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November 23, 2009
VOICE YOUR
SUPPORT FOR BLACK BEARS
IN SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY
Fish & Game
Department Will Revisit Proposal to Allow Bear Hunting in SLO
County; Your Comments Needed by Nov 28
Officials with the California Department of Fish & Game quietly
announced last month that they plan to "bring back" their
proposal to allow bear hunting in San Luis Obispo County,
perhaps as early as February 2010. The Department
is currently accepting comments on this and any other changes to
the state's mammal hunting regulations as part of the agency's
three-year regulatory review process.
photo by Norbert Rosing,
National Geographic
Last February, the Department
proposed -- and later withdrew -- a plan to
dramatically expand bear hunting throughout the state. One
proposal would have permitted bear hunting in San Luis Obispo
County for the first time ever. The other proposal would have
lifted all numerical limits to bear hunting statewide.
Both proposals were met with widespread
opposition from a broad coalition of organizations throughout
the state. A majority of the County’s Board of Supervisors wrote
letters to the Commission opposing the bear hunt, along with
several City Council members. More than forty organizations
joined in submitting a comment letter, and hundreds of concerned
residents wrote and called the Commission urging them not to
allow the hunt.
ForestWatch submitted a
detailed, 94-page critique of the bear hunt proposal with
the assistance of wildlife biologist Dr. Rick Hopkins and
wildlife attorney Bill Yeates. They concluded that the
Department's proposal contained inadequate information and
violated the California Environmental Quality Act.
The Department first announced the
hunting expansion proposals in February, estimating that as many
as 50 bears would be hunted and killed each year in San Luis
Obispo County, primarily in the Los Padres National Forest. But
the Department did not base its recommendation on a reliable DNA
population study that would have estimated the number of black
bears in San Luis Obispo County. Instead, it only relied on a
“bait station study” that showed where bears were located, not
how many. The proposal also failed to evaluate the impact of the
hunt on the local black bear population. Because of these
deficiencies, the Department withdrew
their proposal in April.
WHAT'S NEXT
- FEBRUARY 2010
The Department
seems to be moving forward once again on their proposal to allow
bear hunting in San Luis Obispo County. At last month's Fish and
Game Commission meeting, Department officials stated that "we
plan to come back with that [bear hunt proposal] again with more
information and a revised environmental document." That proposal
will be announced in early February, according to a
Department press release.
This month, the Department is
accepting general comments from the public on suggested changes
to the state's mammal hunting regulations -- something the
Department does every three years. Those comments will be
incorporated into a formal proposal announced in February 2010,
along with an environmental impact report. The changes --
including bear hunting in SLO -- could be approved as early as
April 2010.
The Department is accepting
comments through November 28, 2009 (postmark date). |
