Friday, March 25, 2011

Pending construction of solar plant in Arizona leads to the end of a popular hunt

In what may be a harbinger of things to come, construction of a solar power plant in the West has led to cancellation of a popular hunt.

After the Arizona Game and Fish Commission scratched the pronghorn antelope hunt, Chair Robert Woodhouse "said this was the first time in the commission's history it canceled a hunt because of a public access closure," Joanna Dodder Nellans of The Daily Courier of Prescott reports. Chino Grande Ranch "owners informed Game and Fish last week that they won't allow any hunting this fall on the nearly 50,000-acre ranch in the Big Chino Valley, so the commission members voted to cancel the entire 19B hunt and its 65 antelope tags." The ranch accounts for about a third of the antelope habitat in state area 19B.

Arizona Senate Majority Whip Steve Pierce, a Prescott-area rancher, told Nellans he is concerned about the continuing loss of hunting access of private property, but he said he understands private landowners have the right to close off their land. Ranch co-owner Larry Geare said "The antelope will have plenty of room to roam" even aftre the plant is built. (Read more)

No comments: