OUTDOOR NOTES : Wildlife Panel Tries Tackling Big Picture

The time has come, some deep environmental thinkers have concluded, to stop criticizing the Department of Fish and Game and start figuring out ways to save the state’s wildlife.

That was the tenor of the second annual Natural Diversity Forum conducted in Los Angeles Monday by State Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose), chairman of the California Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildlife.

“It’s really easy to bash (Fish and Game),” said Deborah Jensen, a researcher for UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group. “But they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

The rock: Legislative mandates for an increasing load of environmental work.

The hard place: a lack of money.

“None of us is capable of solving the problems individually,” said DFG Deputy Director Paul Jensen, filling in for vacationing Director Pete Bontadelli.

Said Deborah Jensen, no relation to Paul, “It should be broader than just Fish and Game.”

Most of those testifying agreed. Some thought that Governor-elect Pete Wilson should establish a new department in the Resources Agency to manage non-game wildlife, leaving Fish and Game--the commission and the department--to do what it was created to do: manage hunting and fishing.

Richard Spotts, state representative for the Defenders of Wildlife, suggested that Wilson ask all five commissioners to resign and remove the commission’s authority for listing endangered species.

Better, Mark Palmer of the Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation suggested, to have the DFG’s expert biologists identify endangered habitats, and Frank Davis of UC Santa Barbara proposed managing those habitats instead of individual species.

Paul Jensen agreed. “The solution is habitats of sufficient size that they provide built-in protection,” he said. “If we continue to address just an animal at a time, one by one we’re going to lose.”

Steve Johnson of the California Nature Conservancy said: “The fragmentation of habitat and elimination of (connecting) corridors that are too small leads to extinction.”

To that end, Bill Dempsey, also of the CNC, proposed borrowing Prop. 117 funds up front to buy habitat now, when land is less expensive and more available than it will be over the next 30 years. The proposition, passed in June, calls for spending $30 million a year for 30 years for habitat acquisition and, incidentally, bans the hunting of mountain lions.

Did all of this fall on deaf ears? Since it was an interim hearing, between legislative sessions, only one other member of McCorquodale’s committee was present: Robert Presley (D-Riverside). But the six others will get a full report.

Briefly

LOCAL FISHING--The transition from surface to bottom has for the most part been made, and fishermen are finding the deep holes and high spots at the outer banks and Channel Islands extremely productive. Big fish: a 42-pound lingcod taken by Ventura’s Bob Oren aboard the Pacific Dawn out of Ventura Sportfishing.

BAJA FISHING--Fishing remains consistent for most species in the Cabo San Lucas area. “It’s wide open for (striped marlin) and sailfish, some blue (marlin) and some wahoo, and real strong on dorado,” said Lowanda Josephson of the Finistera Tortuga fleet. East Cape fishermen are finding dorado weighing between five and 25 pounds.

LICENSES--The Department of Fish and Game is pushing the holiday sales of sportfishing licenses for 1991, along with a reminder that being caught fishing without one will be costlier than ever.

Under legislation approved this fall, anglers cited for fishing without a license next year face fines from $250 to $1,000. Current law puts the minimum fine at $100 and the maximum at $500.

A resident general sportfishing license for 1991 costs $20.50 at DFG offices and $21.55 at licensing agents.

HUNTING--A desert bighorn sheep taken by Soudy Golbachi of Atlanta in the Eastern Mojave Desert is believed to be the second highest-scoring ram in California: 173 3/8 on the Boone & Crockett scale.

Golbachi bid $37,000 for the privilege of an exclusive hunt, before the five hunters drawn by lottery start their two-week hunt Saturday. All of the money goes to bighorn restoration projects. Golbachi and his guide, Floyd Krank, reported seeing “numerous mature rams.”

Residents of San Dimas Canyon are at odds with bow-hunters in the nearby Angeles National Forest, charging them with trespassing and threatening the citizens’ safety.

“I had one man come in my back yard with a stocking over his face, a net over the stocking and dressed in camouflage,” Kathy Curtis told the Associated Press. “It was scary to see. He was crossing the yard looking for deer.”

Meanwhile, John C. Scruggs, a DFG hunting safety instructor, said residents are harassing hunters, calling the San Dimas sheriff’s substation several times a day. Hunters complain that residents are letting the air out of and slashing their tires, and setting booby traps along trails.

State and federal laws prohibit hunting within 150 yards of a public area, but because of the drought, animals have wandered down to residential areas.

POACHING--Three hunters who were arrested more than a year ago by Nevada game wardens for the illegal killing of mule deer in that state, among them Randy Solmonsen, 32, of Yorba Linda, have been sentenced to 30 days in jail and must pay heavy court-assessed fines as part of a plea agreement approved by Elco District Court Judge Thomas Stringfield.

Solmonsen and Utah resident Ronald B. Smith were arrested--after an anonymous tip--in possession of a six-point, 33-inch spread mule deer head and hide, minus the body. Kevin B. Frame, also from Utah, had left the scene and was later arrested.

A four-point buck was also involved in the case but Utah and Nevada officials believe there were others involved in what appeared to be “a (poaching) case of major proportion.” Two of the three were ordered to pay $1,500 for the services of a public defender, and $500 civil penalties for each deer killed. All three were placed on three years’ probation, during which they are not allowed to possess firearms and are subject to searches of their homes, vehicles or persons at any time. They also lose all hunting and fishing privileges during the probation period.

MISCELLANEOUS--Volunteers are needed to lead walks for inner-city school children. Weekday volunteers will be trained in bird, plant and animal identification, geology and history of the Santa Monica Mountains. About 1,000 children a month, from more than 150 schools, are scheduled for visits to the William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom in Franklin Canyon. Details: (213) 858-3834. . . . Fly reel manufacturing specialists Abel Automatics of Camarillo will have an open house Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s free, but reservations must be made by tonight at (818) 484-8789.