SUSAN GOODWIN

To Members of the House Resources, Recreation & Development Committee: This is a terrible bill, and the intent seems to be to end protection of threatened and endangered species. The methodology of providing “current and verifiable evidence” is vague and impractical. What does current mean? How long is the land going to be monitored for before making a decision and who makes this decision? One of the requirements is for a photo, but the chances of capturing a photo are never great. Animals don’t always stay in one place. Many migrate and use different habitats at different times of the year so unless a biologist or other official is going to camp out on the land in question for an entire year and have cameras throughout the property for a year (replacing batteries often), it would seem to be impossible to get the required evidence. I urge you to oppose this bill. Our endangered and threatened species deserve all the help they can get.