Senator wants expanded commission, more oversight

BY:DANA GENTRY– MARCH 2, 20216:39 AM

     https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2021/03/02/activists-hunters-have-stranglehold-on-nevada-wildlife/

Habitat, not predators, is the major factor determining mule deer numbers in Nevada. (Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

Nevada’s Department of Wildlife needs more oversight, says state Sen. Pete Goicoechea, who is sponsoringlegislationto add two members to the Wildlife Commission. But environmentalists and animal activists say the measure would tilt the board even more in favor of hunting, trapping and fishing interests.

The WildlifeCommission is the “the least democratic of all state boards or commissions which provide oversight to a public resource,” says Donald Molde of the Nevada Wildlife Alliance. “In fact, I’m not sure there is another that is so tilted.”

By law, Nevada’s nine-member Wildlife Commission, which has wide latitude to enact policy and spend money, must have five “sportsmen,” i.e. hunters, fishermen or trappers…