Sandoval, Wildlife Commission on collision course over Friday vote

Sandoval already has shot back a threat to fire any commissioner who votes on a Wildlife Heritage Trust fund item, which the wildlife board sees as a simple housekeeping matter.

The outcome could affect other state boards, Sandoval’s spokeswoman said.

The item scheduled for action at Friday’s Board of Wildlife Commissioners meeting in Las Vegas will be the first test of Sandoval’s amended Jan. 3 freeze order that prohibits altering regulations for one year that aren’t vital to public health and welfare and could impact the state’s economy.

The nine appointed wildlife commissioners, according to Chairman Scott Raine, are set to challenge the order because the item in question is a housekeeping issue. It deals with changing some wording in the application that is required for doling out money from the $5 million trust account to protect fish and game animals and to manage wildlife.

Sandoval’s general counsel, Lucas Foletta, warned Raine in a letter Tuesday that the governor "will consider a vote on the proposed regulation changing the trust account application process to be a violation of his order … and could result in appropriate action, including the removal of any board member who votes on the item for ‘just cause.’ "

In a telephone interview Wednesday from Eureka, Raine said he plans to keep the item on the agenda. "I’m not going to backdoor and take it off because the commission voted to have it on there."

He added that he wants "to have the process as open and transparent as absolutely possible. That’s why we have these items on the agenda."

Raine said he was surprised by Foletta’s letter. "Here we are going along doing what we’re told to in the NAC (Nevada Administrative Code), and then the governor’s office tells us that. We’re just trying to help out the critters."

Sandoval’s spokeswoman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, said in an e-mail Tuesday that the governor "is hopeful the commissioners will comply with the executive order. If not, the governor will consider a vote on the proposed regulation … in violation of his Jan. 3, 2011 order and could result in appropriate action."

In e-mails, Kinner said this is the first instance of a board testing the governor’s order, "and any boards which propose regulations could be affected. All other entities have complied with the order."

Raine said the heart of the issue in changing wording for the trust fund application has to do, in part, with a requirement for precisely identifying by township and range where projects seeking Heritage Trust money will be located.

He gave an example of when the current wording doesn’t work: What happens when the Department of Wildlife requests money for an electro-shocking boat to monitor the health of fish populations and the boat is hauled by trailer to lakes across the state at various locations? The boat, then, is not tied to a specific township.

"That is one of the many reasons," Raine said. "Those items appear to be allowed under NRS (Nevada Revised Statute), yet under NAC how do you have a map of it? My thought is just clean it up."

Money in the Wildlife Heritage Trust Account is generated through auctions of big game tags, Partnership in Wildlife tag drawings, and from monetary gifts made to the account by citizens.

In the current state fiscal year, 14 projects totaling $447,318 are funded through the account. They range from big game captures and transplants to protection of mule deer in the Jackson Mountains, management of sage grouse nesting areas and use of radio-telemetry collars to track mountain lions.

The account, authorized by Nevada law, has accumulated $5 million since it was established in 1998, according to the Nevada Department of Wildlife website. But in any one year, only 100 percent of the interest it accrues and 75 percent of the principal is available for spending on wildlife projects.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.