by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
The Daily Sentinel
The Common Sense Institute (CSI) just published an analysis of the economic impact of hunting and fishing in Colorado, to help inform debate on a November ballot measure called Amendment 83. It would enshrine in the state constitution the right of the people to hunt and fish. As one of the report’s co-authors, I attended a forum where we were asked, “Why not just eliminate hunting and fishing and let nature take over?”
Many Coloradans may not fully understand what the absence of hunting and fishing might look like. It is a scenario they do not want.
Amendment 83 appears simply to restate existing laws and processes. It would amend the Colorado constitution to make hunting and fishing a right for Colorado’s 874,000 fishing license holders and 378,000 hunting license holders. It would specify hunting and fishing as the preferred wildlife management option, ensure no trespass on private property or changes to property rights and would not limit the authority of state agencies to license and regulate these activities. People in the state already have the right to hunt and fish, which is already the primary management tool; trespassing is already illegal; and the state already licenses and regulates hunting and fishing. But those systems are in statutes, so they are subject to changes by legislation or ballot initiatives — there have been 17 such attempts in recent years. Constitutionally, there are no guarantees, though 24 states have such language in their constitutions.
The relationship between sportsmen and conservation should be better understood, as it began with the effort to save the buffalo. In 1800, there were an estimated 25 million buffalo in North America. I have copies of the fascinating journals of Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike and Stephen Long. All three expeditions crossed the Great Plains exploring, mapping and documenting the new Louisiana Purchase at the beginning of the 19th century. All three described seemingly infinite herds of buffalo and elk. Pike and Long both said the prairie was black with so many buffalo they couldn’t be counted, herds that stretched farther than the eye could see. By 1885, they were gone. The great herds were virtually exterminated in less than a decade — almost every single one. Similarly, by 1900 only 40,000 elk remained in North America.
