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The Arizona Game and Fish Commission is considering a wide ranges of issues, projects and agreements, including a proposal to annually capture 50 Arizona elk for shipment to Kentucky during the next five years.
The commission is meeting Dec. 8 in Phoenix at the Arizona State Fairgrounds Wildlife Building on 17th Avenue and McDowell Road starting at 8 a.m.
Kentucky is trying to re-establish an elk population. Last year, elk were captured in Arizona and 29 were shipped to Kentucky. Kentucky officials desire to continue the project. The agreement, as drafted, would entail having the Arizona Game and Fish Department reimbursed for the cost of the captures, including the past one.
The commission will also be reviewing a draft of the Arizona Game and Fish Department Guidelines and Recommendations for the 2001-2002 Hunting Seasons and could provide further direction to the department before a final draft goes to the public for formal comment.
The Game and Fish Department annually solicits public review and comment on the hunting seasons. “To facilitate public review, we annually publish the department’s ‘Guidelines and Recommendations’ for the hunting seasons. The document provides management guidelines that wildlife managers use to prepare recommendations for next year’s hunts. We conduct public hearings throughout the state in January, plus take written comment,” explained Game Branch Chief Tice Supplee.
Once the commission reviews the “Guidelines and Recommendations,” they will be posted on the Game and Fish Department’s Internet Home Page at www.azgfd.com for public review and comment.
The commission is considering a petition by an individual requesting that commission rules be amended to allow the take of elk with crossbows. The Game and Fish Department is recommending that the commission deny the petition and direct the department to consider the request as part of the five-year review of rules scheduled to begin in January 2001.
The commission is also being briefed on the proposed process for determining the distribution of herbaceous forage between domestic livestock and wild ungulates (mostly elk) in Game Management Unit 4B on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.
A process to determine distribution of available forage between domestic livestock and wild ungulates was developed by the department and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests in 1998 for Game Management Unit 4A.
“This process incorporated the Forest Service’s allotment management planning efforts and the department’s elk population management objectives. The department and Forest Service now propose to incorporate the same process to determine forage distribution in Game Management 4B,” said Habitat Branch Chief John Kennedy.
Kennedy explained that the public will have ample opportunity for involvement in the forage allocation process through the local Habitat Partnership Committee and other public meetings.
A memorandum of understanding with Purdue University to clarify the taxonomy of the endangered Sonoran pronghorn is another item on the agenda. Research Branch Chief Jim deVos explained that early naturalists often declared an organism to be in a separate taxonomic status based on very little information.
“As an example, the Sonoran pronghorn was declared to be a valid subspecies based on only one whole animal and a portion of another. There are many that question the validity of this taxonomic declaration due to the small sample upon which the decision was made,” deVos said.
For the past several years, the Arizona Game and Fish Department in conjunction with other agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has collected tissue samples from Sonoran pronghorn in Arizona and Mexico. “These samples are currently being held at Purdue University for future analysis to clarify the taxonomic status of this animal, which is currently listed as endangered both in the United States and Mexico,” deVos explained.
Another memorandum of understanding (MOU) the commission is considering deals with the Barry M. Goldwater Range. Kennedy explained that in 1998, a MOU was developed among Luke Air Force Base, the U.S. Marine Corps Yuma Air Station, the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, and the Game and Fish Commission for collaborative planning on the Goldwater Range. The agreement created the Goldwater Range Executive Committee to provide a forum for collaboration by statutory decision makers in the management of the range.
“Since the development of the 1998 MOU, the Military Lands Withdrawal Act of 1999 was signed into law, which contains new provisions for interagency cooperation and the management of natural resources on the Goldwater Range. In addition, the U.S. Border Patrol and the National Park Service have now agreed to participate on the Goldwater Range Executive Committee,” Kennedy said.
Uploaded: 12/11/2000
Uploaded: 12/11/2000