LifeNRA
10-13-2007, 03:13 PM
Court Ruling Eliminates Bear Hunting in New Jersey
New Jersey bear hunt is history
October 1, 2007 (New Jersey)
New Jersey black bear hunting is a thing of the past for the foreseeable future.
On Sept. 27, the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division essentially ended bear hunting in the state when it ruled the bear management policy invalid. From the hunting program to bear research and population monitoring, the plan has been scrapped.
The court decided the case based on technical grounds. It decided that the plan is akin to a Department of Environmental Protection rule, and despite it having received approval in 2005 by then DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell and the New Jersey Fish and Game Council, the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy missed a few steps in the rulemaking process.
While the Court acknowledged that notice of opportunity to comment on the plan was published in the New Jersey Register, it concluded that the publication should have described the proposed plan in detail rather than referred the reader to a website where the full plan was available. The Court also concluded that a list of all persons commenting on the plan should have been included in the subsequent publication in the New Jersey Register announcing the adoption of the plan.
In the “silver lining” to the decision, the judges also commented that, if the plan had not been void for these technical reasons, Environmental Commissioner Lisa Jackson would have overstepped her authority when she unilaterally withdrew the state’s Black Bear Management Policy in 2006.
In this respect, the Court agreed with the argument of the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and other sportsmen’s groups, which had sued the state when Jackson arbitrarily discarded the approved plan, nixing the bear hunt.
New Jersey bear hunt is history
October 1, 2007 (New Jersey)
New Jersey black bear hunting is a thing of the past for the foreseeable future.
On Sept. 27, the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division essentially ended bear hunting in the state when it ruled the bear management policy invalid. From the hunting program to bear research and population monitoring, the plan has been scrapped.
The court decided the case based on technical grounds. It decided that the plan is akin to a Department of Environmental Protection rule, and despite it having received approval in 2005 by then DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell and the New Jersey Fish and Game Council, the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy missed a few steps in the rulemaking process.
While the Court acknowledged that notice of opportunity to comment on the plan was published in the New Jersey Register, it concluded that the publication should have described the proposed plan in detail rather than referred the reader to a website where the full plan was available. The Court also concluded that a list of all persons commenting on the plan should have been included in the subsequent publication in the New Jersey Register announcing the adoption of the plan.
In the “silver lining” to the decision, the judges also commented that, if the plan had not been void for these technical reasons, Environmental Commissioner Lisa Jackson would have overstepped her authority when she unilaterally withdrew the state’s Black Bear Management Policy in 2006.
In this respect, the Court agreed with the argument of the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and other sportsmen’s groups, which had sued the state when Jackson arbitrarily discarded the approved plan, nixing the bear hunt.