News

Oakland Press Editorial: HB 6272

Published November 16, 2004. Editorial Board. The Oakland Press.
Hunting bill puts ammunition in hands of special interests

It turns out that the pressure to expose more state wildlife to hunting did not end with mourning doves.

Now, there is a an attempt under way in the Michigan Legislature to give the Department of Natural Resources full control over such decisions. One can understand why the senators and representatives would like to avoid responsibility for such contentious decisions in the future. The effort to legalize the hunting of doves lasted for 25 years, off and on.

The bill that would relieve lawmakers of the supposed burden is HB 6272.

It would direct the DNR and the Natural Resources Commission to promote the expansion of hunting in the state by adding more species to the list of targets. As it is now, the agency and commission simply manages the wildlife resource held legally "in trust" for the people.

Residents who worried about adding doves to the list now fear passage of the bill would be a message to the DNR that the business of hunting should be increased - just as the dove season was added - for its economic benefit.

Those who oppose the new bill also are concerned, and rightly so, that wildlife with no sporting potential would be neglected in favor of the sort that makes a good target. Among the latter are deer, which now have proliferated to the extent of becoming a nuisance in developed areas.

Dove-hunting opponents also see the shift of responsibility from the lawmakers to the DNR as an attempt to undermine their current effort to end the hunt via a statewide voter referendum.

The most alarming aspect is the possibility that the state could use taxpayer dollars to promote public acceptance of the expansion of hunting. Among those species reportedly high on the list of potential new targets are gray wolves and the sandhill crane. The crane, like the dove, is a challenging target but has more meat.

There is the argument that decisions about which species to hunt, and how intensely, should be left to the experts. The DNR is charged with preserving a resource and, in some cases, harvesting an excess that is crowding out other species.

The dove-hunting issue, however, seemed to be a case of the DNR itself being pressured by pro-hunting lobbyists, ammunition makers and local business interests to open a season strictly for fun and profit.

And those groups are the very ones that also can be counted on to lobby the lawmakers for higher tax appropriations for the department.

Left to their own mutual devices, without resident input via the Legislature, they could safely ignore the concerns of those who look upon wildlife in a different light.

In an ideal world, we would leave scientific decisions to experts, but that's not the way a democracy works. Experts, whether in wildlife or tax policy, can be as self-serving as anyone else.

The StopShootingDoves organization suggests a protest to your lawmaker. The post office box for senators is 30036, for representatives, 30014. The Lansing ZIP code is 48909.

The "full-time" Legislature is off until Nov. 30, so you have time to at least force a debate.

THE DAILY OAKLAND PRESS

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