Nonresident Cap
The meeting will begin with an executive session at 7 a.m., with the public session starting no later than 9 a.m. at the Manor House Conference Center, 415 E. Highway 70, Safford.
The alternatives were developed in response to a recent U.S. District Court ruling that declared unconstitutional the state’s 10-percent cap on nonresident permits for certain big game species. They were chosen by the commission from a larger group of options considered at its August meeting, at which time the commission directed the Game and Fish Department to begin collecting public input and developing rule and statutory language to be considered at the September meeting.
The department has received extensive public comment, both from a series of meetings held throughout the state, August 18-27, and from an online survey that was e-mailed and posted on its website.
“We’re very pleased with the level of feedback we’ve received from the public,” says Executive Staff Assistant Dana Yost. “More than 7,100 survey responses were returned, and approximately 350 people attended the meetings.”
The alternatives before the public and the commission are:
• Award additional bonus points for continuous support. Also referred to as "loyalty points," these points would be awarded to people who have been applying for big game hunts or buying licenses consecutively for a designated period of time, for example, for five years.
• Award a conservation bonus point to individuals who participate in wildlife work projects. There are several variations of this proposal that have been developed with public input.
• Charge up-front for applications over the Internet, using electronic funds transfers instead of credit cards, or do away with the online application process altogether.
• Increase license and permit fees, which would require legislation.
• Require all big game drawing applicants to purchase a hunting license.
• Increase the draw application fees. This would require legislation.
• Increase the bonus point pass percentage from 10 percent to 20 percent, which would mean setting aside 20 percent of big game permits for individuals with the most bonus points.
• Create a nonresident set-aside based on capped percentages and conduct a separate nonresident draw for these tags.
• Create commercial and noncommercial big game tags, with 90 percent of the tags designated as noncommercial (not allowing the sale of parts), available only to residents, and 10 percent as commercial (allowing the sale of parts), available equally to residents and nonresidents.
The commission may vote to take action on, or to provide the department with further direction on, each of the alternatives. Those that are approved and require rulemaking will then move into the formal rulemaking process, where additional public comment will be accepted prior to development of a final rule package to be submitted to the commission at its December meeting in Phoenix.
Rule making for the changes is on a fast track so the department can implement the changes by April of next year, when the commission adopts big game hunt orders for the 2005-06 hunting season.
To view the commission meeting agenda, go to the commission meeting agenda page at azgfd.com.
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