Hikers, campers could be required to wear hunter orange in certain areas under bill before Utah lawmakers
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Hikers, campers and other non-hunters could be required to wear blaze orange in certain wildlife management areas under a bill making its way through the Utah Legislature this session.
House Bill 222, titled “Wildlife Hunting Amendments,” would modify a number of items related to hunting in the Beehive State. It unanimously passed the House earlier this month and got a favorable recommendation in a Senate committee last week.
Ruby Franke’s husband calls for more regulation on ‘life coaches’
The bill makes a number of changes to the wearing of blaze orange, but one of them would require non-hunters to wear a piece of the highlighter-bright clothing in certain high-conflict wildlife management areas during times when rifle hunts are active.
“It doesn’t apply to any private property, it doesn’t apply to any agricultural activities,” said Rep. Stephanie Gricius (R-Salt Lake City), the bill’s sponsor, while speaking on the House floor.
According to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, there are currently 194 wildlife management areas across the state.
These are properties owned by the department, and they are meant to conserve critical habitats, minimize depredation on private property, and provide places where Utahns can hunt and fish.
Blaze orange changes for hunters
HB222 would also change the requirements for wearing blaze orange for hunters. Instead of having to wear 400 square inches of the eye-catching color, the new law would only require that hunters wear one piece of blaze orange clothing on the upper part of their bodies.
This could be a vest, a shirt, or simply a hat.
According to Gricius, this will make it easier for hunters to comply with the law, thereby improving safety. It would also make it simpler for wildlife officials to enforce the rule, as no measuring would be needed.
While discussing the bill on the House Floor, Rep. Scott Chew (R-Jensen), expressed some concerns about changing the amount of orange hunters are required to wear. He said that only donning a blaze orange hat might not be proper hunting etiquette.
“I do think that it is something we need to keep an eye on,” he said.
Still, he noted that studies on the topic showed the proposed blaze orange changes shouldn’t make too much of a difference in terms of hunter safety.
Pet food byproduct regulations
The lion’s share of the bill addresses the sale of big game byproducts for dog food. Currently, companies are selling them illegally, Gricius said, and this law would carve out parameters for businesses to do it.
Among the regulations would be that the dog food products must be tested for chronic wasting disease (CWD), a progressive, highly-contagious and fatal condition that affects free-ranging deer, elk and moose. The disease has been detected in parts of Utah.
“CWD is so potent that you can actually butcher the animal, cook it, turn it into dog food, and a dog can eat it, digest it, come out the other side, and it’s still contagious,” Gricius told her fellow lawmakers. “We can’t have that contaminating our hillsides.”
Per the bill, processors of these products would have to pay a 6-cent-per-pound fee to go toward CWD testing on every animal that gets turned into pet food.
HB222 is currently set to get its second reading in the Senate. If the upper chamber passes the bill without any changes, it could go to Gov. Spencer Cox’s desk.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
