|
Rights and
Remedies for Wolf Control
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
NO. 29
INTRODUCED BY D. RICE
February 22, 2005
- Rep. D. Rice's House Joint Resolution 29,.... Bob
Fanning & Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk
Herd, Inc. helped compile the information, draft the
document and lobby for its' passage.The Montana
Senate passed it by a super Majority 92%. The Idaho
House passed their version in the Idaho House by a
2/3rds' margin only to have Craig Manson , Asst
Secretary of Interior write a letter to interfere in
Idaho legislative affairs and make veiled threats
that killed their HJMemorial #5.
Montana House passes House
Joint Resolution 29 (HJ29), by a two-thirds majority
- "Reservation of rights and remedies for wolf
control"....submitted simultaneously in Idaho
& Montana
(February 22, 2005
2005 Montana Legislature
About Bill -- Links
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/HJ0029.htm#About
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 29
INTRODUCED BY D. RICE
A JOINT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MONTANA CLARIFYING
TO APPROPRIATE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS THAT
MONTANA RESERVES ITS
APPLICABLE RIGHTS AND REMEDIES TO REQUEST FEDERAL
PREDATOR CONTROL AND TO EXERCISE RIGHTS AND REMEDIES
TO PREVENT AND CONTROL DAMAGE OR CONFLICT ON
FEDERAL, STATE, OR OTHER PUBLIC OR PRIVATE LAND
CAUSED BY PREDATORY ANIMALS, AND URGING
THE MONTANA CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO
TAKE APPROPRIATE MEASURES
TO OBTAIN MEANINGFUL FUNDING AND ASSISTANCE FOR
MONTANA CITIZENS AND COMMUNITIES THAT HAVE BEEN
ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY FEDERAL WOLF REINTRODUCTION.
WHEREAS, Article II, section 3, of the Montana
Constitution provides all persons with the
inalienable right to enjoy and defend their lives
and liberties, to acquire, possess, and protect
property, and to seek their safety, health, and
happiness in all lawful ways; and
WHEREAS, the 2001 Montana Legislature enacted
section 87-5-131, MCA, to provide for state
delisting of the gray wolf upon federal delisting
and to provide a plan to manage the wolf as a
species in need of management until the Department
of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and the Fish, Wildlife,
and Parks Commission determine that the wolf no
longer needs protection as a species in need of
management and can be managed and protected as a
game animal; and
WHEREAS, the 2003 Montana
Legislature enacted section 87-1-217, MCA, requiring
the Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to
manage large predators, including wolves, with the
primary goals to preserve citizens' opportunities to
hunt large game species, to protect humans,
livestock, and pets, and to preserve and enhance the
safety of the public during outdoor recreational and
livelihood activities; and
WHEREAS, the 2003 Montana Legislature adopted Senate
Joint Resolution No. 4, requesting delisting of the
wolf pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act
of 1973, requesting that Congress establish and fund
the Northern Rocky Mountain Grizzly Bear and Gray
Wolf National Management Trust, requesting that
wolf population management
methods include nonlethal and lethal methods,
encouraging the Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Commission
to reclassify the gray wolf when regulation of the
wolf population is needed, and requesting
the Department of Fish,
Wildlife, and Parks or the Department of Livestock
to address livestock depredations expeditiously;
and
WHEREAS, the 2003 Montana Legislature passed House
Bill No. 283 (chapter 530, Laws of 2003), directing
the Attorney General to prepare a proactive opinion
of state options regarding delisting and possible
litigation scenarios related to recovery of damages
and costs associated with wolf reintroduction in
Montana; and
WHEREAS, uncontrolled wolf
populations and extraordinarily high wolf densities
continue to cause damage to Montana's economy,
customs, culture, public safety, and public health
despite the state's ongoing efforts to conform to
federal requirements regarding wolf management plans
and the state's regular requests for wolf delisting
and despite the declared intent of Congress in 1988
"not to hurt hunting, not to hurt the local
economies"; and
WHEREAS, wolves are
predators and should be managed as predators;
and
WHEREAS, high wolf
population densities resulting from reintroduction
are proof of the failure of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to abide by the law and its own
regulations; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Congress
has yet to address its restitution responsibilities
under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
for damage to private property, livestock, domestic
animals, and Montana wildlife that has resulted from
the unnatural and accelerated reintroduction of
wolves; and
WHEREAS, designation of the
wolf as a game animal under the Montana management
plan will not supersede or undermine current federal
or state law allowing management of wolves for
depredation and Montana would be better served by a
state management plan that allows the controlled
taking of wolves following delisting; and
WHEREAS, recent adoption of
the final 10(j) Rule under the Endangered Species
Act allowed Montana landowners to take additional
steps to protect livestock and dogs from attacks by
wolves on private land and allowed grazing
permittees and guiding and outfitting permittees to
take wolves attacking livestock or domestic animals
herding and guarding livestock on public lands;
and
WHEREAS, a recent U.S.
District Court decision in Oregon held that the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered
Species Act by changing the status of the gray wolf
from "endangered" to "threatened" in some regions,
relaxing protection on many of the nation's gray
wolves and effectively disallowing the shooting of
wolves that are not part of the reintroduced
experimental populations but that are attacking
livestock; and
WHEREAS, the court decision
irreparably harmed the good faith efforts between
state and federal agencies to move expeditiously
toward delisting the gray wolf and raised the
prospect of endless third-party lawsuits that will
obstruct and delay the delisting process;
and
WHEREAS, federal, state,
and local governments have a constitutional duty and
fiduciary responsibility to provide all available
remedies to protect the economy, customs, culture,
public safety, and public health of the citizenry.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT
RESOLVED BY THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
That the State of
Montana reserves its rights and remedies available
by order of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to
provide funding under the federal Granger-Thye Act
for predator control pursuant to Title 7 of the U.S.
Code and recognizes that an injunction sought in a
court of law cannot divest the State of Montana of
those rights and remedies.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that
the State of Montana reserves its rights and
remedies available through the U.S. Secretary of the
Interior pursuant to Section 11(h) of the Endangered
Species Act to order predator control in defense of
game herds and recognizes that an injunction
sought in a court of law cannot divest the State of
Montana of those rights and remedies.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,
that the State of Montana reserves its rights and
remedies to prevent and control damages or conflicts
on federal, state, or other public or private lands
caused by predatory animals, rodents, and birds that
are injurious to livestock, agriculture,
horticulture, forestry, wildlife, and human safety
and health, including threatened or endangered
wildlife within Montana, as established by federal
or state law or regulation or by county resolution.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that
the Montana Congressional Delegation
is urged to recognize the statutory concessions made
by the State of Montana and
is urged to obtain meaningful and substantive
funding for the impacts from the federal wolf
reintroduction program that was forcibly established
in Montana, including emergency federal assistance
for those Montana communities that bear the
disproportionate burden of the impacts from the
federal wolf reintroduction program.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Montana
Congressional Delegation is urged to
review documents published
from 1988 through November 22, 1994, that preceded
accelerated wolf reintroduction in order
to verify that the federal government never intended
for high wolf population densities to result in
damage to Montana citizens or to strip citizens of
their legal rights.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that
the Montana Congressional Delegation is urged to
respond to this unintended collateral damage to
Montana citizens by seeking restitution under the
Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution for Montana
citizens who have been damaged by the introduction
of wolves into Montana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Secretary of State
send copies of this resolution to the President of
the United States, the U.S. Secretary of
Agriculture, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior,
members of the Montana Congressional Delegation, and
all other members of the U.S. Senate and House of
Representatives.
- END -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Latest Version of HJ 29 (HJ0029.01) Processed for
the Web on February 15, 2005 (4:47pm)
New language in a bill appears underlined, deleted
material appears stricken.
Sponsor names are handwritten on introduced bills,
hence do not appear on the bill until it is
reprinted.
See the status of this bill for the bill's primary
sponsor.
http://laws.leg.state.mt.us/pls/laws05/LAW0203W$BSRV.ActionQuery?P_BLTP_BILL_
TYP_CD=&P_BILL_NO=&P_BILL_DFT_NO=LC1777&Z_ACTION=Find&P_SBJ_
DESCR=&P_SBJT_SBJ_CD=&P_LST_NM1=&P_ENTY_ID_SEQ=
Status of this Bill
http://laws.leg.state.mt.us/pls/laws05/LAW0203W$BSRV.ActionQuery?P_BLTP_BILL_
TYP_CD=&P_BILL_NO=&P_BILL_DFT_NO=LC1777&Z_ACTION=Find&P_SBJ_
DESCR=&P_SBJT_SBJ_CD=&P_LST_NM1=&P_ENTY_ID_SEQ=
2005 Legislature
http://laws.leg.state.mt.us/pls/laws05/LAW0200W$.Startup
Leg. Branch Home
http://leg.state.mt.us/
This bill in WP 5.1
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/HouJoint/HJ0029_1.wpd
All versions of all bills (WP 5.1 format)
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/
Authorized print version w/line numbers (PDF format)
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/BillPdf/HJ0029.pdf
[ NEW SEARCH ]
http://laws.leg.state.mt.us/pls/laws05/law0203w$.startup
Prepared by Montana Legislative Services
406-444-3064
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/HJ0029.htm#About
|
