California SB 818 and AB 1038

[grizz19]

Not sure if this is the correct place for this so mods move it if need be. We finally have some positive predator management legislation in California.

SB 818 in summary, basically allow lions to be pursued with hounds for a “tree and free” scenario. Will allow for qualified houndsmen to use non lethal methods to manage lions that have been deemed a potential problem. I got this wording from the howl website so I’m not sure if “potential problem” is in the bill itself. If so it makes me feel that they could run off a lion BEFORE it commits any type of act. Not sure though.

AB 1038 in summary is allowing for basically the same thing if approved. A tree and free season to reduce human/bear interaction and potentially, if deemed necessary based on population, a harvest season on bears with the use of hounds.

Here in California we have one of, if not the worst, predator management plans in the west in my opinion. SB 818 and AB 1038 are not a complete solution to our problem but are definitely a step in the right direction if we can get them in. There’s more information on these on the HOWL website. I’ll post the links below.

Support AB 1038 and Restore Science-Based Bear Management

Call to Action: Support AB 1038 and Restore Science-Based Bear Management AB 1038 introduces a crucial update to California’s black bear management strategy, ensuring it’s grounded in current science and proven conservation practices. The bill requires the long-overdue update of the state’s...

www.howlforwildlife.org

Support SB 818 to Protect Communities, Livestock, and Mountain Lions

What SB 818 Does: Establishes a five-year pilot program, “Tree and Free,” in El Dorado County, allowing qualified houndspersons to use nonlethal methods to haze and deter mountain lions identified as potential threats. Aims to restore mountain lions’ natural cautious behavior around humans and...

www.howlforwildlife.org

 

[ReddingArcher]

Thanks for posting, it is a step in the right direction. Hopefully there will eventually be a season to take both with hounds.

 

[grizz19]

That’s what I’m hoping! We have been behind the eight ball with predator management out here for so long that anything positive like this is a breath of fresh air. Hoping we can get these pushed Through.

 

[JFK]

Signed both. I hope when they say “tree and free” they mean freeing them to the afterlife.

In all seriousness, I’m doubtful these bills gain traction in this state. I hope I’m wrong. And, while they aren’t asking the general population to decide on these as voter sponsored propositions, this too is ballot box biology. These decisions should be made by fish and game.

 

[limpet]

Signed both. I hope when they say “tree and free” they mean freeing them to the afterlife.

In all seriousness, I’m doubtful these bills gain traction in this state. I hope I’m wrong. And, while they aren’t asking the general population to decide on these as voter sponsored propositions, this too is ballot box biology. These decisions should be made by fish and game.

Unfortunately they took that choice away from fish and game in 2012 and the only way for that to change is for this bill to pass. I too doubt this will gain enough traction to do anything but hunters are slightly more aware of how making noise works now compared to then.

 

[grizz19]

Signed both. I hope when they say “tree and free” they mean freeing them to the afterlife.

In all seriousness, I’m doubtful these bills gain traction in this state. I hope I’m wrong. And, while they aren’t asking the general population to decide on these as voter sponsored propositions, this too is ballot box biology. These decisions should be made by fish and game.

Unfortunately they took that choice away from fish and game in 2012 and the only way for that to change is for this bill to pass. I too doubt this will gain enough traction to do anything but hunters are slightly more aware of how making noise works now compared to then.

Unfortunately I agree with both of you. I doubt these get any traction, especially here. I just wanted folks to be aware and maybe bug a few elected officials about it. I’m going to bring it up to the guys at the cattlemen’s meeting next week and see if we can’t rattle a few cages as well. Worth a shot

Ballot box biology sucks. Unfortunately it’s kinda where we are at at the moment. At least this is a positive for a change.

 

[Quercus]

I watched both hearings. SB 818 was amended/gutted in committee. AB 1038 came up two votes short (6/14 yes votes, eight needed) in committee.

SB 818 was a dumb bill and poorly presented IMO. I doubt it would have had any meaningful effect on lions anyway. It was a kind of a bizarre strategy used by Alvarado-Gil having the Brooks family be the key support witnesses, the uncle from Montana basically a spokesperson for them, and not a very compelling one at that. So two unarmed grown men got attacked by a mountain lion in a remote national forest area and they were trying to make it seem like some child got killed in their yard or something? Not compelling.

AB 1038 was a little better. Key support witnesses were a county sheriff and an environmental scientist who worked in Tahoe. A couple D committee members voted in favor, including Alvarez who said that he would more strongly support it if he heard from DFW/FGC saying hounds would be a useful tool.

IMO neither of the bills would make much of a difference anyway. Hounds or not, the CA bear quota and harvest is never going to be high enough to "manage" the population, especially selecting for big boars as hunters tend to do. You'd have to quadruple it. Not gonna happen, sorry.

Also, houndsmen already do tree and free on bears and lions in CA, they just do a good job of keeping it on the low. A non-trivial number of lions get taken by depredation and poaching too.

Best bet for helping deer is getting more good fire on the landscape. That will help with predation at the landscape level.

 

[Beendare]

Thanks for the update guys