SB2156 Engrossed

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    AN ACT concerning wildlife. 

 
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    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
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represented in the General Assembly: 


 
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    Section 1. Short title.  This Act may be cited as the 
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Illinois Hunting
Heritage Protection Act.


 
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    Section 5. Findings.  The General Assembly finds the 
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following:


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        (1) Recreational hunting is an important and 
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traditional recreational
activity in which 14,000,000 
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Americans 16 years of age and older participate.


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        (2) Hunters have been and continue to be among the 
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foremost supporters of
sound wildlife management and 
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conservation practices in the United States.


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        (3) Persons who hunt and organizations related to 
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hunting provide direct
assistance to wildlife managers and 
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enforcement officers of federal, state, and
local 
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governments.


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        (4) Purchases of hunting licenses, permits, and stamps 
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and payment of
excise taxes on
goods used by hunters have 
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generated billions of dollars for wildlife
conservation, 
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research, and management.


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        (5) Recreational hunting is an essential component of 
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effective wildlife
management, in that it is an important 
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tool for reducing conflicts between
people and wildlife and 
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provides incentives for the conservation of wildlife,

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habitats, and ecosystems on which wildlife depend.


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        (6) Recreational hunting is an environmentally 
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acceptable activity that
occurs and can be provided for on 
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State public lands without adverse effects on
other uses of 
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that land.



 
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    Section 10. Definitions.  For the purposes of this Act:


 


 






SB2156 Engrossed
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    "Department" means the Department of Natural Resources.


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    "Department-managed lands" means those lands that the 
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Department owns or
those lands of which the Department holds 
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management authority.


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    "Director" means the Director of Natural Resources.


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    "Hunting" means the lawful pursuit, trapping, shooting, 
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capture, collection,
or killing of wildlife or the attempt to 
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pursue, trap, shoot, capture, collect,
or kill wildlife.



 
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    Section 15. Recreational hunting.    
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    (a) Subject to valid existing rights, Department-managed 
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lands shall be open
to
access and use for recreational hunting 
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except as limited by the Department for
reasons of public 
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safety, fish or wildlife management, or homeland security or
as 
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otherwise limited by law.


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    (b) The Department shall exercise its authority, 
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consistent with subsection
(a), in a manner to support, 
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promote, and enhance recreational hunting
opportunities, to 
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the extent authorized by State law.
The Department is not 
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required to give preference to hunting over other uses
of 
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Department-managed lands or over land or water management 
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priorities
established by Department regulations or State law.


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    (c) Department land management decisions and actions may 
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not, to the
greatest practical extent, result in any net loss 
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of land acreage available for
hunting opportunities on 
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Department-managed lands that exists on the effective
date of 
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this Act.


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    (d) By October 1 of each year, the Director shall submit to 
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the General
Assembly
a written report describing:


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        (1) the acreage administered by the Department that has 
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been closed during
the
previous year to recreational 
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hunting and the reasons for the closures; and


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        (2) the acreage administered by the Department that, in 
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order to comply
with subsection (c), was opened to

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recreational
hunting to compensate for those acreage 
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closed under paragraph (1).