§ 4048. Nongame Wildlife Account; expenditures

(a) A Nongame Wildlife Account is created and shall consist of:

(1) funds appropriated by the General Assembly, subject to availability of funds generated pursuant to 32 V.S.A. § 5862a;

(2) funds from public and private sources which the Commissioner accepts for the Fund;

(3) funds from federal government aid for State activities in nongame conservation; and

(4) interest on the cash balance of the account.

(b) For purposes of this section, nongame wildlife shall consist of members of nongame species which are native to this State, which are not classified as domesticated, and which are not commonly taken for sport or profit.

(c) Amounts in the account shall carry over from year to year.

(d) The Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife, according to the provisions of 3 V.S.A. chapter 25, shall adopt a rule establishing a plan for nongame wildlife. The rule may be amended from time to time, and shall be reviewed, after public hearings, at least every five years. The plan shall contain:

(1) strategies to manage, inventory, preserve, protect, perpetuate, and enhance all nongame wildlife in the State, including identification of wildlife species in need of protection and information on their population distributions, habitat requirements, limiting factors, and other pertinent biological and ecological data on nongame wildlife species in need of protection;

(2) estimates of resources available for these strategies; and

(3) plans for research and education in nongame wildlife.

(e) In accordance with the plan, the Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife may make expenditures from the Nongame Wildlife Account. Expenditures shall be restricted to programs specified in the duly adopted plan. Expenditures may be made under the terms of contracts with private organizations and groups, consistent with the purposes of the plan. Expenditures shall not exceed the monies available in the Account.

(f) The Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife may take appropriate actions to encourage taxpayers to make designations to the Account, including explaining the purposes of the Fund and the uses to which the Account has been or will be applied. (Added 1985, No. 191 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. May 14, 1986; amended 1991, No. 230 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.)