Members of the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation and the Sportsman’s Legislative Caucus met with the Governor on October 3rd to discuss a number of topics. Our collective take away – it was a good meeting, the Governor was exceedingly generous with his time as the meeting lasted for over an hour.
The Governor made it absolutely clear that he is fully supportive of our interests —-traditional hunting, fishing and trapping. He did express a need to add new blood, energy and talent to the fish and game commission as he believes those additions will make for a stronger organization. At the same time, the Governor is very much interested in our input on potential candidates for those positions.
He recognized the error that was made in his executive order dealing with the humane treatment of animals and issued an amended order to correct the situation.
The Wild Goose boat launch was discussed at length. The Governor is clearly frustrated by this issue and how some people have chosen to respond. We were reminded that it was the legislature that unfunded the project in the final budget not the Governor. He was emphatic in his commitment to provide a suitable launch for Lake Sunapee and stated that no launch is simply not an option. He is not interested in a rehash of the multiple year debate but wants to assemble a group of people with the talent , commitment and ability to get the job done. We discussed concerns relative to the makeup of the proposed commission and the Governor offered to consider using a NH Wildlife Federation recommendation as one of his appointments.
Bottom line while I recognize that some members will continue to have concerns about some of these issues it would be my recommendation that we take Governor Sununu at his word. We have turned a bit of a corner and opened a line of communication which I believe will be of great value to the organization and our members. The Governor has asked for our assistance, our input and stated his commitment to the things we cherish. Let’s take him at his word, work with him and help him follow through on his commitments.