"I hunt because I love the entire process: the preparations, the excitement, and sustained suspense of trying to match my woods lore against the finely honed instincts of these creatures. On most days spent in the woods, I come home with an honestly earned feeling that something good has taken place. It makes no difference whether or not I got anything: it has to do with how the day was spent."

Fred Bear

The North American Model of Wildlife Management

and the Public Trust Doctrine

A blue print for success

The North American Model of Wildlife Management is a system of sustainable management of renewable natural resources. The Model grew out of the Public Trust Doctrine. Seven features distinguish the North American Model from other models, such as the European model.

1.     Wildlife as a public resource. This concept solidified as wildlife held as a public trust by the state for the benefit of all people. The concept has withstood multiple tests in U.S. courts.

2.     Markets for wildlife eliminated. Made it illegal to buy and sell meat and parts of game and nongame species removing a huge threat to those species. At the same time, allowing markets for furbearers has helped managed them as a sustainable resource, in conjunction with restrictive regulations, and advocacy of trappers for land stewardship.

3.     Allocation of wildlife by law. States allocate surplus wildlife by law, not by market pressures, land ownership or special privilege. The public gets a say in how wildlife resources are allocated; the process fosters public involvement in managing wildlife.

4.     Wildlife killed only for a legitimate purpose. The law prohibits killing wildlife for frivolous reasons. Under the “Code of the Sportsman,” hunters use as much as they can. The harvest of wild animals must serve a practical purpose if society is going to accept it.

5.     Wildlife species considered an international resource. Some species, such as migratory birds, transcend boundaries and one country’s management can easily affect a species in another country.

6.     Science as the proper tool for discharge of wildlife policy. This is a key concept of wildlife management. It has its roots in the Prussian Forestry System, arising in this country as the basis of wildlife management by the convincing forcefulness of Theodore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold. By spawning the profession of wildlife management, North Americans were decades ahead of their global neighbors.

7.     The democracy of hunting. In the European model, wildlife is allocated by land ownership and privilege. In North America, anyone in good standing can participate.

The glue that holds the North American model of wildlife conservation together is hunting dictated by science and not political expediency.

The Public Trust Doctrine

The Public Trust Doctrine is a principle of common law that established who owns and manages wildlife, including game animals. It is a Core Principle of the North American Model of Wildlife Management.

The doctrine didn't appear fully formulated, but evolved over time by statutory law and by court decision.

While the Public Trust Doctrine is a principle of law, the North American Model of Wildlife Management is rooted in biology driven by the Public Trust Doctrine.

The Public Trust Doctrine is based on three principles:

1.   The state holds wildlife in trust for all the people.

2.   The state has an affirmative duty to fulfill the responsibilities created by this trust.

3.   The state has no power to abrogate its trust over wildlife by transferring ownership or management of wildlife to private concerns or individuals.

The following is an overview of the laws and court decisions that gave birth to the Public Trust Doctrine:

Colonial Ordinance of 1647: Stated that government has an affirmative duty to administer, protect, manage and conserve fish and wildlife; that government cannot relinquish its obligations to establish administrative management, protection, and conservation practices for renewable wildlife and marine resources. (Modern courts still cited the ordinance.)

In Martin v. Waddell, 1842, the United States Supreme Court ruled that since the American Revolution the people held public trust responsibilities for fish and wildlife. Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote that “when the people of New Jersey took possession of the reins of government, and took into their own hands the powers of sovereignty, the prerogatives and regalities which before belonged to either the (British) crown or the parliament, became immediately and rightly vested in the state.”

Greer v. Connecticut, 1896: The Supreme Court declared that the states exercise a public trust over wildlife for the benefit of the people of the state. (This case is the Granddaddy of the Public Trust Doctrine, the core ruling that established public trust authority over wildlife still in force today.)

In 1900 Congress enacted the Lacey Act. The act prohibited transporting wildlife killed in violation of state laws across state lines. Congress has amended the Lacey Act numerous times refining federal and state government public trust authority.

Missouri v. Holland, 1920: The Supreme Court ruled that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 applied the public trust doctrine to the management of migratory birds.

The cases cited above, unequivocally state that government cannot turn management of our wildlife resources over to private individuals. To accept private management of big game for hunting purposes overturns the Public Trust Doctrine, a Doctrine that established beyond a reasonable doubt that government must act in the best interest of the resource, in the dispute at hand, deer and elk.

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The Wildlife Society On Hunting

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