To: The New Jersey State House, The New Jersey State Senate, and Governor Phil Murphy
Switch Control of Division of Fish/Wildlife to Dept. of Ag.
Petition to support NJ Assembly Bill 3813. This Bill is intended to transfer the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife and its related entities to the Dept. of Agriculture. This move will allow the Dept. of Agriculture to ensure the proper control of the wildlife population for the benefit of not only NJ Agriculture but for the health, safety and welfare of all NJ Residents.
Why is this important?
Everyone in the State of New Jersey recognizes that Deer population has grown out of control. Not only does the high deer population adversely affect local farmers and agriculture, they also destroy landscaping, pose a health hazard with the growth of Lyme and other deer tick borne diseases as well as cause thousands of accidents on our roads every year. By moving the Division of Fish and Wildlife from the Department of Environmental Protection to the Department of Agriculture, ultimate control will be vested in a Department that understands the harm that the mismanagement of NewJersey Wildlife causes each year. Perhaps more importantly, this move will also put the ultimate control of the management of over 350,000 acres of open space in New Jersey into an agency that recognizes the importance of management of that open space for the benefit of all people, not just a limited number of hunters. Currently every year more and more farm land is taken out of active farming and allowed to grow up into brush and weeds by the Division of Fish and Wildlife.