The debate over whether to allow deer hunting on town conservation land will come before voters at Special Town Meeting later this month. An article to prohibit hunting on those lands has been placed on the warrant through a citizen petition that received the necessary 100 signatures.
But according to Town Administrator Tim Bragan, that article is defective in its current form. To be enforceable, Bragan said in an interview with the Press, the article must be framed as a bylaw. If someone at Special Town Meeting proposes amending the article to convert it to a bylaw, the town moderator would then have to rule on whether the amendment was within the scope of the article, Bragan said, citing Town Counsel Mark Lanza.
Assuming its supporters succeed in making the article a bylaw proposal, a simple majority vote would suffice to pass it, Bragan said, because it would be a general bylaw, not a zoning one. Zoning bylaws require a two-thirds vote, but general bylaws need only a majority.
If approved, the bylaw would overrule a vote taken last month by the Conservation Commission to allow hunting on conservation lands. After a year’s study, the Deer Management Subcommittee concluded the growing deer population posed a threat to Harvard’s forest lands and recommended allowing a controlled bow hunt on a limited number of conservation properties. The Conservation Commission voted to accept the subcommittee’s report and recommendation, but delayed the proposed hunt from this year until fall 2020.
The proposed ban would not affect hunting on state, federal, or private land in Harvard. Hunting would still be allowed in the Delaney Wildlife Management Area and the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge, and on private land with the owner’s permission.
