Hearing to focus on using hunt to reduce numbers
BY ROB JENNINGS DAILY RECORD
A public hearing on the volatile bear hunt issue will be held next week in Trenton, the state Department of Environmental Protection said on Monday.
The acting chairwoman of the state Fish and Game Council, Jeannette A. Vreeland, said on Monday that a bear hunt is needed.
"There's just too many bears, and too many break-ins. For the safety of the people, it's needed," Vreeland said.
The DEP, which blocked a hunt endorsed last year by the Fish and Game Council, again is on the opposite side.
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A service of Southwick Associates, Inc.  www.SouthwickAssociates.com 

 

 Gas prices will impact fishing and hunting participation. According to a poll of 2,481 sportsmen and women conducted by AnglerSurvey.com and HunterSurvey.com in June, 2007, over half of all anglers and 40 percent of hunters indicated rising gas prices will cause them to reduce their outdoor activities or reduce their travel distance and boat use. The rest indicated that rising fuel prices would not hinder their outdoor activity, or were not sure of the impacts.

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By JAMES YOO
STAFF WRITER

BLOOMINGDALE
Dozens of environmental and government entities are urging state rejection of a developer's claim that putting a 360-unit town house complex on Federal Hill will only minimally affect the area's drainage.
The steep and rocky mountain, north of Route 23 and west of Route 287, is on the eastern rim of the state's Highlands region. That region generates water for millions of state residents.
The groups argue that unless the state enforces its drainage laws, the D.R. Horton project, as proposed, would open the door for other such development throughout the Highlands.
They assert that the Texas-based developer is flouting the state's Stormwater Management Rules and that the development could worsen flooding beneath the mountain tract.
 
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Jeff Golimowski
Washington (CNSNews.com) - A woman with short hair and glasses stands on a chair in a small meeting room on the first floor of the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. She's reading off the names of states and senators, directing dozens of people to meetings starting at 11 AM.

When she's through, most people listening leave to start their lobbying efforts. The rest converge on a table of food provided by the natural and organic grocery store Whole Foods.

Monday was the last day of the annual Taking Action for Animals Conference. After a weekend featuring speakers and group gatherings, this day is designated for lobbying.

"It's a very pragmatic and mainstream effort to encourage change in society to protect animals," said Nancy Perry, vice president of governmental affairs for the animal protection group, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

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PRESS RELEASE
 
 
For Immediate Release                                                      Contact:
July 31, 2007                                                                      Joanna Wolaver, NJAS 609-712-3622   
 
 

Governor Signs Green Acres, Farmland, Blue Acres & Historic Preservation Act
Voters Given Opportunity this November to Fund Programs for One Year

 
Princeton – Today, Governor Jon S. Corzine signed the Green Acres, Farmland, Blue Acres and Historic Preservation Act of 2007.  This legislation places a question on the November 6, 2007 ballot that asks New Jersey voters to authorize the state to issue $200 million in general obligation bonds to fund the state’s widely popular and successful Garden State Preservation Trust programs for one year.
 
The Keep It Green Campaign, a coalition of over 90 groups from across the state, applauds the Governor for signing this legislation. If approved by the voters, the Act will provide one year of funding to keep New Jersey’s current open space, farmland and historic preservation programs afloat, as well dedicate funds to begin the Blue Acres program, which will purchase flood prone properties.
 

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North Caldwell man helps develop contraceptive that could limit births
Monday, July 30, 2007
BY LAWRENCE RAGONESE
Star-Ledger Staff
New Jerseyans have captured, killed, harassed, scared and chased them. Volunteers search out their nests.
For the past couple of decades, it's been a pitched battle of humans versus Canada geese for control of golf courses, parks, corporate centers, beach areas and athletic fields statewide.
Now, there is a new, non-lethal tool in the fight to cut the Canada geese population: The pill.
A North Caldwell man and his California partner have developed a contraceptive that could limit Canada geese births. Just like in humans, Canada geese would have to take a prescribed regular daily dose of the drug and the likelihood of producing offspring would be quite low.
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(published in AIM. a weekly in sussex county, friday, July 27, 2007, written by a former star-ledger reporter)  lake wanda's in vernon, nj
 
By Jessi Paladini

    Two weeks ago I got several calls from Lake Wanda residents wanting to speak with me about the bear situation that was getting out of control in their community.

    They gave reports of neighbors fighting neighbors, stalking and videotaping, and a plethora of charges filed in municipal court against each other. Thinking it might be a good topic to write about, I went to Lake Wanda on a Sunday afternoon to speak with the Fish and Wildlife officials who were there to check on a bear trap they had set for a nuisance bear.

     The residents said the bears made them prisoners in their own homes, and they alleged the bear activists in the neighborhood victimized them with false charges if they tried to address the problem. When I was there I confirmed with my own eyes what I had known for some time—Lake Wanda has a unique variety of black bear not found in many other parts in the county or state. Amusingly, I also became a victim for one of the bear activists.  
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By KIM SEVERSON
Watkins Glen, N.Y.
THE first farm animal Gene Baur ever snatched from a stockyard was a lamb he named Hilda.
That was 1986. She’s now buried under a little tombstone near the center of Farm Sanctuary, 180 acres of vegan nirvana here in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.
Back then, Mr. Baur was living in a school bus near a tofu factory in Pennsylvania and selling vegetarian hot dogs at Grateful Dead concerts to support his animal rescue operation.
Now, more than a thousand animals once destined for the slaughterhouse live here and on another Farm Sanctuary property in California. Farm Sanctuary has a $5.7 million budget, fed in part by a donor club named after his beloved Hilda. Supporters can sign up for a Farm Sanctuary MasterCard. A $200-a-seat gala dinner in Los Angeles this fall will feature seitan Wellington and stars like Emily Deschanel and Forest Whitaker.
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The Express-Times
It's a fact of life that everything eventually increases in price. From the rise in cost of gasoline to the rapid growth in real estate prices, this region has certainly seen its share of price hikes in recent years.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and the Pennsylvania Game Commission have both raised some of their deer hunting permit fees for 2007.
It's a move that may displease some sportsmen but is also a necessity for the agencies considering their daily operating costs continue to rise while hunting license sales are on the decline and regular license fee increases, which are instituted by state Legislature, happen rather infrequently.
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Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/23/07
BY CHERYL MILLER CORRESPONDENT

She'll have to contact the Monmouth County SPCA, which takes injured birds, Janine Motta of the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance tells her. "But they won't come get him; you'll have to take him there yourself," she says.

The woman questions the necessity of having to bring the dove to the Eatontown-based animal shelter, but Motta urges her to do so. "If he's an adult, any cut will attract maggots and flies and spell death for him," she says firmly.

The woman concurs and hangs up.

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Posted by the Asbury Park Press
BY MICHELE S. BYERS
If New Jersey were offered a 400-acre island free of cost amid urban communities with little prospect for open space, accepting it would be a no-brainer, right? Especially when funds for land preservation are dwindling. The answer should be a resounding "Yes." But so far, New Jersey has declined this unprecedented gift.
The 400-acre Petty's Island sits in the Delaware River, roughly situated between Camden and Philadelphia. Sixty percent of it is forested and the remainder includes an oil tank farm and shipping port. Citgo Petroleum Corp. has offered to donate the island to the state for free.
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WEST MILFORD -- More than two years after state officials said they would tackle the problem of bears raiding suburban garbage cans, more than 3,000 bruin-proof containers are being delivered to selected neighborhoods.
The cans, made of heavy-gauge plastic, are being placed in front of selected homes -- two per household -- by Department of Public Works employees.

Friday, July 20, 2007 bergen record

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July 9, 2007 (updated 7/20/07)

At the recommendation of the Atlantic Flyway Council, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has approved the use of special regulations to help curb the growth of Resident Population Canada geese, beginning in 2007. The special regulations are optional. The following new regulations apply:

• Electronic calls are permitted.
• Shotguns capable of holding no more than 7 shells (including magazine and chamber) are permitted.
• Hunting hours: ½ hour before sunrise to ½ hour after sunset. Note that this allows hunting ½ hour later than during previous years.

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Vernon Township is in the middle of New Jersey with the highest concentration of black bears. That's led to a number on ongoing complaints about the furry marauders who have pretty much made it a frightening proposition for some residents to wander in their yards or walk their pets without facing encounters with bears some residents say "just won't go away."

Unfortunately, it's also home to several activists who have opposed the state's efforts to control the bear population with two one-week hunts in 2003 and 2005. One, Albert Kazemian, 50, apparently doesn't care that his neighbors don't want the bears around.

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newton(nj) herald


By COLIN McEVOY


VERNON — A Lake Wanda bear activist was arrested early Tuesday morning for tampering with a bear trap by spreading human urine around it.

It was just the latest in a series of incidents in the Highland Lakes neighborhood — not only between residents and bears, but between residents and bear activists — in what has been dubbed the county's "ground zero" for bear activity.

Albert Kazemian, 50, was arrested at ten after midnight on Tuesday, after Department of Environmental Protection Fish and Wildlife officers observed trespassing on a residence and pouring a jug of human urine around the trap, to repel the bears.

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OUTDOORS ED ZIERALSKI

By Ed Zieralski
UNION-TRIBUNE

Access is the most important thing when it comes to hunting, fishing or participating in any form of outdoor recreation.

“No access means no fishing, and the threat to our sportfishing heritage is real,” said Gordon Robertson of the American Sportfishing Association.

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By DANIEL WALSH Staff Writer, (856) 794-5111
Published: Wednesday, July 11, 2007

It soon could be illegal to give a child a toy gun if it looks like a real one.

A northern New Jersey state senator introduced a bill last month making the gift a criminal offense.

“The margin between a child's stupid mistake and a tragic ending is far too thin,” said state Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, Middlesex, Somerset.

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