Prohibits Fish and Game Council and Division of Fish and Wildlife from requiring, for deer management plans, written consent of private landowners located in, or within 2,000 feet of, deer management area.

A1657

ASSEMBLY, No. 1657

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman MITCHELLE DRULIS

District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman Peterson

SYNOPSIS

���� Prohibits Fish and Game Council and Division of Fish
and Wildlife from requiring, for deer management plans, written consent of
private landowners located in, or within 2,000 feet of, deer management area.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning
consent requirements for deer
management plans, and amending P.L.2000, c.46.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� Section 2 of P.L.2000,
c.46 (C.23:4-42.4) is amended to read as follows:

���� 2.��� a.
(1)
Upon
submission of an application pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2000, c.46
(C.23:4-42.3), or at any time thereafter, a county board of agriculture,
municipal governing body, owner or operator of an airport, or county governing
body may submit to the division
,
for its approval
,
a community
based deer management plan proposing alternative control methods to reduce the
number of deer in an area designated as a special deer management area pursuant
to section 1 of P.L.2000, c.46.� A county board of agriculture, municipal
governing body, owner or operator of an airport, or county governing body may
submit a community based deer management plan concurrently with an application
to the division for designation of a special deer management area.

����
(2)
�� Two or more
municipalities may submit a single community based deer management plan for a
special deer management area that covers more than one municipality.

����
(3)
�� The county board
of agriculture or the division may request the Center for Wildlife Damage
Control in the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station at Rutgers, The State
University, to coordinate and facilitate the development of a community based
deer management plan.

����
(4)�� Notwithstanding any
other law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, neither the division nor the
Fish and Game Council shall require a county board of agriculture, a county
governing body, a municipal governing body, or the owner or operator of an
airport, as part of a community based deer management plan, to obtain the
written consent of the owners of private lands situated in, or within 2,000
feet of, the designated special deer management area, in order for a law
enforcement officer, an animal control officer, an agent thereof, or another
authorized person to access or enter upon such private lands for the purposes
of retrieving a deer darted for sterilization, or for other purposes associated
with the authorized implementation of the deer management plan.

���� b.��� A community based deer
management plan shall:

���� (1)�� delineate the boundaries
of the special deer management area;

���� (2)�� describe the proposed
alternative control methods to reduce the number of deer in the special deer
management area, which may include the methods authorized pursuant to section 3
of P.L.2000, c.46 (C.23:4-42.5);

���� (3)�� identify any
organization that will participate in the implementation of the alternative
control methods proposed in the plan, and describe its qualifications;

���� (4)�� describe the methods
that will be used to notify the public, including residents located within and
adjacent to the special deer management area, of the alternative control
methods proposed in the plan and the specific times and the specific places
when and where they will be used;

���� (5)�� describe the precautions
that will be taken to ensure the safety of the public;

���� (6)��
[
document the
written consent of each affected landowner for access to that person's land if access
to private property is necessary to implement the plan
]

(deleted
by amendment, P.L.��� , c.��� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as
this bill)
;

���� (7)�� attach a resolution,
adopted by the governing body of the municipality in which the special deer
management area is located, which endorses the community based deer management
plan, except
that
this requirement shall not apply to a community based
deer management plan submitted by a county governing body for lands owned by
the county; and

���� (8)�� include such additional
information as the division may determine to be necessary to properly review a
community based deer management plan.

���� c.���� The division shall
promptly review a community based deer management plan submitted pursuant to
P.L.2000, c.46, and either approve the plan, approve the plan subject to
modification, or disapprove the plan and return it to the applicant
,

setting forth in writing the reasons for its decision.� If the division
approves a community based deer management plan, the division shall submit it
to the Fish and Game Council for its review and action pursuant to section 3 of
P.L.2000, c.46 (C.23:4-42.5).

���� d.��� Whenever practicable, a
community based deer management plan shall provide for the donation of deer in
accordance with the venison donation program established pursuant to section 1
of P.L.1997, c.268 (C.23:4-42.7).

���� e.����
[
For the
purposes of
]

As used in
P.L.2000, c.46 (C.23:4-42.3 et seq.), "alternative
control method" or "alternative deer control method" means any
technique, other than traditional hunting, employed to reduce a deer
population, which may include, but need not be limited to, controlled hunting,
shooting by an authorized agent, capture and euthanization, capture and
removal,
[
and
]

or

fertility control.

(cf:� P.L.2010, c.54, s.2)

���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� Existing law requires a deer
management plan, adopted by a county board of agriculture, a county governing
body, a municipal governing body, or the owner or operator of an airport, to
document the written consent of all private landowners affected by the deer
management plan, in order to authorize access to their private lands for the
purposes of local deer management activities.� This bill would amend the law to
eliminate this consent requirement.

���� The bill would further specify
that, notwithstanding any other law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, neither
the Fish and Game Council nor the Division of Fish and Wildlife in the
Department of Environmental Protection may require a county board of
agriculture, a county governing body, a municipal governing body, or the owner
or operator of an airport, as part of a community based deer management plan,
to obtain the written consent of the owners of private lands situated in, or
within 2,000 feet of, the designated special deer management area, in order to
for a law enforcement officer, an animal control officer, an agents thereof, or
another authorized person to access or enter upon such private lands for the
purposes of retrieving a deer darted for sterilization, or for other purposes
associated with the authorized implementation of the deer management plan.