NJOA Cries Foul Over Wildlife Management Area Closures

Trenton – takes on Governor over WMA closures, lands management furloughs.

The New Jersey Outdoor Alliance on Wednesday released a statement slamming Governor Murphy’s administration over the closure of wildlife management areas because of “budgetary constraints”, citing sportsmen as key funding source of 90% of Divisi.

“The New Jersey Outdoor Alliance once again has to question Governor Murphy on what magic hat they pick these regulations out of, because closing state WMA’s, which are paid for by users, and furloughing land management staff makes no sense from a budgetary standpoint” said NJOA Vice President Cody McLaughlin, “Here’s what the public should know: Furloughing lands management and other Fish & Wildlife service workers won’t help treasury, since they’re funded directly by users by way of licenses, fees and federal Pittman-Robertson funding that, if it’s not used for this purpose, must be given back. What’s clear is this, the Governor’s administration has, once again, failed to do their homework and made a misstep in closing these WMA’s. Further, with the furlough of these wildlife workers bear complaints, which are spiking faster than coronavirus because of the Governor’s previous actions to interfere with the science-based management of our bear population, will be unable to assist with this spike in complaints, putting our public at risk.”

The New Jersey Outdoor Alliance notably was among the first to challenge Governor Murphy’s erratic executive orders early on in the crisis, repeatedly calling on the Governor to re-open parks in what was undoubtedly among the most controversial of the governor’s executive orders during the COVID-19 crisis, and ultimately released a comprehensive plan to re-open parks safely and responsibly which was well-represented when the Governor acquiesced and re-opened parks weeks later.

About the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance: New Jersey Outdoor Alliance’s mission is “preservation through conservation.” NJOA serves as a grassroots coalition of outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen dedicated to the conservation of natural resources and environmental stewardship that champions the intrinsic value of fishing, hunting and trapping, among opinion leaders, policy makers, and the public at-large. To learn more about the organization, please visit: https://njoutdooralliance.org/.

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