Session info from ICA

[Fishbonker]

Looks like things are starting a little early this year. Below is a copy and paste of an email sent out today by the Iowa Conservation Alliance. The formatting doesn't match exactly so it looks a little different than the email.

Iowa Conservation Alliance

1 Month To The Start of the 2020 Legislative
Session

2020 Session
Starts On Monday, January 13

In a little more than one month the next session
of the Iowa Legislature will begin.

The 100 day long meeting of the House and
Senate is set to conclude on April, 21, the day per diem payments for
Legislators end.

Key Dates For The 2020 Iowa Legislative Session


January 13 - First day of the 2020 Legislative Session

• February 21 -
  "First Funnel," the day by which bills must be approved by at
  least one committee in the bill's chamber of origin to remain eligible for
  further consideration this Legislative session.
• March 20 -
  "Second Funnel," the day by which a bill must be approved by at
  least one committee in the bill's non-originating chamber to remain
  eligible for further consideration this Legislative session.
• April 21 - 100th
  calendar day of the Legislative Session (Lawmaker per diem expenses end)

Your Help Is Needed To Pass Effective Wild Animal Disease Management Legislation

The Iowa Conservation Alliance is urging lawmakers to pass legislation that allows for the effective management of disease outbreaks in wild animal populations.

Reports of Chronic Wasting Disease and
Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (blue tongue) make passage of this important
policy even more urgent.

Please send a short message today to the key
lawmakers below and urge them to:

Pass effective wild animal disease outbreak management legislation this upcoming Legislative
Session

• Currently Iowa is one of a small number of states where the Department of Natural Resources
  does not have statutory authority to act to contain disease outbreaks in
  the wild animal population.
• Iowa needs pass effective legislation before a disastrous outbreak occurs.

Key lawmakers to contact:

Rep. Rob Bacon - rob.bacon@legis.iowa.gov

Rep. Terry Baxter - terry.baxter@legis.iowa.gov

Rep. Scott Ourth - scott.ourth@legis.iowa.gov

Sen. Ken Rozenboom - ken.rozenboom@legis.iowa.gov

Sen. Tom Shipley - tom.shipley@legis.iowa.gov

Sen. Robb Hogg - rob.hogg@legis.iowa.gov

 

[Sligh1]

Thanks for posting FB! Not a skeptic & clearly want to help.... Do we have any language or examples on what this legislation would do? Or, some examples of what other states do or able to do where DNR is able to act on disease?

 

[IowaBowHunter1983]

Thanks for posting FB! Not a skeptic & clearly want to help.... Do we have any language or examples on what this legislation would do? Or, some examples of what other states do or able to do where DNR is able to act on disease?

See illinois and Michigan! Sharp shooter around every corner on cwd outbreak

 

[Rjack]

Not a fan.

 

[mplane72]

I'm not sure what the right answer is.

I generally lean towards supporting and believing scientists in the DNR but I think they need to do a better job explaining what a containment plan would look like in action and what they think the long term effects of implementation would be. I don't fully buy into the sky is falling kill em all approach. On the other hand I think a lot of the people that 100 percent rail against the doing anything about CWD being a serious concern have their heads in the sand and are motivated by the financial implications.

I'd rather see the HUSH contribution go towards financing some serious study.

Curious why EHD is mentioned. What can they do about that?

Also, saw a new CWD report in Sioux City in the news today.

 

[Fishbonker]

Thanks for posting FB! Not a skeptic & clearly want to help.... Do we have any language or examples on what this legislation would do? Or, some examples of what other states do or able to do where DNR is able to act on disease?

I don't know what is being discussed for this session as far as wildlife disease control/prevention. Last years bill was chock full of non disease related stuff. There is a new Speaker of the House this year. The previous speaker had backing from a large breeder and she was able to quash the bills in years past.

As far as sharpshooters the Iowa DNR does not have the funds nor the will to use this method of disease control. It is my belief from talking with some folks that the DNR would rather the hunters take the lead in disease control. I think they have the approach that they can lead a hose to water but they can't make it drink. In other words they can give us all the info but they can't make the hunters act on it. Based on past bills I think any new bill would be more geared toward slowing the spread not eradication, I think there would be language about transporting carcasses from CWD areas, mineral piles and giving the DNR the ability to enact wildlife disease control plans. CWD is the corner stone of the plan but who knows in the coming years what diseases may pop up that affect birds, fish and other game animals.

As far as what can be done about EHD, I don't know but I think a lot of legislators have taken notice.

As you all probably know there is a new Director for the DNR. I don't know what her legislative goals are but we will find out.

Other state's disease plans run the gamut from hands off, wildlife diseases aren't a problem to kill them all. Unfortunately disease control of any kind represents change to the way we hunt and when it comes to change nobody is happy.

 

[Fishbonker]

Also, saw a new CWD report in Sioux City in the news today.

I heard there were two but I assumed they were in the NE Iowa zones. I called the CWD Elkader number yesterday because I had dropped off a head on the 25th and the CWD results page didn't have any records for that head. The person that returned my call said the holiday put them behind. OK, I'm not out to bust any balls. Then I asked about the head I dropped off on the 11th that was still listed as "pending". He told me the problem was they had "some positives" and when that happens they don't post any results from that batch of tests until the positive has been confirmed by the national lab. I checked my results again today and they were negative. I have since heard that there were two positives but again, I assumed they were in the NE zones.

 

[mplane72]

I heard there were two but I assumed they were in the NE Iowa zones. I called the CWD Elkader number yesterday because I had dropped off a head on the 25th and the CWD results page didn't have any records for that head. The person that returned my call said the holiday put them behind. OK, I'm not out to bust any balls. Then I asked about the head I dropped off on the 11th that was still listed as "pending". He told me the problem was they had "some positives" and when that happens they don't post any results from that batch of tests until the positive has been confirmed by the national lab. I checked my results again today and they were negative. I have since heard that there were two positives but again, I assumed they were in the NE zones.

https://ktiv.com/2019/12/04/iowa-dnr-places-deer-disease-surveillance-priority-on-woodbury-county/

OK. I guess not fully confirmed yet.

Thanks for keeping us up to date on these things Bonker.

 

[Fishbonker]

OK. I guess not fully confirmed yet.

Might as well be, I've not heard of a presumptive positive that was not confirmed by the national lab. Interesting side bar, the early archery season samples will all be tested in Ames, if they are found to be positive they will be sent to the national lab, you guessed it, in Ames. I wonder if it's down the hall or just a different work station in the same lab. All of the shotgun and late season samples will be going to Colorado and if positive sent back to Ames for confirmation. I'm not sure, but I'm assuming Colorado has more capacity than Ames (I just can't bring my self to type the actual name of the junior college that is in Ames) when you take into consideration that all of the presumptive positives are sent to Ames.

I found this quote from the link to be reassuring that Iowa will not try the "kill them all" method of CWD control:

“We will be looking to collect additional samples from hunter-harvested and road-killed deer but, at this point, we are not planning to increase the number of deer harvested in the area as the local herd density is at or below our population goals,” said Bishop.