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Monday, December 25, 2006
Ind. Gov't. - Summing up Kyle Hupfer's career as DNR chief
Phil Bloom, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette Outdoors editor, wrote Sunday:
His name appeared in 68 articles in The Journal Gazette during 2006 compared to 46 mentions the year before. He was indeed a busy man, practically compiling a list of Top 10 stories of the year all by himself, including:Proposing construction of an inn at Dunes State Park despite protests from environmental groups; sticking with the inn plan after no private investors bid on the project by saying the DNR would build one; revamping state forest management practices; approving a major renovation of the public shooting range at Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area; developing a statewide trails system; targeting non-native mute swans and then halting the effort after protests from lake dwellers; authorizing possession of handguns on state park properties; scheduling two special hunts in an effort to recruit young hunters; giving a coal company the OK to explore for coal on a state fish and wildlife area; and extending the one-buck rule that allows deer hunters to kill only one antlered deer per year.
The one issue Hupfer couldn’t resolve the way he wanted was putting an end to canned hunting.
He announced in August 2005 that the practice of charging clients to shoot animals in penned enclosures would be illegal come April and asked the General Assembly not to intervene. Legislators sympathetic to the high-fence operators tried anyway but failed.
Facing a lawsuit from one operator, Hupfer backpedaled into a negotiated settlement that will allow a handful of canned hunt operations to stay in business for another 10 years.
In the end, Hupfer’s career as a public servant lasted 21 months.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 25, 2006 06:21 AM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government