Excessive wildlife, and the economic and natural resource losses to farmers, homeowners, businesses and public lands caused by such wildlife populations, continue at critical levels. The 1999 Report to the Governor on Deer Management in New Jersey pointed out that hunting alone as a deer control methodology is not effectively resolving the problem in many areas and that additional tools and approaches to deal with the over-abundance of deer are needed. The report proposed recommendations to control excessive deer populations through new management initiatives, legislative actions to provide public funding for additional deer control, and for deer research and public education. This approach is essential not only to control the deer population, but also that of black bears, geese, European Starlings, turkeys, and small mammals, whose populations have outgrown the carrying capacity of their natural habitats.

Wildlife management requires a multidisciplinary and inter-governmental approach that provides sound scientific support for effectively designed and implemented control measures that reach across multiple jurisdictions and constituencies. The agencies committed to wildlife management must seek greater levels of cooperation with each other to make the most of available resources, streamline the permitting process, and simplify outreach and education so that the general public is made aware of the health and safety, economic, and environmental problems that wildlife pose, and ensure that the programs developed to manage the excessive populations are efficiently and effectively administered.

The USDA and New Jersey Department of Agriculture took the first steps in achieving a collaborative approach to wildlife management through the development of the Wildlife Memorandum of Understanding and the establishment of the Wildlife Management Inter-agency Working Group, respectively. These initiatives bring together the leading officials in wildlife management to work cooperatively to implement action-oriented programs designed to reduce the impact of wildlife on our farms, open space, and communities. The commitment of the staffs of these committees must now be matched by funding to implement the programs and activities they develop.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the delegates to the 90th State Agricultural Convention, assembled in Atlantic City, New Jersey on January 24-26, 2005, emphatically urge the New Jersey Fish and Game Council and/or the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife to:
· Continue to support and provide all the necessary funding for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s interagency efforts to resolve wildlife management issues.
· Allow any and all depredation permits to be valid for one year and streamline the process for renewal.
· Expedite the approval and implementation of new community-based programs, as they become available, to provide the much needed additional tools for the control of deer and wildlife populations.
· Continue to support a black bear hunting season in successive years.
· Continue to work with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to extend the statewide resident goose season year-round, and increase the daily bag limit except during times of migration.
· Encourage the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to issue a general depredation order for resident Canada geese.
· Increase the number of available turkey hunting permits in recognition of the growth of the turkey population throughout the state, and conduct research on turkey damage.
· Include an Agricultural Impact Statement in the environmental impact study for any proposal to re-introduce any wildlife species into New Jersey.
· Investigate the feasibility of a pilot program for using harvested geese in feeding programs for the hungry.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we respectfully request the New Jersey Legislature to:
· Pass legislation to permanently and adequately fund wildlife management programs, including the restoration of the DEP deer fencing program.
· Pass legislation that requires all publicly owned lands purchased or operated with any public funds to develop site-specific wildlife management plans, approved by F&W, in consultation with the Department of Agriculture.
· Pass legislation to annually appropriate funds to continuing statewide deer control and venison donation program whereby hunters and farmers can donate deer harvested by hunting, depredation permits and other special programs to charitable public feeding organizations.
· Evaluate and strengthen the Landowner Liability Law to provide additional protections for landowners, especially for those who allow essential hunting to control wildlife damage, thereby encouraging the opening of additional lands for that purpose.
· Consider legislation authorizing and funding F&W to make restitution to farmers for wildlife damage to crops, livestock and bee hives and for costs incurred for materials and labor used to prevent damage caused by wildlife.
· Enact legislation requiring insurance companies doing business in New Jersey to gather, maintain and submit annually to the Departments of Insurance and Banking, Agriculture and F&W data on motor vehicle accidents involving wildlife.
· Enact legislation to annually appropriate funds for wildlife damage surveys for New Jersey, wildlife damage research, and education at the Rutgers/NJAES Center for Wildlife Damage Control.
· Enact legislation to annually appropriate funds to the Division of Fish and Wildlife for wildlife control and educational programs.
· Enact legislation that further supports hunting for black bear or other wildlife species currently regulated by the Fish and Game Council.
· Support the current composition and continued autonomy of the Fish and Game Council.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we respectfully request New Jersey’s Congressional Delegation to sponsor and support federal legislation to increase, by at least $295,000, for USDA, APHIS, Wildlife Services budget for staffing and support for a pilot Cooperative Waterfowl Damage Management Program in New Jersey.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we express our extreme concern that the data and mapping assembled by the Division of Fish and Wildlife into what is known as the “landscape project” are being inappropriately applied by the general public and regulatory agencies at all levels of government to characterize significant areas of cropland as “environmentally sensitive”. Such designations, seemingly done with little or no ground truthing or scientific verification, often can lead to down-zoning of land and further erosion of property rights and agricultural land value. As such, the use of such information should be suspended until the quality, veracity and reliability of the data presented through the "landscape project" can be established.