(10-17-2006) In apparent disregard for a law it once heralded as a triumph, the Ehrlich administration has reduced acreage of state property available to sportsmen for hunting and at the same time ignored a deadline for its Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to report on land it manages.
On May 10, 2005, Governor Bob Ehrlich signed into law HB 1086, the "Maryland Hunting Heritage Protection Act", which guarantees "no net loss" of state land available for hunting. (Whenever state land is made unavailable for hunting, the law requires that other properties be opened up so there is "no net loss.") The same law also requires an annual accounting of lands managed by DNR.
At the time, GOP officials were quick to claim credit for the party's work on behalf of sportsmen, obviously eager to promote news which might counterbalance the impact of the Governor's firearm policy flipflops in the eyes of gunowners.
Yet DNR's first reporting deadline of October 1, 2006 - almost a year and a half after the law took effect - came and went with no report submitted to the General Assembly, and none in sight. Worse, this deadline passed as the state closed hunting lands in Western Maryland without opening other properties as required by law.
As first reported in the Times-News, the administration recently created a "no-hunting / no-weapons zone" on state land in the Savage River State Forest, apparently in support of the commercial interests of a private resort near the property in Garrett County. The basis for this closure is itself being publically questioned by local officials, and to date no announcement has yet been made about how the state has guaranteed "no net loss" of hunting lands.
DNR officials familiar with developments privately concede these actions paint a picture of an administration that has little regard for the interests of sportsmen. We are still waiting for on-the-record comment on the Ehrlich administration's failure to meet reporting obligations in the "Hunting Heritage Protection Act", or for how (if at all) they intend to meet the Act's no net loss obligation for hunters.
Story is developing -- more as it happens.