New Jersey-2024-A2197-Introduced

An Act concerning consent requirements for deer management plans, and amending P.L.2000, c.46.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 2 of P.L.2000, c.46 (C.23:4-42.4) is amended to read as follows:

2. a. (1) Upon submission of an application pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2000, c.46 (C.23:4-42.3), or at any time thereafter, a county board of agriculture, municipal governing body, owner or operator of an airport, or county governing body may submit to the division, for its approval, a community based deer management plan proposing alternative control methods to reduce the number of deer in an area designated as a special deer management area pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2000, c.46. A county board of agriculture, municipal governing body, owner or operator of an airport, or county governing body may submit a community based deer management plan concurrently with an application to the division for designation of a special deer management area.

(2) Two or more municipalities may submit a single community based deer management plan for a special deer management area that covers more than one municipality.

(3) The county board of agriculture or the division may request the Center for Wildlife Damage Control in the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station at Rutgers, The State University, to coordinate and facilitate the development of a community based deer management plan.

(4) Notwithstanding any other law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, neither the division nor the Fish and Game Council shall require a county board of agriculture, a county governing body, a municipal governing body, or the owner or operator of an airport, as part of a community based deer management plan, to obtain the written consent of the owners of private lands situated in, or within 2,000 feet of, the designated special deer management area, in order for a law enforcement officer, an animal control officer, an agent thereof, or another authorized person to access or enter upon such private lands for the purposes of retrieving a deer darted for sterilization, or for other purposes associated with the authorized implementation of the deer management plan.

b. A community based deer management plan shall:

(1) delineate the boundaries of the special deer management area;

(2) describe the proposed alternative control methods to reduce the number of deer in the special deer management area, which may include the methods authorized pursuant to section 3 of P.L.2000, c.46 (C.23:4-42.5);

(3) identify any organization that will participate in the implementation of the alternative control methods proposed in the plan, and describe its qualifications;

(4) describe the methods that will be used to notify the public, including residents located within and adjacent to the special deer management area, of the alternative control methods proposed in the plan and the specific times and the specific places when and where they will be used;

(5) describe the precautions that will be taken to ensure the safety of the public;

(6) [document the written consent of each affected landowner for access to that person's land if access to private property is necessary to implement the plan] (deleted by amendment, P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill);

(7) attach a resolution, adopted by the governing body of the municipality in which the special deer management area is located, which endorses the community based deer management plan, except that this requirement shall not apply to a community based deer management plan submitted by a county governing body for lands owned by the county; and

(8) include such additional information as the division may determine to be necessary to properly review a community based deer management plan.

c. The division shall promptly review a community based deer management plan submitted pursuant to P.L.2000, c.46, and either approve the plan, approve the plan subject to modification, or disapprove the plan and return it to the applicant, setting forth in writing the reasons for its decision. If the division approves a community based deer management plan, the division shall submit it to the Fish and Game Council for its review and action pursuant to section 3 of P.L.2000, c.46 (C.23:4-42.5).

d. Whenever practicable, a community based deer management plan shall provide for the donation of deer in accordance with the venison donation program established pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1997, c.268 (C.23:4-42.7).

e. [For the purposes of] As used in P.L.2000, c.46 (C.23:4-42.3 et seq.), "alternative control method" or "alternative deer control method" means any technique, other than traditional hunting, employed to reduce a deer population, which may include, but need not be limited to, controlled hunting, shooting by an authorized agent, capture and euthanization, capture and removal, [and] or fertility control.

(cf: P.L.2010, c.54, s.2)

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

Existing law requires a deer management plan, adopted by a county board of agriculture, a county governing body, a municipal governing body, or the owner or operator of an airport, to document the written consent of all private landowners affected by the deer management plan, in order to authorize access to their private lands for the purposes of local deer management activities. This bill would amend the law to eliminate this consent requirement.

The bill would further specify that, notwithstanding any other law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, neither the Fish and Game Council nor the Division of Fish and Wildlife in the Department of Environmental Protection may require a county board of agriculture, a county governing body, a municipal governing body, or the owner or operator of an airport, as part of a community based deer management plan, to obtain the written consent of the owners of private lands situated in, or within 2,000 feet of, the designated special deer management area, in order to for a law enforcement officer, an animal control officer, an agents thereof, or another authorized person to access or enter upon such private lands for the purposes of retrieving a deer darted for sterilization, or for other purposes associated with the authorized implementation of the deer management plan.