California Department of Fish and Wildlife Public Workshop on Implementation of Lead Ammunition Ban to be Held this Tuesday

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will hold a public workshop this Tuesday, August 12, to discuss implementation of the newly expanded ban on the use of lead ammunition for hunting throughout California.  This CDFW public workshop will be held from 7:00-8:30 p.m. at the Department of General Services Building located at 2550 Mariposa Mall in Fresno.  Following the CDFW presentation, hunters and other interested parties will be able to make public comment.

Last year, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 711 which requires the California Fish & Game Commission (CFGC) to adopt regulations to ban the use of lead ammunition for all hunting throughout California no later than July 1, 2015, and to fully implement and enforce such ban no later than July 1, 2019.

At the workshop this Tuesday, CDFW representatives will explain its proposed plan to implement the lead ammo ban.  The CDFW’s PowerPoint presentation is available on the CDFW website.  Although the NRA will continue our efforts to repeal this deeply flawed lead ammo ban and while many hunters, sportsmen and other outdoor enthusiasts have been somewhat disappointed by the CDFW’s prior workshops, we believe that we cannot simply avoid this process and ignore these public proceedings. Therefore, we urge NRA members to closely follow these events and attend when possible.  The participation of hunters in this process is necessary to closely monitor the CDFW’s and the CFGC’s actions to implement AB 711.  Accordingly, individuals and representatives of organizations should try to attend, or at least submit their concerns to the contacts referenced below.

Governor Brown directed the CDFW and the CFGC to work with all stakeholders and interested parties to adopt regulations that make implementation of AB 711 as minimally disruptive to the hunting community as possible.  But without question, implementing the lead ammo ban will have an extremely negative impact on hunting.

The CDFW has been holding AB 711 public workshops throughout the state, including previous workshops in Ventura in April and in Eureka in June.  After the Redding workshop, the CDFW plans to hold additional workshops later this year in Sacramento, San Diego, Fresno and Riverside/San Bernardino.

The CDFW anticipates presenting its recommendations to the CFGC at its September meeting in Sacramento.  Comments submitted to the CDFW may shape its final recommendation to the CFGC regarding implementation of the lead ammo ban.  To that end, comments should be emailed to [email protected] (please use “Nonlead implementation” in the subject line), and correspondence can be mailed to:

CDFW, Wildlife Branch

Attn: Nonlead implementation

1812 Ninth Street

Sacramento, CA 95811

Future Scheduled Meetings:

Tuesday, August 19

7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

Chaffey College

9375 Ninth Street

Rancho Cucamonga