THIS MONDAY APRIL 14TH VOTE FOR YOUR PRIVACY RIGHT TO YOUR OWN LAND

April 14 Vote on Hunter access to private woodlands or no Managed Forest Tax benefits by Patricia Randolph, Dane County Conservation Congress delegate 1999-2002,

This Monday,in Wisconsin, the annual public election of delegates to represent citizens on wildlife and nature issues will be held in every county at 7 p.m.

Since landowners and ecologists who do not hunt or trap have zero representation in the 360 delegation (currently only a hunter/trapper representation), it is important for all citizens to start attending this annual election and vote on nature issues in the state.

On the agenda, amongst many issues including the plan for a trophy wolf kill, expansion of the bobcat kill, and other expansion of hunter activities, up for a vote, is question # 61,

" Do you support legislation that would require all future Managed Forest Law (MFL) contracts to allow public access as currently defined in state statutes (for hunting, fishing, cross-country skiing, sight-seeing and hiking)?"

George Meyers heading up the Wildlife Federation, a lobby for hunting and trapping groups, and the Conservation Congress (the advisory hunting lobby to the Natural Resources Board) are pushing forward with their agenda to privatize state parks and wildlife "refuges" (already hunted and trapped) and gain access, by carrot and stick, to private land.

The Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association is asking their membership of private forest owners to vote NO for this question, and state that " Managed forest land participants are concerned about the safety of their families, littering and damage to their property, and liability issues related to public access.

Requiring landowners to open land to the public (for hunting and trapping)would greatly discourage participation in this program resulting in fewer acres of wildlife habitat and sustainable forests. This would increase fragmentation of Wisconsin's forests and lead to more forested lands being lost to development."

The hunting lobby is proposing that citizens who do not allow the public into their private lands for hunting, trapping, and general recreation, will be barred from the tax advantages of the statewide managed forest land.

They have already changed the laws so that those who do not open their land to hunting have a significant financial loss in the program compared to those who allow public hunting in their forest.

It is time for all citizens who own land, care about living wildlife, and their own rights as citizens not to be compromised further by the hunting lobby take-over of nature, to start electing delegates to represent general public concerns for a living ecosystem in Wisconsin.

This can start this Monday at 7 p.m. in every county. You can find your county location at http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/congress/spring%20hearings/index.html or call the WWOA at 715-346-4798 for locations.

Greenconsciousness notes: the locations for every county are here.

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What you can do is take as many people along with you as possible and have one of them nominate you to run as a delegate. It will give people someone to vote for other than the NRA.

It is a very small commitment of time and energy for the power the position holds - just 3 meetings a year - 2 of them in your county for a few hours - and one in the middle of the state as an annual meeting.

You will not get in - but can start the process. Or get someone else to run - but you need two people per county to run each year.

Anything you can do to educate your circle of influence that the important thing is ANNUAL ATTENDANCE - because this is a REPRESENTATIVE process - and without delegates (2 of 5 in each county up for election every year) - the public that has concerns other than killing or is against killing has NO SAY WHATSOEVER.

The public thinks it is a HEARING - when it is an ELECTION and hearing. THE POWER IS IN THE ELECTION OF DELEGATES. The hunters and trappers just laugh when the public comes out to vote on the mourning dove or the wolf or something they find out about - because the delegates are all from the Rod and Gun clubs and can vote anyway they want for their county.

They want to continue to privatize our public parks and public lands for killing and gain access to private lands by carrot or stick. They want to expand killing and farming the wild for certain species while ignoring biodiversity and the balance of nature.

They want more power for their agenda and are putting in laws like the constitutional amendment, the Hunter's and Trapper's Bill of Rights and everything they can think of to secure their power and access.

They want and have captive hounding of fox, bears, bobcats, raccoons, coyotes and rabbits - in 15-60 acre enclosures, loosing 18 dogs at a time 16 hours/day every day of the week to attack wild captive animals for sport. The coyotes get torn apart on the ground - they cannot escape the fence and are expendable since they can be taken from the wild.

They are going more and more toward canned hunting and elevating trapping into mainstream management practices - forging alliances with such environmental groups as the League of Conservation Voters who promoted their Bill of Rights for Hunters and Trappers last year in Lobby Day.

They are a minority of 10 per cent in the state - but organized.

We need regular attendance every year the second Monday of April in every county in the state. Anything you can do to organize your county and get people to run for the two positions would help.

I would be willing to come down and speak to any group about this during the year to organize for next year.

Thanks so much.
Patricia

Greenconsciousness notes: the locations for every county are here.