Day of the Condor – Part 1
I haven’t really done anything on the lead ammo ban in a while, but don’t think that’s because nothing’s going on.
In Sacramento, Mr. Nava and Co. are hard at it trying to push through AB2223 to ban lead shot in State Wildlife Areas.
This bill would require the use of nontoxic shot, as defined, when shooting or hunting in state wildlife management areas. Under the bill, a person who violates that requirement would be guilty of an infraction punishable by a $500 fine for the first offense.
If passed, this law goes way beyond the current lead ban in that it means no lead shot for hunting OR SHOOTING on any of the State Wildlife Areas - a network of over 627,000 acres of land. It doesn’t apply to other public or private land. It’s not the whole state… yet.
The argument, of course, is that we’re “littering” the wildlife areas (which are primarily wetlands) with lead shot. The shot is being picked up by birds and other animals and causing lead poisoning. To hear Nava and other proponents of the bill, you’d think the lead was causing mass carnage throughout the eco-system. The truth is, though, that there’s little evidence to suggest that this lead is having a significant negative impact on the populations of wetland birds or animals.
The availability of affordable alternatives (especially for .410, 20, 28, and 16ga) is extremely limited. Passage of this bill will most likely result in a reduction in the use of the wildlife areas (and a resulting reduction in fees collected), and certainly won’t help with hunter recruitment and retention. It’s another poorly constructed piece of legislation that doesn’t take the immediate interests of sportsmen into consideration.
The bill is supposed to go to the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee tomorrow, April 13. I urge all CA sportsmen to contact the Committee and voice your opposition to AB2223.
Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee:
Assemblymember Jared Huffman – Chair (D-6)
(916) 319-2006
Assemblymember.Huffman@assembly.ca.govAssemblymember Jean Fuller – Vice Chair (R-32)
(916) 319-2032
Assemblymember.Fuller@assembly.ca.govAssemblymember Joel Anderson (R-77)
(916) 319-2077
Assemblymember.Anderson@assembly.ca.govAssemblymember Juan Arambula (I-31)
(916) 319-2031
Assemblymember.Arambula@assembly.ca.govAssemblymember Tom Berryhill (R-25)
(916) 319-2025
Assemblymember.Berryhill@assembly.ca.govAssemblymember Bob Blumenfield (D-40)
(916) 319-2040
Assemblymember.Blumenfield@assembly.ca.govAssemblymember Anna M. Caballero (D-28)
(916) 319-2028
Assemblymember.Caballero@assembly.ca.govAssemblymember Hector De La Torre (D-50)
(916) 319-2050
Assemblymember.DeLaTorre@assembly.ca.govAssemblymember Nathan Fletcher (R-75)
(916) 319-2075
Assemblymember.Fletcher@assembly.ca.govAssemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal (D-54)
(916) 319-2054
Assemblymember.Lowenthal@assembly.ca.govAssemblymember Mary Salas (D-79)
(916) 319-2079
Assemblymember.Salas@assembly.ca.govAssemblymember Mariko Yamada (D-8)
(916) 319-2008
Assemblymember.Yamada@assembly.ca.gov
Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee:State Senator Fran Pavley, Chair (D-23)
(916) 651-4023(916) 651-4036State Senator Dave Cogdill, Vice-Chair (R-14)
(916) 651-4014State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (R-36)
State Senator Robert Huff (R-29)
(916) 651-4029State Senator Christine Kehoe (D-39)
(916) 651-4039State Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-27)
(916) 651-4027State Senator Alex Padilla (D-20)
(916) 651-4020State Senator Joe Simitian (D-11)
(916) 651-4011State Senator Lois Wolk (D-5)
(916) 651-4005
OK, so now I’ve said that, there’s a little bit more…
I had a chance to refresh my thinking on this topic recently, as I was invited (along with Holly, the NorCal Cazadora) to join Jim Petterson from the National Park Service over at Pinnacles National Monument on Friday. He offered a morning pig hunt, followed by the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at what the condor folks are doing over there. It sounded like a great time to me… a little hunting and a little education.
Jim and I have exchanged emails a few times, and he’s commented more than once here on the blog as well. He’s done quite a bit of work with the condors, and he’s lately been working with Jake Theyerl on the lead ammo outreach program. To put it mildly, he’s got a pretty good grasp on a different side of the whole discussion than most of us have been seeing. I’m glad we got to hang out for the day, because it reinforced some of my original thinking and also provided me with some insight and knowledge that’s been missing.
Anybody who’s followed my blog and writing about the lead ammo ban knows that my own thinking has evolved over the years since the fiasco first reared its head. Even so, a few things have remained fairly consistent. In short, I disagree with the legislated lead ban as it was enacted in CA, and I still do. It became a political power play, and lost any relevance to the goals of wildlife management or conservation.
At the same time, I felt strongly that the hunting community was missing an opportunity to step up and take an active role in our own future. For all this time we’ve been calling ourselves “the first conservationists”, here was a chance to prove it by taking voluntary steps to reduce our negative impact on an endangered species. So what if the species in question is probably doomed anyway? Aren’t hunters the ones claiming that, “it’s about more than just the animals we want to shoot?”
I’m going to break this here, and write a second part tomorrow. I can’t finish this tonight, and the important thing is that AB2223 goes for the vote tomorrow. Hunters need to hit the phone lines, email, and fax machines, and if this post takes any longer to complete, the vote will be done.
Manana… now, go make the phone calls, and send those emails!
Phillip, I posted about this bill back in March, with what you might find a surprising position:
http://enviroethics.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-lead-ban-proposal-in-california.html
Thanks for keeping folks’ feet to the fire.
April 14th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
[...] who took me and Holly on a hog hunt down near Pinnacles National Park (you can read about my take here, and Holly’s report here), and then spent a good bit of time with us talking about the condor [...]
July 28th, 2010 at 7:00 am