Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Moose Permits topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee considers major changes to moose-hunting lodge permits; department narrows eligibility and limits transfers
Summary
The committee reviewed LD2054, which would rename and restructure "moose hunting lodge permits," add eligibility requirements for sporting camps and guides, give lodges preference for permits in their own wildlife management district, cap lodge permits per district and restrict lodge-to-lodge sales. Department staff and members debated enforcement and broker roles; a motion to reconsider failed.
The Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee spent the bulk of its March 18 language review on LD2054, a substantive rewrite clarifying how moose hunting lodge permits are allocated and transferred.
Colonel Dan Scott of the Warden Service presented the department's amendment. He said the revision renames the statutory provision "moose hunting lodge permits," retains existing features (including the $1,500 chance-drawing fee) and narrows eligibility to operators who are licensed sporting camps that provide a package of food, lodging and licensed-guide services and that have operated for at least three of the past five calendar years. "We felt it was easier just to call it sub4A," Scott said while walking members through structural edits. He described a new affidavit requirement in which outfitters attest to meeting the eligibility criteria when applying for a lodge permit.
Scott described several key changes the department negotiated with stakeholders: lodges that list the wildlife management district where their licensed sporting camp is located will receive preference in the lodge-permit drawing for that district; lodge-issued permits may be sold only once and only to a hunter eligible under the statute; lodges may not buy, barter or offer to buy or sell lodge permits to other lodges; lodge permits allocated under the subsection will be capped so they do not exceed 5% of total permits issued per year for each season/sex/WMD (the department said its algorithm will be adjusted to ensure lodge permits do not consume more than about half of nonresident permits in a wildlfie management district). Scott said the department also added narrow swap exceptions to allow lodge permit swaps to relocate a lodge's hunt into the district where the licensed facility is located.
The department included additional safeguards and clarifications: a lodge may sell a permitted hunt only as part of a package (food, lodging, licensed guide), the purchaser must be accompanied by a licensed guide, and a hunter who accepts a lodge permit forfeits accumulated general-lottery points and is ineligible for the regular moose lottery for the next three calendar years unless otherwise specified by the statute. The amendment also includes operational provisions (e.g., a $107,000 threshold for certain auction proceeds referenced in existing language) and standard deferral provisions (military deployment, medical).
Committee members pressed the department on interpretation and enforcement. Representative Jim Thorne asked how the change from 10% to 5% interacts with the department's goal to cap lodge permits at 50% of nonresident permits in a WMD; Dan Scott replied that the agency will adjust the algorithm to ensure an equitable distribution and that the 5% figure is part of that approach. Representative Steve Wood raised practical questions about whether brokers may arrange permit sales; Scott said brokers can arrange introductions, but the permit-transfer itself must be performed by the person named on the permit.
After discussion, some members requested a caucus. The committee reconvened and a motion to reconsider an earlier vote on the moose-permit language was moved and seconded; members voted by raised hands and the motion to reconsider failed. The committee adjourned.
Next steps: staff will incorporate any agreed edits and fiscal analyses and return the measure for additional language review or a floor recommendation.
