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Southeast RAC approves upland-game and most turkey-rule changes, removes voucher-commodification item
Summary
The RAC accepted the Division of Wildlife Resources’ upland game and wild turkey recommendations but voted to exclude one proposed rule (R657-69-7) that would allow sale/commodification of depredation vouchers; divisions and NGOs debated potential impacts on hunter opportunity.
The Southeast Regional Advisory Council unanimously approved most of the Division of Wildlife Resources' upland game and wild turkey regulatory recommendations but removed a contested item on voucher commodification.
DWR staff clarified that depredation/control-permit vouchers would be allocated to landowners based on field counts by depredation specialists and that most management hunts would target hens ("beardless permits") with a depredation season of Aug. 1–March 14. "If depredation or the control permit vouchers were to be able to be sold, they would be given out to the landowners based on a *** ratio of what's being seen in the field," Heather Talley said during the presentation.
The National Wild Turkey Federation and other stakeholders supported most proposed changes but opposed R657-69-7. "We think we should wait, see how that pans out, evaluate the effects, see if that solves the problem before we go to that next step and commodify wildlife," biologist Chuck Carpenter told the RAC.
After discussion the RAC adopted a motion to accept the division's overall recommendations with the explicit removal of R657-69-7 (the commodification item); the motion carried on individual tally and was announced as passing unanimously.
Earlier in the meeting the chair also summarized recent wildlife board actions transmitted to the RAC: reclassification of the Oak Creek unit to a premium deer unit and acceptance of permit recommendations including changes to once-in-a-lifetime permits (addition of an archery bison permit on specified Book Cliffs hunts), adjustments to analyst and CWMU analyst permits (including a reduction for Deseret moose) and aquatic rule amendments; those board actions were reported as passed by various tallies.
What happens next: the RAC's recommendation will be forwarded to the wildlife board and division for final rulemaking steps; DWR said it will monitor effects of changes, particularly the depredation voucher implementation, and advised the public to submit comments as the rules move forward.
