PRESERVING OUR HERITAGE
Share the Science
The Legal Duty of State Wildlife Agencies to Inform Voters and Evaluate Wildlife Ballot Initiatives
When voters are asked to make decisions about wildlife management, what responsibility do state wildlife agencies have to inform them?
Some agencies have declined to publicly comment on wildlife-related ballot initiatives, citing restrictions on political involvement. But does political neutrality justify withholding scientific expertise from the very citizens these agencies serve?
Share the Science examines the legal foundations of American wildlife conservation, state statutory mandates, and the Public Trust Doctrine to explore the obligation of wildlife agencies to provide scientific information and professional assessments of proposed wildlife policies.
The paper examines the distinction between political advocacy and public education, and presents the legal argument that wildlife agencies have a responsibility not merely to manage wildlife through sound science, but to make that science available and understandable when citizens are called upon to make consequential decisions.
The paper examines the distinction between political advocacy and public education, and presents the legal argument that wildlife agencies have a responsibility not merely to manage wildlife through sound science, but to make that science available and understandable when citizens are called upon to make consequential decisions.
