By Jonathan Oosting
LANSING, MI — Michigan voters will see two anti-wolf hunt proposals on the statewide ballot this November, and there may still be a pro-wolf hunt measure on the way.
The Michigan Board of State Canvassers on Tuesday certified an estimated 182,732 valid signatures submitted by Keep Michigan Wolves Protected for a referendum seeking to stop future hunts following the state’s first-ever wolf season.
It’s the second proposal from the anti-wolf hunt group, funded primarily by the Humane Society of the United States. Its first measure, certified for the statewide ballot nearly one year ago, was designed to repeal a 2012 law that had established an open hunting season for wolves.
Michigan’s Republican-led Legislature sidestepped the first referendum by approving new legislation that authorized the Natural Resources Commission to add animals to the state’s list of game species, paving the way for the recent hunt and prompting the second opposition petition drive.
The Legislature may have the option to sidestep the second referendum as well.
Citizens for Professional Wildlife Management, a committee funded largely by hunting and conservation organizations, is collecting signatures for a measure that would affirm the Natural Resources Commissions’ ability to designate game species.
If the group is able to collect some 258,000 signatures by the end of the month, it’s citizen-initiated bill would go before the state Legislature, which would have 40 days to vote on it or pass it along to the November ballot. The bill includes an appropriation, which would make it immune to referendum and preserve future hunts.
“Right now there will be two, there could be three, (proposals) dealing with a similar subject matter,” said Michigan Director of Elections Chris Thomas, whose bureau will help write the descriptions that actually appear on the November ballot.
“The voter is going to have to look at each one, and our crystal clear wording, to make a decision on which ones they want to support.”
The ballot battle is already shaping up to be an expensive one. Campaign finance reports filed last month show the two sides have raised a combined $1.9 million — which is equal to about $2,300 for each wolf in the state, according to the latest population figures.
Winter studies placed Michigan’s 2014 wolf population at 636. That’s down 22 from last year, a figure identical to the number of wolves killed in the 45-day hunt in the Upper Peninsula that began November 15.