AMHERST — All hunting, whether by shotgun or bow and arrow and for a wide variety of species, will continue to be allowed nearly year round on some town conservation land, as the Conservation Commission mulls possible regulatory changes, up to and including prohibitions.
While a Land-Use Subcommittee this spring presented a report with options that could curtail hunting entirely and reduce the variety of game that can be hunted, the commission at its July 30 meeting deferred any decision as members try to figure out what should be brought to a public hearing.
Amherst has about 2,300 to 2,400 acres of conservation land, with up to a third open for hunting, 3,000 acres or so of land owned by the Department of Public Works, much of it outside Amherst that can also be hunted on, and thousands of acres in the Agricultural Preservation Restriction program where land owners determine if hunting is allowed in the farm fields.
Most vocal against changing the current sites open to hunting, including the Houston/ Gage property, the Lawrence Swamp, the Holyoke Range and the Podick, Eastman Brook, Atkins Flats and Simmons Farm lands, is member Andrey Guidera, who said he hasn’t seen anything beyond conjecture and assumptions and worries that language included in the subcommittee report represents dehumanization hunters.
“There were no compelling arguments to prohibit hunting,” Guidera said, adding that on the town website conservation land is identified as good for hunting. “I think it’s pretty clear that the town espouses hunting and the Conservation Commission is to do the same.”
The report suggests possibly maintaining the current hunting, for all species and all seasons as established by the state and federal governments, and on all properties, but removing Eastman Brook, a portion of Atkins Flats, and the two Holyoke Range parcels at the Notch along West Street, while another advisory would restrict the species that can be hunted to deer, turkey, pheasant and rabbit.
Commission member Alex Hoar said the subcommittee spent more than a year going through each regulation for camping, farming and dogs on conservation land., understanding that state law says that unless prohibited, hunting is allowed based on seasons set by MassWildlife.
But there is a 500-foot buffer from an occupied structure, Hoar said, which was likely not set by the state Legislature based on any safety incidents.
“We followed the state’s lead,” Hoar said. and then laid the 500-foot buffer on existing parcels. The challenge for law enforcement is if someone is in the buffer and determining if a violation has occurred, since there are no physical markings in the woods.
Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek, who oversees conservation and development for Amherst, said he gets almost no feedback from hunters about the current conservation areas that are huntable and not huntable, and there have been no changes in regulations for at least the 20 years he has worked for the town.
Ziomek said previous decisions related to hunting have largely been kept intact, but he isn’t sure records are available of how they came to be through votes of the commission or rules set by conservation directors.
“There haven’t been an overwhelming number of complaints or concerns about hunting over the years, but they do come in from time to time,” Ziomek said.
Commission member Jason Dorney said he doesn’t recall any comment coming to the commission about hunting, whereas many are made related to the presence of dogs.
“I think that a lot of the stuff that was presented by the subcommittee is
anecdotal rather than factual,” Dorney said.
Commission Chairwoman Michelle Labbe said, though, she has heard reports of people being displaced from conservation trails when they see hunters or hear gun shots.
“One of our missions is to make the trails available for public use, the enjoyment of all, which means balancing different uses,” Labbe said
If a displacement of people is happening because they are afraid of hunters, the commission needs to consider that, she said.
The report also includes possible advisories to people and their pets to wear orange and for better posting at trail heads of encounters with hunters.
Labbe said she would like to do more outreach and get more public sentiment and will keep the hunting rules as an ongoing discussion. For now, the status quo remains in place until a public hearing, which is also needed for the various other changes to rules and regulations.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
