I'm sure by now you have all heard of The Scientific Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act. But I wanted to write this short post about it because the Michigan House of Reps will be voting on it tomorrow (Wed. Aug 27). The initiative passed in the Michigan Senate a couple of weeks ago. If the house passes the bill, it will become law (no need for the Governor to sign an initiative). If the house does not pass the initiative, it will be put on the ballet for the Michigan voters in the upcoming election. That could be bad because the opposition has a lot of money, and they will surely run ads that cast hunters and conservationists in a bad light.
Here's a quick rundown of how this issue has developed. A couple of years ago, the DNR approved the first Michigan wolf hunt. The Humane Society of the United States (not to be confused with your local animal shelter), is an animal rights activist group. They didn't like the idea of hunting wolves, so they started a referendum initiative to ban wolf hunting in Michigan. In response, the Citizens for Professional Wildlife Management, and the Michigan United Conservation Corp also launched an initiative to have the Scientific Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act signed into law. If successful, the bill will give the Michigan Legislature, and the DNR the EXCLUSIVE authority to determine game species in Michigan. That is, the referendum initiative would not be an avenue for defining what a "game species" in Michigan is. Therefore, if the Michigan House passes the SFWCA tomorrow, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) will not be able to remove wolves from the Michigan "game species" list through the referendum initiative process. I am attaching a copy of the CPWM / MUCC initiative. You can also go to the Michigan Legislature website and look at it here. If you feel so inclined, you might call your local house representative and tell him/her to vote for the SFWCA.
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