Transcript:

Good morning and welcome to the California Fish and Game Commission meeting of February ninth here in Sacramento. Welcome, everybody to Natural Resource is building first. Then ask a direct acting executive record. Mike Yang Tau. Introduce everybody and give us the ground rules for the meeting. And but first, all of as for quick quorum call from Sherry or from Sergei, please. President. Scar here. Commissioner. Hustler Car Meson. Commissioner Burns, your Commissioner. Silver here. Great. Thank you, Director. Thank you, Presidents galore. They’re with me for a second while I try to get something opened up. You came trouble with the WiFi in the room. So everybody welcome to the meeting of the California Fish and Game Commission. This meeting is an atypical meeting and that it’s going to be a one day meeting. Items may be heard in any order pursuant to the determination the presiding commissioner. There’s important information about procedures for speaking on the agenda and submitting public documents in the back of the agenda. And there are copies of the agenda in the back of the room. Ah, if there’s if you, uh if you’re looking for the restrooms, this building has restrooms on this floor in the hall outside the adjacent to the lobby, past the elevators and the emergency exits are the way you came in, um, through the through the doors directly outside of the auditorium as faras meeting protocol. It’s worth noting that the commission operates under the States Open Meeting Act, the Bagley Keene Act. It our goal today is informed decision making. In that spirit, we all need to work together to make this happen. Thes proceedings are being recorded, video recorded and the are being live, streamed and will be posted on the website there. Live streamed at www dot cow span dot or GE. Any petitions for regulation change must be submitted in writing on the commission’s authorized petition form FTC one that can be found on the commission’s website. As Faras speaking. Uh, the amount of time for each agenda item to a member of the public is adjusted based on the time available in the number of speakers from by the presiding officer. Speaker cards need to be filled out allegedly and turned into staff before the agenda item starts. And that would be too one of the two commission staff members that air sitting down at the table over to my right or the public’s left. Will be calling several names at a time and I ask that you please line up behind the speaker lectern. The order is an important unless the presiding officer asked for somebody to speak first. If there’s just a number of people called just please come up as you’re available and and as quickly as possible to keep to keep the meeting going Where we asked that when you speak that you please state your name and any affiliation you’ll be on it will be a timer based on the amount of time given there’s a box. And that has both the time that you should have viewable to you and lights that indicate as your time is winding up. If you have a visual presentation it should have already been approved by staff. Otherwise you will not be allowed to To present that time is precious. So please we invite you to to say what you came here to say. Please be concise if at all possible Please be district. Please be respectful and avoid disruptions. Ah, praise and criticism are welcome. Personal attacks won’t be tolerated. We ask the public not approach any closer than the table in front of us, and this is the important one. Please don’t take the pens from the speaker card table. We’re a small state agency, and we don’t have many pens. If you take our pens than that will bring the meeting to a hold. Uh, if you want to hold up any banners or signs, please do that from the back just so that you don’t block the view of thie. Other meeting participants. And if your president’s car, if you’re okay, I’ll just do a quick introduction again. I’m Mike Yon. I’m acting executive director. To my left is Russell Hildreth, legal counsel from the Attorney General’s office. Marine advisor Susan Ashcraft is sitting far left. Next to her is Ari Kornman, the commission’s wildlife advisor Commission’s regulatory analyst, Sherry Fun Buena is somewhere in the room there, waving her hand and available for assistance. He may need assistance, and both Craig Castleton, commission analyst and Sergey can check are currently sitting at the commission staff table, which is where you had turn in the, uh, speaker cards. Or if you have any questions about about speaking or the order of the agenda. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife are sister agency were closely with is also in attendance. The director of the department, Chuck Bottom, is just to the publics left of the of the commissioners. Stafford Layer, deputy director of Wildlife and Fisheries division, is immediately next. Chuck and Dave Bess, Uh, deputy director and chief of law enforcement division, is also on the dice. Great. Thank you, Mike, and also want to recognize all the wardens were here today who are always here to keep things safe and do such a great job protecting our wildlife in this state. Our first order of business is just approving the agenda for today. Are there any request for change is on the agenda by commissioner staff. Sing on the agenda is approved. Next is election of commission President. Vice President, Do you have any speakers on this topic? With no public speakers, I throw it to the commission now, please, Director. I mean, a commissioner Burns? Yes, I would like Tio Receipt President Eric School are for another term for two thousand nineteen. And also see Jackie Hospital commerce in his vice president for in two thousand nineteen seconds. We have a motion and a second. Can we have a roll call, please? President Scar. Yes, Commissioner. Hostile car Meson? Yes. Commissioner Burns? Yes. Commissioners over. Thank you, Commissioner. I appreciate that very much. Next is Item three witches committee assignments and have any public comment on this saying that I would recommend with with a caveat that we keep the current committee assignments as they are. As we all know, there’s an empty seat here left by our dear friend Anthony Williams a cz. He took on a great new job with the governor. We’ll be honoring him later today, but in the meantime, I recommend that we see the commission. The committee’s as they are with, understand they were going to bring that will bring this back when we have a new commissioner. Hopefully soon. If that’s it, I’ll make that motion that we continue to Simon’s from last year. All second. I don’t think you’re old on this. All in favor. Aye. So approved. The next item is the recognition of former Commissioner Vice President Anthony Williams with his busy schedule and important meetings. This morning is gonna be a little later today. So we’re going to keep this is an open item until we get word when he’s coming over. I think it’ll be right after lunch. So anybody has come TTO honor Commissioner Williams. I’m sorry. I can’t tell you exactly when it’s going to be. But we will take that up later today. Which leads us to item number five, which is general public comment. This is an item for items not on the agenda if you have an interest in a specific agenda and please wait for that item. But Sergei, please call the speakers for public comment. Jenny cattle. Jeff Miller. Keith would start Jeff, Chester, Jennifer fearing. And Aaron, how you know when you hear name? Come on. All the way up in and please line up behind the first speaker. You don’t to go in the order that you recall. Just somebody come on up. State your name, please, and start speaking. Come on, please. Somebody come on up. Jennifer, you’ll go first, Right? Thank you. Good morning, Jennifer. Good morning, Presidents. Clark, Congratulations on your reelection. And Tio. Vice President Karmazin. Heart cost lor hustler Car meson. Excuse me. I’m Jennifer, fearing I’m here this morning on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife. And I wanted to ask that your commission agenda eyes action at your next meeting to support legislation that soon to be introduced, aimed at ensuring state review for potential ground water extraction projects in the California desert. Through acts of Congress and designations by past presidents, The California desert is home to national parks, preserves, monuments and wilderness areas that protect the unique ecological, cultural and historic values of the California desert. Yet the Trump Administration has instituted a series of direct actions that could undermine the future of California’s desert by paving the way for an environmentally disastrous project proposed by the Kiddies Corporation. This project will pump fifty thousand acre feet, or sixteen billion gallons of water annually for fifty years from an aquifer that the USGS concluded on ly recharges at an annual average rate of between two thousand ten thousand acre feet. It’s on with the kiddies lobbyists just being appointed as interior secretary. The stakes have just gone up. California must continue to protect its natural resource is, despite any attempt from the Trump Administration to rollback environmental protection. To that end, legislation will be introduced in the next two weeks, and we’d like to ask the Fish and Game Commission to consider coming in with early support of it. And then, on a lighter note on behalf of the Mountain Lion Foundation, I’m here with the two thousand nineteen Mountain Lion Cattelan Lion calendar, always a treat, and also wanted to share a new brochure that has just been published. That’s a joint effort by the National Park Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wild Futures, Western Wildlife Outreach Em, lf the Mountain Lion Foundation, Conservation Society of California, the Oakland Zoo and East Bay regional parks. And the purpose of the brochure, as you’ll see, is toe cover a wide range of topics of interest to the California public about mountain lion biology, signs of a mountain lion, safety tips, laws and reporting information. So we’re excited about such collaborations and hope we can continue with such endeavors. Great. Thanks. If you would just point out when that bill was introduced with the numbers to staff, we can have it on her legislative update for next meeting. Great. Thank you. And I just heard from a vice president. Former Vice President Williams, that right? He’s going around noon or anybody was waiting for that. Thanks for speaker, please. I’m sorry. Navy crew. Could you turn down the volume? Just a tiny bit. The speaker’s right over my head, and it’s really loud. Thank you. Good morning. I’m Jenny Keating, wildlife policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. I recently relocated to Sacramento from Washington, D. C. And I look forward to working with the Commission on Conservation Issues of Mutual Interest. Ah, one such issue, which is timely to know today, is the conservation in recovery of Grey wolves in California. As you’re aware, approximately one week ago, the court upheld the commission decision to protect gray wolves under the California Endangered Species Act. Andan light of your recent victory. The center encourages you to advance additional effort to support the return of this iconic, imperiled species to California’s public wildlands. A CZ you may recall in twenty fifteen the center petition to regulate night hunting and lethal trapping within GREYWOLF range similar to requirements already in place for a the state’s other sea solicited Kane IDs, namely the Sierra Nevada, Redd Foxx and the San Joaquin Kit Fox. However, my injury