READ FIRST TIME 02/14/07.   

     AN ACT Relating to the department of fish and wildlife's hound hunting cougar season pilot project; amending 2004 c 264 s 1 (uncodified); and creating a new section.

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

Sec. 1   2004 c 264 s 1 (uncodified) is amended to read as follows:
     (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.
     (3) The department of fish and wildlife may authorize one additional season in which cougars may be pursued or killed with dogs, subject to the other conditions of the pilot project. This additional season is authorized to avoid a lag in cougar management and conditioning between the end of the third pilot cougar season and the time needed for the 2008 legislature to consider the report provided under section 3, chapter 264, Laws of 2004, and is not intended to be considered as part of the study period.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A county legislative authority may request inclusion in the fourth and final year of the cougar control pilot project authorized by chapter 264, Laws of 2004 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 project by identifying the number of cougar/human encounters and livestock and pet depredations;
     (3) Developing and agreeing to the implementation of an education program designed to disseminate to landowners and other citizens information about predator exclusion techniques and devices and other nonlethal methods of cougar management; and
     (4) 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.