Thursday, February 21, 2002

Hunters, anglers must wait a little longer to testify. Hearing concerning new approach to wildlife management now March 8

MICHAEL A. SAWYERS
Times-News Staff Writer

FREDERICK -- Hunters and fishermen upset with the way the Maryland Department of Natural Resources is managing fish and game will have to wait to testify at the General Assembly in favor of a bill that would, they believe, take the politics out of wildlife management.

A House Bill 664 hearing slated for today has been changed to March 8 in front of the House Environmental Matters Committee.

"This effort began more than a year ago and has included the mailing of 10,000 postcards of protest to delegates and senators," said Steve Palmer, a Keedysville resident and chairman of the Maryland Coalition for Responsible Wildlife Management.

The bill would create a fish and game commission made up of Maryland citizens with backgroundin hunting and fishing. It is an effort, according to Palmer, to take emotion out of wildlife management.

Jim Gilford, outdoor writer for the Frederick News-Post and a longtime member of the state's Sport Fisheries Advisory Council, agrees.

"When emotion takes over in wildlife management, you can have a disaster," Gilford said Tuesday at a Frederick press conference concerning the legislation.

A mirror-image bill in the Senate (817) is not yet scheduled for a hearing.

"Twenty-six other states have independent authorities that base their management policies upon proven, scientific methods," said Larry Albright, owner of Albright's Gun Shop in Easton. "We are not inventing the wheel here." The coalition modeled its proposed commission on the one in Pennsylvania.

"All the changes in secretaries and top level administrators has demoralized the DNR staff people," Palmer said. "They know what good biology is, but they are afraid to speak up. They are afraid they will lose their jobs."

Coalition supporters say they are concerned about mismanagement or lack of management of a number of wildlife and fish species.

"A big problem is with the bears," said Ira Click of Frederick County. "The bears are in Western Maryland, so why should the DNR ask people on the Eastern Shore how to manage them?" Concerns about trout, deer and geese exist as well, coalition members said.

Palmer and his fellow coalition members say they are prepared for both victory and defeat for House Bill 664.

"In any event, we won't go away," said Lee Osmansky of Allegany County. "We'll be a hardy perennial."

The DNR has not yet taken a position on the bill, according to spokesman John Surrick.

Copyright © 2001 Cumberland Times-News