SF 83 Dove Bill (UPDATED)

[ElkHunter]

Iowa Conservation Alliance Member Organizations –

The Dove bill (SF83) passed the Senate Natural Resources Committee last Thursday and now is eligible for debate in the Iowa Senate (the bill still must be placed on the debate calendar). The legislation is very simple--the bill simply grants the DNR the same authority to set a season for doves, as it currently does for every other game species in the state of Iowa (view SF83 at http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=billinfo&Service=Billbook&hbill=SF83 ). This may be an opportune moment to achieve the passage of this legislation.

In a conference call on Monday evening, a majority of ICA organizations voted unanimously (with no abstentions) to support rapid debate and passage of the bill by the Senate, with the same action in the House. We need all ICA organizations to activate their grass roots membership, asking them to contact their personal Senators to encourage debate and passage. If your organization agrees, please provide the following information to your members and ask them to contact their own state Senator. Contact information for the Senate follows at the end of this email.

WHAT THIS IS ABOUT – The Dove Bill (SF 83)

The Iowa Conservation Alliance (ICA) encourages the Iowa Senate to quickly debate and pass the Dove Bill (SF 83), recently passed by the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee. This bill grants the Iowa DNR authority to set a hunting season for mourning doves, just as the agency does for all other game--based on biological data that ensures the species long term welfare. Iowa hunters would welcome a dove season, and the season would provide both increased hunting opportunity and an economic boost for Iowa, particularly for rural economies. Here are dove facts that Senators may be interested in learning:

1. <LI style="COLOR: black; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class=MsoNormal>This bill simply grants the Iowa DNR authority to set a hunting season for mourning doves, as the agency already does for all other game in the state. <LI style="COLOR: black; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class=MsoNormal>Hunting seasons in Iowa are based on biological data that ensures the long term welfare of the game species in question. <LI style="COLOR: black; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class=MsoNormal>Mourning doves are abundant. Doves are among the most abundant birds in the US. Iowa’s densities are among the highest reported on the National Breeding Bird Survey. <LI style="COLOR: black; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class=MsoNormal>Iowa’s doves can be hunted with virtually no impact to long term populations. Research has shown hunting has little impact on dove numbers. About 1 million U.S hunters annually harvest about 17-20 million birds, representing just 5% to 7% of the fall population. <LI style="COLOR: black; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class=MsoNormal>Doves are monitored in Iowa with the Call-Count and Breeding Bird surveys, which indicate Iowa doves have remained stable over the last 4 decades.
2. Doves have a high annual mortality, regardless of hunting. Each year 60% of doves die--disease, weather, predators and hunting cause most losses. Doves offset these losses with high reproduction. On average a single pair of doves produces 5 young annually.

7. There are many economic reasons for a dove season:
· The mourning dove is the #1 US game bird (with annual populations approaching ½ billion).
· Hunters in all states adjoining Iowa can hunt doves (these birds are, in fact, hunted in 40 states nationally)
· The DNR projects that 20,000 Iowa dove hunters would harvest 300,000 birds per year, contributing $6.9M to the Iowa economy
· At those levels, dove hunting would generate $462,000 in sales tax revenue for Iowa
· Here is the link to more information in the Dove FAQ on the Iowa DNR website ( http://www.iowadnr.gov/wildlife/files/files/mdove_qa.pdf ).

How to Contact your Senator—

Get information to contact Senators through this link (http://www.legis.iowa.gov/Legislators/senate.aspx) (find phone and email contacts just by typing in your hometown). Alternately, here is a Senate map ( http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Maps.html ). Senators may be contacted by phone or email, or in person. Ask their assistance in quickly passing this bill, and messaging it to the House of Representatives for debate.

· Call or email early this week in the Legislature (Iowa Senate switchboard is 515-281-3371—just ask for your Senator). It would be best to talk to them in person on the phone, or leave a message.
· Contact Legislators on weekends at home at political forums (listening posts, Eggs and Issues Breakfasts, etc).

Importantly, Senate Leadership should also be contacted and asked to place the Dove Bill on the Senate Calendar for debate this week. Contact Majority Leader Senator Mike Gronstal’s office at 515-281-3901. Simply state that you are in favor of the Dove Bill, and would like the legislation placed on the calendar for debate and passage this week.

 

[scottonbuck]

I hope this passes as dove hunting is a blast.

 

[dkelley]

I voiced my support for this to Cedar Rapids Senator Rob Hogg who is on the Natural Resources Committee and received this reply:

Thank you for your email. I appreciate hearing about your support for dove hunting.

I am opposed to the dove hunting bill, and I believe the majority of my constituents are against it. However, it did pass out of Senate Natural Resources Committee, and is now eligible for a vote on the Senate floor.

Thanks again, and feel free to contact me again in the future.
​

I then asked why he was against it and received this reply:

I don’t have strong personal feelings on the issue, but it is clear to me over the nine years in office that the majority of my constituents (probably a significant majority) are against the idea. I get a lot more calls and emails against it, and I have had a lot more people to talk to me about their opposition to it.

Rob
​

This comes up every year and baffles me why this can't make it through in Iowa.

 

[DannyBoy]

I hope it passes but wish there were a way for more of the money from it to go to the dnr. Never dove hunted and probably wouldn't spend much time doing so but I've heard it's a blast!

 

[THA4]

All, If you care about having a Dove Season in Iowa, please take the time to call your senator, it appears the vote is still in need of your support. It will not happen if you don’t contact your Senators NOW!!! Your message is short and simple: “I support a dove season in Iowa. Please give the Iowa DNR the authority to set a dove season.” Every single Senator must hear this repeatedly from their constituents. Please pass along to your committee and email contact lists.

Get information to contact Senators through this link (http://www.legis.iowa.gov/Legislators/senate.aspx) (find phone and email contacts just by typing in your hometown). Alternately, here is a Senate map ( http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Maps.html ). Senators may be contacted by phone or email, or in person.

Please see the email note below from today


I just got through on the Switchboard and took about 15min; the lady on at the switchboard told me as of yesterday and today the vote stands at 100 No for call in’s to about 35 YES. Get the phone ringing for the YES side.
Tim Powers
WTU

Thank You,

John B. Linquist | Regional Representative - Western Iowa
Pheasants Forever, Inc. and Quail Forever | 919 7th St | Sibley, IA 51249
p. (712) 754-3221 | f. (712) 754-3082 | m. (712) 461-0877 | jlinquist@pheasantsforever.org

Help bring Iowa back to the Glory Days, help Reload Iowa today!
Check us out at: http://www.IowaPF.org or http://www.pheasantsforever.org

Just got this in an email. Even if you don't dove hunt, it is of value to Iowa hunters. Please make the call and support it!!!!

 

[NWBuck]

Listened to a radio program interviewing a local legislator on this bill. His take was this...even though he supports the idea in theory, it's all about priorities. He seemed to think passing this would take a day and a half of debate at minimum, and figured with only 100 days or fewer in session, they couldn't justify the floor time that would be spent on this bill over other bills higher on the priority list. Guess that makes sense to me...except I really don't understand why this item would take so much time to debate on the floor

NWBuck

 

[IA ML'r]

Here's the latest on the Dove bill:
Placement of the bill on the debate calendar and its subsequent passage are far from assured. Calls are running about 50/50 on the bill into the switchboard and among Senators that have heard from their districts. Several Senators have not heard from anyone at all. This is likely to change as the national animal rights organizations get involved.

Unfortunately, we have a very short window to get this done. We need to get the Senate bill debated as soon as possible because the Senate has to send the bill over to the House to beat the next legislative funnel (April 1) to be eligible for consideration this session. Voting constituents need to let their Senators know that this is an important issue for them.

The only way the Dove Bill will be considered is if Senators receive many calls asking for the chance to have this bill fairly debated and voted upon. If sportsmen do not make calls on this, it will not be considered. Contacts from within Senate Districts need to be made—callers need to provide your name and town, as well as your phone number, with each message left.

What do we need to do? Stop hitting the send button, and start picking up the phone. Emails are a poor substitute for a phone call.

The Senate switchboard number is (515) 281-3371 – At one point today, there were just 100 calls into the switchboard against the bill, and only about 50 in favor. What this means is that almost no one is calling!

Tell the Senate switchboard operator that you are calling about the dove bill, you support the bill, and you want it debated and voted on by the Senate right away.

Then ask to be transferred to your Senator – most likely he/she will not be able to take your call, but they often will call you back. Leave them a message in support of the bill.

We have to show that we want this. We have to make the effort. We have to overcome the opposition and the politics. If we don’t make the effort, we really cannot expect the Legislators to do so.