New Jersey: The updated, and highly contested, Comprehensive Black Bear Management Plan (CBBMP) was officially approved by New Jersey Fish and Game Council earlier this summer and recently signed by Shawn LaTourette, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, and Gov. Phil Murphy. Five days after it is published in the Oct. 2 edition of the New Jersey Register, the Plan and season will be official for the next five years upon which the CBBMP would be updated. Click here for more information on the Black Bear regulations in the 2023-24 Hunting and Trapping Digest and visit this link to check permit availability.
Oregon: SCI submitted comments on the Contest Prohibition for Taking Unprotected Animals, Exhibit E on the upcoming Commission Agenda. Read the letter here.
Pennsylvania: SCI, as part of the Pennsylvania Sportsmen and Women’s Policy Workgroup, signed onto an opposition letter regarding House Bill 1300 and particularly the amendment that would take $150,000,000 from the Game Fund, money earmarked for wildlife and habitat and Pennsylvania Game Commission administration, and diverting it to the Clean Streams Fund. The letter states, “This unprecedented action goes against the compact made between the Commonwealth and the nearly 1 million hunters who annually purchase licenses and expect those fees to be part of the fund; and sets an alarming precedent for future legislative sessions.” This action would additionally be considered a diversion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and significantly jeopardize future payment of sportsmen-generated Pittman-Robertson Funds.
