the 154 private landowners, who have participated in the research by allowing access to their lands. This post has been promoted to an article