READ FIRST TIME 02/05/04.   

     AN ACT Relating to a pilot program for cougar control; and creating new sections.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The department of fish and wildlife, in cooperation and collaboration with the county legislative authorities of Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Chelan, and Okanogan counties, shall recommend rules to establish a three-year pilot program within select game management units of these counties, to pursue or kill cougars with the aid of dogs. A pursuit season and a kill season with the aid of dogs must be established through the fish and wildlife commission's rule-making process, utilizing local dangerous wildlife task teams comprised of the two collaborating authorities. The two collaborating authorities shall also develop a more effective and accurate dangerous wildlife reporting system to ensure a timely response. The pilot program's primary goals are to provide for public safety, to protect property, and to assess cougar populations.
     (2) Any rules adopted by the fish and wildlife commission to establish a pilot project allowing for the pursuit or hunting of cougars with the aid of dogs under this section only must ensure that all pursuits or hunts are:
     (a) Designed to protect public safety or property;
     (b) Reflective of the most current cougar population data;
     (c) Designed to generate data that is necessary for the department to satisfy the reporting requirements of section 3 of this act; and
     (d) Consistent with any applicable recommendations emerging from research on cougar population dynamics in a multiprey environment conducted by Washington State University's department of natural resource sciences that was funded in whole or in part by the department of fish and wildlife.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A county legislative authority may request inclusion in the pilot project authorized by this act after taking the following actions:
     (1) Adopting a resolution that requests inclusion in the pilot project;
     (2) Documenting the need to participate in the pilot program by identifying the number of cougar/human encounters and livestock and pet depredations; and
     (3) Demonstrating that existing cougar depredation permits, public safety cougar hunts, or other existing wildlife management tools have not been sufficient to deal with cougar incidents in the county.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   After the culmination of the pilot project authorized by this section, the department of fish and wildlife must report to the fish and wildlife commission and the appropriate committees of the legislature:
     (1) Recommendations for the development of a more effective and accurate dangerous wildlife reporting system, a summary of how the pilot project aided the collection of data useful in making future wildlife management decisions, and a recommendation as to whether the pilot project would serve as a model for effective cougar management into the future. The report required by this subsection must be completed in collaboration with the counties choosing to participate in the pilot program.
     (2) Recommendations for a new and modern cougar management system that focuses on altering the behavior of wild cougars, and not solely on controlling cougar population levels. These recommendations must include at a minimum suggestions for wildlife management techniques aimed at modifying cougar behavior, the identification of nonlethal ways to minimize interactions between cougars and humans, and an analysis of opportunities for minimizing interactions between cougars and humans by controlling the abundance and location of cougar prey species.