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This chapter is enacted to provide a comprehensive program for the exploration, conservation, development, protection, enjoyment and use of the natural resources of the state of West Virginia and may be cited as the State Natural Resources Law.
As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly requires a different meaning: "Agency" means any branch, department or unit of the state government, however designated or constituted. "Alien" means any person not a citizen of the United States. "Bag limit" or "creel limit" means the maximum number of wildlife which may be taken, caught, killed or possessed by any person. "Big game" means elk, deer, black bears, wild boars and wild turkeys. "Bona fide resident, tenant or lessee" means a person who permanently resides on the land. "Citizen" means any native-born citizen of the United States and foreign-born persons who have procured their final naturalization papers. "Closed season" means the time or period during which it shall be unlawful to take any wildlife as specified and limited by the provisions of this chapter. "Commission" means the Natural Resources Commission. "Commissioner" means a member of the advisory commission of the Natural Resources Commission. "Director" means the Director of the Division of Natural Resources. "Fishing" or "to fish" means the taking, by any means, of fish, minnows, frogs or other amphibians, aquatic turtles and other forms of aquatic life used as fish bait. "Fur-bearing animals" include: (a) The mink; (b) the weasel; (c) the muskrat; (d) the beaver; (e) the opossum; (f) the skunk and civet cat, commonly called polecat; (g) the otter; (h) the red fox; (i) the gray fox; (j) the wildcat, bobcat or bay lynx; (k) the raccoon; and (l) the fisher. "Game" means game animals, game birds and game fish as herein defined. "Game animals" include: (a) The elk; (b) the deer; (c) the cottontail rabbits and hares; (d) the fox squirrels, commonly called red squirrels, and gray squirrels and all their color phases - red, gray, black or albino; (e) the raccoon; (f) the black bear; and (g) the wild boar. "Game birds" include: (a) The anatidae, commonly known as swan, geese, brants and river and sea ducks; (b) the rallidae, commonly known as rails, sora, coots, mudhens and gallinule; (c) the limicolae, commonly known as shorebirds, plover, snipe, woodcock, sandpipers, yellow legs and curlews; (d) the galliformes, commonly known as wild turkey, grouse, pheasants, quails and partridges (both native and foreign species); (e) the columbidae, commonly known as doves; (f) the icteridae, commonly known as blackbirds, redwings and grackle; and (g) the corvidae, commonly known as crows. "Game fish" include: (a) Brook trout; (b) brown trout; (c) rainbow trout; (d) golden rainbow trout; (e) largemouth bass; (f) smallmouth bass; (g) spotted bass; (h) striped bass; (i) chain pickerel; (j) muskellunge; (k) walleye; (l) northern pike; (m) rock bass; (n) white bass; (o) white crappie; (p) black crappie; (q) all sunfish species; (r) channel catfish; (s) flathead catfish; (t) blue catfish, (u) sauger; and (v) all game fish hybrids. "Hunt" means to pursue, chase, catch or take any wild birds or wild animals: Provided, That the definition of "hunt" does not include an officially sanctioned and properly licensed field trial, water race or wild hunt as long as that field trial is not a shoot-to-retrieve field trial. "Lands" means land, waters and all other appurtenances connected therewith. "Migratory birds" means any migratory game or nongame birds included in the terms of conventions between the United States and Great Britain and between the United States and United Mexican States, known as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, for the protection of migratory birds and game mammals concluded, respectively, the sixteenth day of August, one thousand nine hundred sixteen, and the seventh day of February, one thousand nine hundred thirty-six. "Nonresident" means any person who is a citizen of the United States and who has not been a domiciled resident of the State of West Virginia for a period of thirty consecutive days immediately prior to the date of his or her application for a license or permit except any full-time student of any college or university of this state, even though he or she is paying a nonresident tuition. "Open season" means the time during which the various species of wildlife may be legally caught, taken, killed or chased in a specified manner and shall include both the first and the last day of the season or period designated by the director. "Person", except as otherwise defined elsewhere in this chapter, means the plural "persons" and shall include individuals, partnerships, corporations or other legal entities. "Preserve" means all duly licensed private game farmlands, or private plants, ponds or areas, where hunting or fishing is permitted under special licenses or seasons other than the regular public hunting or fishing seasons. "Protected birds" means all wild birds not included within the definition of "game birds" and "unprotected birds". "Resident" means any person who is a citizen of the United States and who has been a domiciled resident of the State of West Virginia for a period of thirty consecutive days or more immediately prior to the date of his or her application for license or permit: Provided, That a member of the armed forces of the United States who is stationed beyond the territorial limits of this state, but who was a resident of this state at the time of his or her entry into such service and any full-time student of any college or university of this state, even though he or she is paying a nonresident tuition, shall be considered a resident under the provisions of this chapter. "Roadside menagerie" means any place of business, other than a commercial game farm, commercial fish preserve, place or pond, where any wild bird, game bird, unprotected bird, game animal or fur-bearing animal is kept in confinement for the attraction and amusement of the people for commercial purposes. "Small game" includes all game animals, furbearing animals and game birds except elk, deer, black bears, wild boars and wild turkeys. "Take" means to hunt, shoot, pursue, lure, kill, destroy, catch, capture, keep in captivity, gig, spear, trap, ensnare, wound or injure any wildlife, or attempt to do so: Provided, That the definition of "take" does not include an officially sanctioned and properly licensed field trial, water race or wild hunt as long as that field trial is not a shoot-to-retrieve field trial. "Unprotected birds" shall include: (a) The English sparrow; (b) the European starling; and (c) the cowbird. "Wild animals" means all mammals native to the State of West Virginia occurring either in a natural state or in captivity, except house mice or rats. "Wild birds" shall include all birds other than: (a) Domestic poultry - chickens, ducks, geese, guinea fowl, peafowls and turkeys; (b) psittacidae, commonly called parrots and parakeets; and (c) other foreign cage birds such as the common canary, exotic finches and ring dove. All wild birds, either: (i) Those occurring in a natural state in West Virginia; or (ii) those imported foreign game birds, such as waterfowl, pheasants, partridges, quail and grouse, regardless of how long raised or held in captivity, shall remain wild birds under the meaning of this chapter. "Wildlife" means wild birds, wild animals, game and fur-bearing animals, fish (including minnows,) reptiles, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans and all forms of aquatic life used as fish bait, whether dead or alive. "Wildlife refuge" means any land set aside by action of the director as an inviolate refuge or sanctuary for the protection of designated forms of wildlife.
A division of natural resources, the office of director of the division of natural resources and a natural resources commission are hereby created and established in the state government with jurisdiction, powers, functions, services and enforcement processes as provided in this chapter and elsewhere by law.
The director shall be the chief executive officer of the department. Subject to provisions of law, he shall organize the department into such offices, divisions, agencies and other units of activity as may be found by him necessary and desirable in the orderly, efficient and economical administration of the department for the accomplishment of its objects and purposes. The director shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall continue to serve until his successor is appointed and qualified as provided. On or before the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred sixty- one, the governor shall appoint the director for a term ending on the thirty-first day of December, one thousand nine hundred sixty- two. Upon the expiration of such term, the governor shall appoint the director for a term of four years commencing on the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred sixty-three, and, upon the expiration thereof, for successive terms of four years each next thereafter. A vacancy occurring in the office during any term thereof shall be filled by appointment as herein provided for the remainder of such term. The director may be removed from office by the governor for cause as provided in the constitution. At the time of his initial appointment, he shall be at least thirty years old and shall be selected with special reference and consideration given to his training, experience, capacity and interest in the natural resources program as herein embraced. He shall not be a candidate for or hold any other public office, shall not be a member of any political party committee, and shall immediately forfeit and vacate his office as director in the event he becomes a candidate for or accepts appointment to any other public office or political party committee.
The director shall receive an annual salary as provided in section two-a, article seven, chapter six of this code, payable in equal monthly installments and shall be allowed and paid necessary expenses incident to the performance of his or her official duties. Prior to the assumption of the duties of his or her office, he or she shall take and subscribe to the oath required of public officers by the Constitution of West Virginia and shall execute a bond, with surety approved by the Governor, in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars, which executed oath and bond shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. Premiums on the bond shall be paid from division funds.
The director shall arrange with the general services division of the department of finance and administration for adequate office space, accommodations and facilities for the department of natural resources in the state capitol offices. The department of finance and administration shall make such office accommodations and facilities available and shall provide for orderly servicing and maintenance thereof. The offices of the director and of the department shall be opened and staffed for business transactions and services during regular hours.
In addition to all other powers, duties and responsibilities granted and assigned to the director in this chapter and elsewhere by law, the director is hereby authorized and empowered to: (1) With the advice of the commission, prepare and administer, through the various divisions created by this chapter, a long-range comprehensive program for the conservation of the natural resources of the state which best effectuates the purpose of this chapter and which makes adequate provisions for the natural resources laws of the state; (2) Sign and execute in the name of the state by the Division of Natural Resources any contract or agreement with the federal government or its departments or agencies, subdivisions of the state, corporations, associations, partnerships or individuals; (3) Conduct research in improved conservation methods and disseminate information matters to the residents of the state; (4) Conduct a continuous study and investigation of the habits of wildlife and, for purposes of control and protection, to classify by regulation the various species into such categories as may be established as necessary; (5) Prescribe the locality in which the manner and method by which the various species of wildlife may be taken, or chased, unless otherwise specified by this chapter; (6) Hold at least six meetings each year at such time and at such points within the state, as in the discretion of the Natural Resources Commission may appear to be necessary and proper for the purpose of giving interested persons in the various sections of the state an opportunity to be heard concerning open season for their respective areas, and report the results of the meetings to the Natural Resources Commission before such season and bag limits are fixed by it; (7) Suspend open hunting season upon any or all wildlife in any or all counties of the state with the prior approval of the Governor in case of an emergency such as a drought, forest fire hazard or epizootic disease among wildlife. The suspension shall continue during the existence of the emergency and until rescinded by the director. Suspension, or reopening after such suspension, of open seasons may be made upon twenty-four hours' notice by delivery of a copy of the order of suspension or reopening to the wire press agencies at the state capitol; (8) Supervise the fiscal affairs and responsibilities of the division; (9) Designate such localities as he or she shall determine to be necessary and desirable for the perpetuation of any species of wildlife; (10) Enter private lands to make surveys or inspections for conservation purposes, to investigate for violations of provisions of this chapter, to serve and execute warrants and processes, to make arrests and to otherwise effectively enforce the provisions of this chapter; (11) Acquire for the state in the name of the Division of Natural Resources by purchase, condemnation, lease or agreement, or accept or reject for the state, in the name of the Division of Natural Resources, gifts, donations, contributions, bequests or devises of money, security or property, both real and personal, and any interest in such property, including lands and waters, which he or she deems suitable for the following purposes: (a) For state forests for the purpose of growing timber, demonstrating forestry, furnishing or protecting watersheds or providing public recreation; (b) For state parks or recreation areas for the purpose of preserving scenic, aesthetic, scientific, cultural, archaeological or historical values or natural wonders, or providing public recreation; (c) For public hunting, trapping or fishing grounds or waters for the purpose of providing areas in which the public may hunt, trap or fish, as permitted by the provisions of this chapter and the rules issued hereunder; (d) For fish hatcheries, game farms, wildlife research areas and feeding stations; (e) For the extension and consolidation of lands or waters suitable for the above purposes by exchange of other lands or waters under his or her supervision; (f) For such other purposes as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter; (12) Capture, propagate, transport, sell or exchange any species of wildlife as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter; (13) Sell timber for not less than the value thereof, as appraised by a qualified appraiser appointed by the director, from all lands under the jurisdiction and control of the director, except those lands that are designated as state parks and those in the Kanawha State Forest. The appraisal shall be made within a reasonable time prior to any sale, reduced to writing, filed in the office of the director and shall be available for public inspection. The director must obtain the written permission of the Governor to sell timber when the appraised value is more than five thousand dollars. The director shall receive sealed bids therefor, after notice by publication as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code and the publication area for such publication shall be each county in which the timber is located. The timber so advertised shall be sold at not less than the appraised value to the highest responsible bidder, who shall give bond for the proper performance of the sales contract as the director shall designate; but the director shall have the right to reject any and all bids and to readvertise for bids. If the foregoing provisions of this section have been complied with and no bid equal to or in excess of the appraised value of the timber is received, the director may, at any time, during a period of six months after the opening of the bids, sell the timber in such manner as he or she deems appropriate, but the sale price shall not be less than the appraised value of the timber advertised. No contract for sale of timber made pursuant to this section shall extend for a period of more than ten years. And all contracts heretofore entered into by the state for the sale of timber shall not be validated by this section if the same be otherwise invalid. The proceeds arising from the sale of the timber so sold shall be paid to the Treasurer of the State of West Virginia and shall be credited to the division and used exclusively for the purposes of this chapter: Provided, That nothing contained herein shall prohibit the sale of timber which otherwise would be removed from rights-of-way necessary for and strictly incidental to the extraction of minerals; (14) Sell or lease, with the approval in writing of the Governor, coal, oil, gas, sand, gravel and any other minerals that may be found in the lands under the jurisdiction and control of the director, except those lands that are designated as state parks. The director, before making sale or lease thereof, shall receive sealed bids therefor, after notice by publication as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be each county in which such lands are located. The minerals so advertised shall be sold or leased to the highest responsible bidder, who shall give bond for the proper performance of the sales contract or lease as the director shall designate; but the director shall have the right to reject any and all bids and to readvertise for bids. The proceeds arising from any such sale or lease shall be paid to the Treasurer of the State of West Virginia and shall be credited to the division and used exclusively for the purposes of this chapter; (15) Exercise the powers granted by this chapter for the protection of forests and regulate fires and smoking in the woods or in their proximity at such times and in such localities as may be necessary to reduce the danger of forest fires; (16) Cooperate with departments and agencies of state, local and federal governments in the conservation of natural resources and the beautification of the state; (17) Report to the Governor each year all information relative to the operation and functions of the division and the director shall make such other reports and recommendations as may be required by the Governor, including an annual financial report covering all receipts and disbursements of the division for each fiscal year, and he or she shall deliver such report to the Governor on or before the first day of December next after the end of the fiscal year so covered. A copy of such report shall be delivered to each house of the Legislature when convened in January next following; (18) Keep a complete and accurate record of all proceedings, record and file all bonds and contracts taken or entered into and assume responsibility for the custody and preservation of all papers and documents pertaining to his or her office, except as otherwise provided by law; (19) Offer and pay, in his or her discretion, rewards for information respecting the violation, or for the apprehension and conviction of any violators, of any of the provisions of this chapter; (20) Require such reports as he or she may deem to be necessary from any person issued a license or permit under the provisions of this chapter, but no person shall be required to disclose secret processes or confidential data of competitive significance; (21) Purchase as provided by law all equipment necessary for the conduct of the division; (22) Conduct and encourage research designed to further new and more extensive uses of the natural resources of this state and to publicize the findings of such research; (23) Encourage and cooperate with other public and private organizations or groups in their efforts to publicize the attractions of the state; (24) Accept and expend, without the necessity of appropriation by the Legislature, any gift or grant of money made to the division for any and all purposes specified in this chapter and he or she shall account for and report on all such receipts and expenditures to the Governor; (25) Cooperate with the state historian and other appropriate state agencies in conducting research with reference to the establishment of state parks and monuments of historic, scenic and recreational value and to take such steps as may be necessary in establishing such monuments or parks as he or she deems advisable; (26) Maintain in his or her office at all times, properly indexed by subject matter and also in chronological sequence, all rules made or issued under the authority of this chapter. Such records shall be available for public inspection on all business days during the business hours of working days; (27) Delegate the powers and duties of his or her office, except the power to execute contracts not related to land and stream management, to appointees and employees of the division, who shall act under the direction and supervision of the director and for whose acts he or she shall be responsible; (28) Conduct schools, institutions and other educational programs, apart from or in cooperation with other governmental agencies, for instruction and training in all phases of the natural resources programs of the state; (29) Authorize the payment of all or any part of the reasonable expenses incurred by an employee of the division in moving his or her household furniture and effects as a result of a reassignment of the employee: Provided, That no part of the moving expenses of any one such employee shall be paid more frequently than once in twelve months; and (30) Promulgate rules, in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to implement and make effective the powers and duties vested in him or her by the provisions of this chapter and take such other steps as may be necessary in his or her discretion for the proper and effective enforcement of the provisions of this chapter.
A merit system of personnel management shall be established and maintained for all personnel of the department in order to ensure and provide for impartial selection of competent and qualified personnel and to accord to all department employees rights of tenure and advancement during satisfactory discharge of their duties. In lieu of establishment of a merit system of personnel management for the department, the director may resort to and rely upon the civil service commission and civil service system for personnel and personnel services of the department. The director may select a personal secretary and two deputy directors of the department to serve at the director's will and pleasure. The director shall fix the compensation of the secretary and the two deputy directors and shall prescribe their duties and responsibilities. The director, the secretary and the two deputy directors shall not have and enjoy merit system status, as herein provided, but any deputy director, when selected from department personnel ranks, shall retain and be accorded all of the rights of his merit system status regardless of his selection and tenure as deputy director. The director shall select and designate a competent and qualified person as department personnel officer who shall be responsible for personnel management, personnel records and general personnel services. The personnel officer, under supervision of the director and subject to merit system rules, regulations and requirements, shall prescribe qualifications, classifications and salary scales for department personnel. He shall furnish to the director information and data relating to qualified personnel available for the various offices, positions and places of employment and may make recommendations concerning the selection, retention and advancement of personnel of the department.
Subject to any controlling rules and regulations of the department of finance and administration relating to state fiscal management policies and practices, the director shall establish in the department an adequate budget, finance and accounting system which will currently and accurately reflect the fiscal operations and conditions of the department at all times. The department's accounting and auditing services shall be on a fiscal-year basis. The director shall select and designate a competent and qualified person as department fiscal officer who, under the supervision of the director, shall be responsible for all budget, finance and accounting services of the department. All moneys received by the department shall be recorded and shall be paid as special revenue to the department of natural resources, as provided in subdivision (i), section two, article two, chapter twelve of this code, except in cases wherein certain receipts of the department are by specific provisions of this chapter required to be paid into some special fund or funds.
(a) The division shall maintain at all times an accurate record of all of its lands, interests in lands, buildings, structures, equipment and other tangible properties and assets. The record shall reflect the location, utility, condition and estimated value of all such properties and assets. The division shall provide for the maintenance, preservation and custody of all such properties and assets, and when any item or items thereof become obsolete or are no longer needed, the division shall report thereon to the Public Lands Corporation for disposition thereof. (b) The director shall select and designate a competent and qualified person as division property officer, who shall be responsible for the division's records relating to its properties and assets and for the maintenance, preservation, custody and disposition of all such properties and assets as herein provided. (c) Subject to valid existing rights, division owned wildlife management area lands shall be open to access and use for recreational hunting and shooting except as limited by the division for reasons of public safety, fish and wildlife management or homeland security or as otherwise limited by law. (d) The division shall exercise its authority consistent with subsection (c) to support, promote and enhance recreational hunting and shooting opportunities, to the extent authorized by statute. The division shall give preference to hunting and shooting over other uses of division owned wildlife management area lands. (e) Division land management decisions and actions may not result in a net loss of habitat land acreage available for hunting and shooting opportunities on division owned wildlife management area lands that exists on the effective date of this section. (f) On or before the first day of December, the division shall submit an annual report to the Governor and to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance, including the following: (1) The acreage administered by the division that has been closed during the previous year to recreational hunting and the reasons for the closures; and (2) The acreage administered by the division that, in order to comply with the provisions of subsection (e) was opened to recreational hunting to compensate for that acreage.
To further an appreciation and understanding of the outdoors by the youth of this state, the director is hereby authorized to enter into long-term agreements, with the written approval of the governor, leasing unto the county board of education of any county wherein are situate lands belonging to the department of natural resources, for nominal consideration, one parcel of rural land not exceeding in size one acre for each five hundred students registered in the public schools of the county at the time of the lease. Such land shall be used by the county board of education exclusively to establish and maintain an outdoor education program and for no other purpose. By a multi-county agreement, the county boards of education of any county or counties in which no land belonging to the department of natural resources is located may join with any other county or counties in which such land is located to establish and maintain a joint outdoor education program and the combined student enrollment of the counties joining into such an agreement shall determine the maximum acreage that may be leased by the department of natural resources for such purposes. If the department of natural resources makes a finding that land leased pursuant to this section has ceased to be used for the purposes set forth herein for a period of three consecutive years, the director shall notify the affected county board or boards of education of such a finding in writing. Upon the expiration of sixty days from receipt of said notice, such lease shall become null and void and control of such leased land shall revert to the department of natural resources unless the affected board or boards of education have petitioned the circuit court of the county wherein the land or the greater portion thereof lies for review of the said finding. Upon petition and hearing, the said circuit court shall determine whether the land has ceased to be used for the purposes set forth in this section. Periodic or incidental use of the land for less than six months of each calendar year shall not be sufficient to support a finding that the land has ceased to be used for the purposes set forth herein. If the said circuit court determines that the land has ceased to be used for the purposes set forth herein, the court shall, by written order, declare the lease null and void and reinstate control of the leased land in the department of natural resources.
The department shall collect, organize and from time to time distribute to the public, through news media or otherwise, interesting facts, information and data concerning the natural resources of the state and the functions and services of the department. The director may organize and promote lectures, demonstrations, symposiums, schools and other educational programs relating to the state's natural resources. Motion pictures, slide films and other photographic services may be provided for instruction on natural resources for schools, other governmental agencies, and civic organizations under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the director. The director shall select and designate a competent and qualified person as department public relations officer, who shall be responsible for the organization and management of the department's public relations program. He may prepare and distribute from time to time pamphlet materials and other compilations and publications of the department and may cooperate with other governmental agencies in the publication and distribution of such materials.
As departmental projects or in cooperation with other governmental or private agencies, the director may organize and promote surveys and explorations relating to the state's natural resources, their utility, development and protection. The state geological and economic survey commission, the department of mines, the department of agriculture, the department of commerce and other governmental agencies and activities shall cooperate, whenever and wherever practicable to do so, with the department in its survey and exploration work. The director shall select and designate a competent and qualified person as department surveys officer who shall be responsible for the organization, promotion and correlation of the surveys and explorations as herein provided. He shall work closely with other offices and divisions of the department in order to effect maximum development, utilization, protection and enjoyment of the state's natural resources.
The director shall select and designate a competent and qualified person to be department law-enforcement officer, who shall have the title of chief conservation officer and who shall be responsible for the prompt, orderly and effective enforcement of all of the provisions of this chapter. Under the supervision of the director and subject to personnel qualifications and requirements otherwise prescribed in this chapter, the chief conservation officer shall be responsible for the selection, training, assignment, distribution and discipline of conservation officers and the effective discharge of their duties in carrying out the law-enforcement policies, practices and programs of the department in compliance with the provisions of article seven of this chapter and other controlling laws. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, he or she and his or her conservation officers are hereby authorized to enter into and upon private lands and waters to investigate complaints and reports of conditions, conduct, practices and activities considered to be adverse to and violative of the provisions of this chapter and to execute writs and warrants and make arrests thereupon. The attorney general and his or her assistants and the prosecuting attorneys of the several counties shall render to the director, without additional compensation, such legal services as the director may require of them in the discharge of his or her duties and the execution of his or her powers under and his or her enforcement of the provisions of this chapter. The director, in an emergency and with prior approval of the attorney general, may employ an attorney to act in proceedings wherein criminal charges are brought against personnel of the department because of action in line of duty. For such attorney services, a reasonable sum, not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars, may be expended by the director in any one case. The director, if he or she deems the action necessary, may request the attorney general to appoint an assistant attorney general, who shall perform, under the supervision and direction of the attorney general, the duties as may be required of him or her by the director. The attorney general, in pursuance of the request, may select and appoint an assistant attorney general to serve at the will and pleasure of the attorney general, and the assistant shall receive a salary to be paid out of any funds made available for that purpose by the Legislature to the department.
Sections of wildlife resources and of law enforcement are hereby continued within the division of natural resources. Subject to provisions of law, the director of the division of natural resources shall allocate the functions and services of the division to the sections, offices and activities thereof and may from time to time establish and abolish other sections, offices and activities within the division in order to carry out fully and in an orderly manner the powers, duties and responsibilities of the office as director. The director shall select and designate a competent and qualified person to be chief of each section. The chief is the principal administrative officer of that section and is accountable and responsible for the orderly and efficient performance of the duties, functions and services thereof.
Repealed. Acts, 1989 Reg. Sess., Ch. 135.
The natural resources commission, created and established by provisions of section three of this article, shall be a public benefit corporation and as such may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, contract and be contracted with, and have and use a common seal. It shall be a commission advisory to the director and to the department of natural resources. The commission shall be composed of seven members, known as commissioners, one from each congressional district and the remainder from the state at large, appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Their terms of office shall begin on the first day of July and shall be for a period of seven years, except that the governor in making the initial appointments shall designate and define their respective terms of office so that the term of one member of the commission will expire each year. As initial appointments expire, all subsequent appointments shall be for terms of seven years or for the unexpired term of a member who may have died, resigned or become disqualified. The members of the commission shall be citizens and residents of the state, selected with special reference to their training and experience in relation to the principal activities required of the commission, and for their ability and fitness to perform their duties within the purposes of this chapter. No member of the commission shall be a candidate for or hold any public office other than that of member of the commission; nor shall he be a member of any committee of a political party. In case a member becomes a candidate for or accepts appointment to any public office or political party committee, his office as member of the commission shall be immediately vacated.
(a) Members of the Natural Resources Commission shall take and subscribe to the public officer's oath prescribed by the Constitution before entering upon the duties of their office. All such executed oaths shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. Members of the Commission shall receive no compensation as such, but each shall be reimbursed for his or her actual and necessary traveling expenses incurred in the performance of his or her official duties. (b) The Director of the Division shall be ex officio a member of the Commission and its presiding officer. A majority of the Commission shall constitute a quorum for transaction of business. Four regular meetings of the Commission shall be held each year One meeting shall be held in each quarter of the calender year. The date of the meeting shall be at the discretion of the Director of the Division of Natural Resources. Special meetings may be convened by the Governor, the Director or by a majority of the Commission. The meetings of the Commission shall be regularly held at locations designated by the Director. The time and place of the meeting shall be announced in accordance with section one, article nine-a, chapter six, et seq., of this code. The Director shall furnish all articles and supplies required by the Commission in the performance of its duties and shall provide necessary stenographic, secretarial and clerical assistance therefor. All such materials and services shall be paid for from Department funds. The Director, at any regular or special meeting of the Commission, may submit to the Commission any program or policy matters on which he or she wishes to obtain the advice, counsel and opinion of the Commission and may consult with members of the Commission on functions, services, policies and practices of the Department at any time. The Commission shall serve as a body advisory to the Director and shall perform all other duties assigned to it by law. It shall have the following powers and duties: (1) To consider and study the entire field of legislation and administrative methods concerning the forests and their maintenance and development, the protection of fish and game, the beautification of the state and its highways, and the development of lands, minerals, waters and other natural resources; (2) To advise with the Director concerning the conservation problems of particular localities or districts of the state; (3) To recommend policies and practices to the Director relative to any duties imposed upon him or her by law; (4) To investigate the work of the Director, and for this purpose to have access at reasonable times to all official books, papers, documents and records; (5) To advise or make recommendations to the Governor relative to natural resources of the state; (6) To keep minutes of the transactions of each session, regular or special, which shall be public records and filed with the Director; and (7) To fix by regulation which it is hereby empowered to promulgate, in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, the open seasons and the bag, creel, size, age, weight and sex limits with respect to wildlife in this state.
In addition to all other powers and authority vested in the director, he is hereby authorized and empowered to represent and advance the interests of the state of West Virginia under provisions of acts of Congress now in force or hereafter enacted providing for cooperation between the governments of the United States and of the several states in the exploration, development, conservation, use and enjoyment of natural resources. He may acquire by purchase or lease, as in this chapter provided, such lands, interests in lands, forests, parks, recreational facilities, wildlife and water areas and such other properties within this state as may be required in cooperative programs with any other government or governments, and, with the approval of the governor, may negotiate and effect self-liquidating loans with the government of the United States or any agency or agencies thereof for the procurement, development and use of all such properties. All such projects shall be in the interest and for the benefit of the state and may be geared and timed to relieve economic hardship and unemployment. In order to consolidate forest tracts under either state or federal administration, the director may sell, purchase or exchange stumpage or lands within or adjacent to any national forest purchase area. The director shall study the land and water boundary areas of the state and, where practicable, cooperate with adjacent states in programs for the development, conservation and use of waters, forests, minerals, wildlife and other natural resources.
The state of West Virginia hereby assents to the provisions of the act of Congress entitled, "An act to provide that the United States shall aid the states in wildlife restoration projects and for other purposes," approved September second, one thousand nine hundred thirty-seven (Public Law number four hundred fifteen, seventy-fifth Congress), and the director is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to perform such acts as may be necessary to the conduct and establishment of cooperative wildlife restoration projects, as defined in said act of Congress, in compliance with said act and with rules and regulations promulgated by the secretary of the interior thereunder. Funds accruing to the State from license fees paid by hunters shall not be diverted for any other purposes than those stated in section thirty-four, article two of this chapter.
The state of West Virginia hereby assents to the provisions of the act of Congress entitled, "An act to provide that the United States shall aid the states in fish restoration and management projects and for other purposes," (Public Law number six hundred eighty-one, eighty-first Congress), and the director is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to perform such acts as may be necessary to the conduct and establishment of fish restoration and management projects as defined in said act of Congress, in compliance with said act and with rules and regulations promulgated by the secretary of the interior thereunder. Funds accruing to the state from license fees paid by fishermen shall not be diverted for any purposes other than those stated in section thirty-four, article two of this chapter.
The Legislature recognizes that there are large areas of this state that are owned by or under the control of the government of the United States. In order to cooperate with the various federal agencies which have jurisdiction over these areas and to effectively enforce rules and regulations to protect these areas, the Legislature hereby authorizes the director to adopt such rules and regulations as are necessary to cooperate in all law enforcement activities with the various federal agencies. Such rules and regulations shall be adopted according to the administrative procedures act as provided in chapter twenty-one-a of this code. To the extent that any rules and regulations adopted by the director are identical to existing federal rules and regulations, they may be promulgated without the procedures required under the administrative procedures act except that there shall be public notice of the adoption of such regulations and they shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state.
After having conducted a performance and fiscal audit through its joint committee on government operations, pursuant to section nine, article ten, chapter four of this code, the Legislature hereby finds and declares that the United States geological survey program within the department of natural resources should be continued and reestablished. Accordingly, notwithstanding the provisions of section four, article ten, chapter four of this code, the United States geological survey program within the department of natural resources shall continue to exist until the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six.
(a) The state parks of West Virginia are: (1) Audra; (2) Babcock; (3) Beartown; (4) Beech Fork; (5) Berkeley Springs; (6) Blackwater Falls; (7) Blennerhassett Island Historical; (8) Bluestone; (9) Cacapon Resort; (10) Camp Creek; (11) Canaan Valley Resort; (12) Carnifex Ferry Battlefield; (13) Cass Scenic Railroad; (14) Cathedral; (15) Cedar Creek; (16) Chief Logan; (17) Droop Mountain Battlefield; (18) Fairfax Stone Historical Monument; (19) Hawks Nest; (20) Holly River; (21) Little Beaver; (22) Lost River; (23) Moncove Lake; (24) North Bend; (25) Pinnacle Rock; (26) Pipestem Resort; (27) Prickett's Fort; (28) Stonewall Resort; (29) Tomlinson Run; (30) Tu-Endie-Wei (Point Pleasant Battle Monument); (31) Twin Falls Resort; (32) Tygart Lake; (33) Valley Falls; (34) Watoga; and (35) Watters Smith Memorial. (b) The state forests of West Virginia are: (1) Cabwaylingo; (2) Calvin Price; (3) Camp Creek; (4) Coopers Rock; (5) Greenbrier; (6) Kanawha; (7) Kumbrabow; (8) Panther Forest/WMA, consisting of approximately twenty-six acres containing park facilities; and (9) Seneca. (c) Neither the director nor any officer, employee or agent of the Division of Natural Resources may close, change the name or the designated use of a state park or state forest without statutory authorization.
(a)(1) The Legislature finds that the acquisition of land to construct new or expand existing state parks and state forests is costly. After these areas are constructed, they must be maintained and personnel must be employed to operate the facilities. These costs continue to increase and place a burden on state revenues. (2) The Legislature declares that there is an ultimate limit to how many state parks and state forests, based upon its size, population and financial resources, the State of West Virginia can support. Further, the Legislature hereby declares that it is within its authority to establish, provide for and maintain limits on state parks and state forests. (b) Without written notice to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance, neither the director nor an officer, employee or agent of the Division of Natural Resources may: (1) Acquire, or authorize the acquisition of, land for any new state park or state forest; or (2) Construct, or authorize the construction of, any new facility or building in any state park or state forest. (c) Notice to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is not required for the following acquisitions and construction projects: (1) The director may authorize the construction of any new facility or building that is constructed with donated funds, materials and labor in an existing state park or state forest; and (2) The director may construct or authorize the construction of any new facility or building built by state employees when the total cost of materials does not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars. (d) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the director from expending any appropriations that are designated to complete land acquisitions or the construction of facilities and buildings, including electric, water and sewage systems for state parks and state forests. (e) The director shall require that any new building has a roof of sufficient slope in accordance with the current state building code.
The division of natural resources shall continue to exist, pursuant to the provisions of article ten, chapter four of this code, until the first day of July, two thousand four, unless sooner terminated, continued or reestablished pursuant to the provisions of that article.
Repealed. Acts, 2007 Reg. Sess., Ch. 214.
Repealed. Acts, 2007 Reg. Sess., Ch. 214.
Repealed. Acts, 2007 Reg. Sess., Ch. 214.
Repealed. Acts, 2007 Reg. Sess., Ch. 214.
Repealed. Acts, 2007 Reg. Sess., Ch. 214.
Repealed. Acts, 2007 Reg. Sess., Ch. 214.
The commissioner of the department of commerce shall establish an "adopt a state park or forest program" to encourage and coordinate the efforts of volunteers to help maintain and improve state parks, forests, or other public lands within the state. The commissioner shall establish a matching grant program to assist such volunteer efforts by legislative rule pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
Repealed. Acts, 2007 Reg. Sess., Ch. 214.
Repealed. Acts, 2007 Reg. Sess., Ch. 214.
It is declared to be the public policy of the state of West Virginia that the wildlife resources of this state shall be protected for the use and enjoyment of all the citizens of this state. All species of wildlife shall be maintained for values which may be either intrinsic or ecological or of benefit to man. Such benefits shall include (1) hunting, fishing and other diversified recreational uses; (2) economic contributions in the best interests of the people of this state; and (3) scientific and educational uses.
The chief of the division of wildlife resources shall be primarily responsible for the execution and administration of the provisions of this article as an integral part of the natural resources program of the state as defined and constituted in this chapter. He shall organize the division and select competent and qualified personnel therefor so as to effect an orderly, efficient and economical division organization.
When no specific punishment or penalty is otherwise provided for violations of the provisions of this article, any person violating any provision hereof shall be guilty of a misdemeanor offense, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to the punishment and penalties prescribed in section nine, article seven of this chapter.
A person may not willfully obstruct or impede the participation of any individual in the lawful activity of hunting, fishing or trapping. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned in the county jail for not less than ten days nor more than one hundred days or both fined and imprisoned. Also, any person convicted of a subsequent violation of this section shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned in the county jail not more than one year or both fined and imprisoned. For the purpose of this section a subsequent violation is one which has occurred within two years of any prior violation of this section and which arises out of a separate set of circumstances. Any person convicted of any violation of this section shall be liable to the person, whom they interfered with, for all costs and damages resulting therefrom and if such offender holds a West Virginia hunting, fishing or trapping license at the time of conviction, such license shall be revoked.
The ownership of and title to all wild animals, wild birds, both migratory and resident, and all fish, amphibians, and all forms of aquatic life in the state of West Virginia is hereby declared to be in the state, as trustee for the people. No such wildlife shall be taken or hunted in any manner, or at any time, unless the person so taking or hunting the same shall consent that the title thereto shall be and remain in the state of West Virginia for the purpose of regulating the taking, hunting, using and disposing of the same. The taking or hunting of wildlife at any time or in any manner by any person shall be deemed such consent: Provided, however, That all fish, frogs and other aquatic life in privately-owned ponds are, and shall remain, the private property of the owner or owners of such privately-owned ponds, and that such fish, frogs and other aquatic life in such privately-owned ponds may be caught, taken or killed by such owner or owners at any time.
Except for wildlife, lawfully taken, killed, or obtained, no person shall have in his or her possession any wildlife, or parts thereof, during closed seasons. It is unlawful to possess any wildlife, or parts thereof, which have been illegally taken, killed or obtained. Any wildlife illegally taken, killed or possessed shall be forfeited to the state and shall be counted toward the daily, seasonal, bag, creel and possession limit of the person in possession of, or responsible for, the illegal taking or killing of any wildlife. Wildlife lawfully taken outside of this state shall be subject to the same laws and rules as that taken within this state. Migratory wild birds shall be possessed only in accordance with the "Migratory Bird Treaty Act" and regulations thereunder. The restrictions in this section do not apply to the director or duly authorized agents, who may, in any manner, take or maintain in captivity, at any time, any wildlife for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter. Wildlife, except protected birds, spotted fawn, and bear cubs, killed or mortally wounded as a result of being accidentally or inadvertently struck by a motor vehicle may be lawfully possessed: Provided, That the possessor of such wildlife shall provide notice of the claim within twelve hours to a relevant law-enforcement agency, and obtain a nonhunting game tag within twenty-four hours of possession. The director shall propose administrative policy which shall address the means, methods and administrative procedures for implementing the provisions of this section.
Except as authorized by the director, it is unlawful at any time for any person to: (1) Shoot at or to shoot any wild bird or animal unless it is plainly visible to him or her; (2) Dig out, cut out or smoke out, or in any manner take or attempt to take, any live wild animal or wild bird out of its den or place of refuge except as may be authorized by rules promulgated by the director or by law; (3) Make use of, or take advantage of, any artificial light in hunting, locating, attracting, taking, trapping or killing any wild bird or wild animal, or to attempt to do so, while having in his or her possession or subject to his or her control, or for any person accompanying him or her to have in his or her possession or subject to his or her control, any firearm, whether cased or uncased, bow, arrow, or both, or other implement or device suitable for taking, killing or trapping a wild bird or animal: Provided, That it is lawful to hunt or take raccoon, opossum or skunk by the use of artificial light subject to the restrictions set forth in this subdivision: Provided, however, That it is lawful to hunt or take coyotes by the use of amber- or red-colored artificial light subject to the restrictions set forth in this subdivision. No person is guilty of a violation of this subdivision merely because he or she looks for, looks at, attracts or makes motionless a wild bird or wild animal with or by the use of an artificial light, unless at the time he or she has in his or her possession a firearm, whether cased or uncased, bow, arrow, or both, or other implement or device suitable for taking, killing or trapping a wild bird or wild animal, or unless the artificial light (other than the head lamps of an automobile or other land conveyance) is attached to, a part of or used from within or upon an automobile or other land conveyance. Any person violating the provisions of this subdivision is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall for each offense be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars and shall be imprisoned in jail for not less than ten days nor more than one hundred days; (4) Hunt for, take, kill, wound or shoot at wild animals or wild birds from an airplane, or other airborne conveyance, an automobile, or other land conveyance, or from a motor-driven water conveyance, except as authorized by rules promulgated by the director; (5) Take any beaver or muskrat by any means other than by trap; (6) Catch, capture, take or kill by seine, net, bait, trap or snare or like device of any kind any wild turkey, ruffed grouse, pheasant or quail; (7) Destroy or attempt to destroy needlessly or willfully the nest or eggs of any wild bird or have in his or her possession the nest or eggs unless authorized to do so under rules promulgated by or under a permit issued by the director; (8) Except as provided in section six of this article, carry an uncased or loaded gun in any of the woods of this state except during the open firearms hunting season for wild animals and nonmigratory wild birds within any county of the state unless he or she has in his or her possession a permit in writing issued to him or her by the director: Provided, That this section shall not prohibit hunting or taking of unprotected species of wild animals and wild birds and migratory wild birds, during the open season, in the open fields, open water and open marshes of the state; (9) Have in his or her possession a crossbow with a nocked bolt, a loaded firearm or a firearm from the magazine of which all shells and cartridges have not been removed, in or on any vehicle or conveyance, or its attachments, within the state, except as may otherwise be provided by law or regulation. Except as hereinafter provided, between five o'clock postmeridian of one day and seven o'clock antemeridian, eastern standard time of the day following, any unloaded firearm or crossbow, being lawfully carried in accordance with the foregoing provisions, shall be so carried only when in a case or taken apart and securely wrapped. During the period from the first day of July to the thirtieth day of September, inclusive, of each year, the foregoing requirements relative to carrying certain unloaded firearms are permissible only from eight-thirty o'clock postmeridian to five o'clock antemeridian, eastern standard time: Provided, That the time periods for carrying unloaded and uncased firearms are extended for one hour after the postmeridian times and one hour before the antemeridian times established above if a hunter is preparing to or in the process of transporting or transferring the firearms to or from a hunting site, campsite, home or other place of abode; (10) Hunt, catch, take, kill, trap, injure or pursue with firearms or other implement by which wildlife may be taken after the hour of five o'clock antemeridian on Sunday on private land without the written consent of the landowner any wild animals or wild birds except when a big game season opens on a Monday, the Sunday prior to that opening day will be closed for any taking of wild animals or birds after five o'clock antemeridian on that Sunday: Provided, That traps previously and legally set may be tended after the hour of five o'clock antemeridian on Sunday and the person so doing may carry only a twenty-two caliber firearm for the purpose of humanely dispatching trapped animals. Any person violating the provisions of this subdivision is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, in addition to any fines that may be imposed by this or other sections of this code, shall be subject to a one hundred dollar fine; (11) Hunt with firearms or long bow while under the influence of intoxicating liquor; (12) Hunt, catch, take, kill, injure or pursue a wild animal or bird with the use of a ferret; (13) Buy raw furs, pelts or skins of fur-bearing animals unless licensed to do so; (14) Catch, take, kill or attempt to catch, take or kill any fish at any time by any means other than by rod, line and hooks with natural or artificial lures unless otherwise authorized by law or rules issued by the Director: Provided, That snaring of any species of suckers, carp, fallfish and creek chubs shall at all times be lawful; (15) Employ or hire, or induce or persuade, by the use of money or other things of value, or by any means, any person to hunt, take, catch or kill any wild animal or wild bird except those species on which there is no closed season, or to fish for, catch, take or kill any fish, amphibian or aquatic life which is protected by the provisions of this chapter or rules of the director or the sale of which is prohibited; (16) Hunt, catch, take, kill, capture, pursue, transport, possess or use any migratory game or nongame birds included in the terms of conventions between the United States and Great Britain and between the United States and United Mexican States for the protection of migratory birds and wild mammals concluded, respectively, the sixteenth day of August, one thousand nine hundred sixteen, and the seventh day of February, one thousand nine hundred thirty-six, except during the time and in the manner and numbers prescribed by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, 16 U.S.C. §703, et seq., and regulations made thereunder; (17) Kill, take, catch or have in his or her possession, living or dead, any wild bird other than a game bird; or expose for sale or transport within or without the state any bird except as aforesaid. No part of the plumage, skin or body of any protected bird shall be sold or had in possession for sale except mounted or stuffed plumage, skin, bodies or heads of the birds legally taken and stuffed or mounted, irrespective of whether the bird was captured within or without this state, except the English or European sparrow (passer domesticus), starling (sturnus vulgaris) and cowbird (molothrus ater), which may not be protected and the killing thereof at any time is lawful; (18) Use dynamite or any like explosive or poisonous mixture placed in any waters of the state for the purpose of killing or taking fish. Any person violating the provisions of this subdivision is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not less than six months nor more than three years, or both fined and imprisoned; (19) Have a bow and gun, or have a gun and any arrow or arrows, in the fields or woods at the same time; (20) Have a crossbow in the woods or fields or use a crossbow to hunt for, take or attempt to take any wildlife, unless the person possesses a Class Y permit; (21) Take or attempt to take turkey, bear, elk or deer with any arrow unless the arrow is equipped with a point having at least two sharp cutting edges measuring in excess of three fourths of an inch wide; (22) Take or attempt to take any wildlife with an arrow having an explosive head or shaft, a poisoned arrow or an arrow which would affect wildlife by any chemical action; (23) Shoot an arrow across any public highway or from aircraft, motor-driven watercraft, motor vehicle or other land conveyance; (24) Permit any dog owned by him or her or under his or her control to chase, pursue or follow upon the track of any wild animal or wild bird, either day or night, between the first day of May and the fifteenth day of August next following: Provided, That dogs may be trained on wild animals and wild birds, except deer and wild turkeys, and field trials may be held or conducted on the grounds or lands of the owner or by his or her bona fide tenant or tenants or upon the grounds or lands of another person with his or her written permission or on public lands at any time: Provided, however, That nonresidents may not train dogs in this state at any time except during the legal small game hunting season: Provided further, That the person training said dogs does not have firearms or other implements in his or her possession during the closed season on wild animals and wild birds, whereby wild animals or wild birds could be taken or killed; (25) Conduct or participate in a field trial, shoot-to-retrieve field trial, water race or wild hunt hereafter referred to as trial: Provided, That any person, group of persons, club or organization may hold the trial at any time of the year upon obtaining a permit as is provided in section fifty-six of this article. The person responsible for obtaining the permit shall prepare and keep an accurate record of the names and addresses of all persons participating in said trial and make same readily available for inspection by any conservation officer upon request; (26) Except as provided in section four of this article, hunt, catch, take, kill or attempt to hunt, catch, take or kill any wild animal, wild bird or wild fowl except during the open season established by rule of the director as authorized by subdivision (6), section seven, article one of this chapter; (27) Hunting on public lands on Sunday after five o'clock antemeridian is prohibited; and (28) Hunt, catch, take, kill, trap, injure or pursue with firearms or other implement which wildlife can be taken, on private lands on Sunday after the hour of five o'clock antemeridian: Provided, That the provisions of this subdivision do not apply in any county until the county commission of the county holds an election on the question of whether the provisions of this subdivision prohibiting hunting on Sunday shall apply within the county and the voters approve the allowance of hunting on Sunday in the county. The election is determined by a vote of the resident voters of the county in which the hunting on Sunday is proposed to be authorized. The county commission of the county in which Sunday hunting is proposed shall give notice to the public of the election by publication of the notice as a Class II-0 legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code and the publication area for the publication shall be the county in which the election is to be held. The date of the last publication of the notice shall fall on a date within the period of the fourteen consecutive days next preceding the election. On the local option election ballot shall be printed the following: Shall hunting on Sunday be authorized in ________ County? [ ] Yes[ ] No (Place a cross mark in the square opposite your choice.) Any local option election to approve or disapprove of the proposed authorization of Sunday hunting within a county shall be in accordance with procedures adopted by the commission. The local option election may be held in conjunction with a primary or general election or at a special election. Approval shall be by a majority of the voters casting votes on the question of approval or disapproval of Sunday hunting at the election. If a majority votes against allowing Sunday hunting, no election on the issue may be held for a period of one hundred four weeks. If a majority votes "yes", no election reconsidering the action may be held for a period of five years. A local option election may thereafter be held if a written petition of qualified voters residing within the county equal to at least five percent of the number of persons who were registered to vote in the next preceding general election is received by the county commission of the county in which Sunday hunting is authorized. The petition may be in any number of counterparts. The election shall take place at the next primary or general election scheduled more than ninety days following receipt by the county commission of the petition required by this subsection: Provided, That the issue may not be placed on the ballot until all statutory notice requirements have been met. No local law or regulation providing any penalty, disability, restriction, regulation or prohibition of Sunday hunting may be enacted and the provisions of this article preempt all regulations, rules, ordinances and laws of any county or municipality in conflict with this subdivision. (29) Hunt or conduct hunts for a fee where the hunter is not physically present in the same location as the wildlife being hunted within West Virginia.
Any person who is convicted of violating any criminal law of this state and the violation causes or results in the injury, death or destruction of game, as defined in section two, article one of this chapter, or a protected species of animal, in addition to any other penalty to which he is subject, shall forfeit the cost of replacing such game or protected species of animal to the state. For such purpose, replacement values for game and protected species of animals are as follows: (1) For each game fish or each fish of a protected species taken illegally other than by pollution kill, five dollars for each pound and any fraction thereof; (2) For each bear or elk, five hundred dollars; (3) For each deer or raven, two hundred dollars; (4) For each wild turkey, hawk or owl, one hundred dollars; (5) For each beaver, otter or mink, twenty-five dollars; (6) For each muskrat, raccoon, skunk or fox, fifteen dollars; (7) For each rabbit, squirrel, opossum, duck, quail, woodcock, grouse or pheasant, ten dollars; (8) For each wild boar, two hundred dollars; (9) For each bald eagle, five thousand dollars; (10) For each golden eagle, five thousand dollars; and (11) For any other game or protected species of animal, one hundred dollars each. The court upon convicting such person shall order him to forfeit to the state the proper amount based on the values set forth herein for the game or protected species of animal the injury, death or destruction of which he caused or which resulted from his criminal act. If two or more defendants are convicted for the same violation causing, or resulting in, the injury, death or destruction of game or protected species of animal, the forfeiture shall be declared against them jointly and equally. The forfeiture shall be paid by the person so convicted and ordered to pay the forfeiture within the time prescribed by the court, but not exceeding sixty days. In each instance, the court shall pay such forfeiture to the state treasury where it shall be credited to the division of natural resources to be used only for the replacement, habitat management or enforcement programs for injured, killed or destroyed game or protected species of animal.
Any person who exceeds the creel limit on trout or who otherwise violates any provisions of this code or any rules and regulations relating to trout fishing is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than three hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not less than ten nor more than one hundred days, or both fined and imprisoned.
(a) It is unlawful at any time for any person to take, possess, transport, import, export or process, sell or offer for sale, buy, barter or trade or offer to buy, barter or trade at any time or in any manner, any bald eagle, also commonly known as the American eagle, or any golden eagle, alive or dead, or any part, nest or egg thereof of the foregoing eagles, or to attempt to do any of these acts. (b) Anyone who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned in the county jail not less than sixty days nor more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned. One half of any fine imposed shall be paid to any person or persons providing information that leads to the arrest and conviction of anyone violating the provisions of this section. (c) For a second or subsequent conviction for a violation of this section, a person is guilty of a felony and shall be fined not less than five thousand dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars and imprisoned in the penitentiary for not less than one year nor more than two years. An amount equal to one half of the fine imposed, not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars, shall be paid to the person or persons providing information that leads to the arrest and conviction of anyone for a second or subsequent violation of the provisions of this section. (d) "Take" is defined as including any means to pursue, hunt, wound, kill, capture, collect, poison, or molest any bald eagle or golden eagle, or any part, nest or egg thereof, or to knowingly and willfully destroy the nest or eggs of any such eagles. (e) Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit the taking, possession or transportation of bald or golden eagles legally under the current federal Eagle Protection Act, 16 USC § 668a, and the current federal regulations, 50 CFR 22.1 et seq. (f) All wildlife, merchandise, guns, traps, nets and other equipment, vessels, vehicles, aircraft and other means of transportation used in taking, possessing, transporting, importing, exporting, selling or offering for sale, purchasing or bartering or offering to purchase or barter any bald or golden eagle or part, nest, or egg thereof, or in attempting to do any of these acts in violation of this section shall be forfeited, at the time of conviction, to the state. (g) Upon conviction of taking, possessing, transporting, importing, exporting or processing, selling or offering for sale, buying, bartering or trading or offering to buy, barter or trade any bald or golden eagle, alive or dead, or any part, nest or egg thereof of the foregoing eagles, or of attempting to do any of these acts, the hunting licenses of such person or persons may be revoked and such person or persons shall not be issued any new hunting licenses for a period of ten years from the date of conviction.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code and except as specifically authorized by the director in consultation with the wildlife resources section of the division, it is unlawful for anyone to administer any chemical, biological compound or device to free roaming or noncaptive wildlife for the purpose of fertility control. The director shall promulgate legislative rules in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code whereby the director may issue such authorization.
Any person convicted for the violation of any law involving the division of natural resources' use of a decoy animal shall, in addition to any fines and costs for the criminal violation, pay a fifty dollar civil penalty to the division of natural resources, law-enforcement section. The civil penalty shall be collected by the court in which the person is convicted and forwarded to the division of natural resources, law-enforcement section. All funds collected are to be placed in a special account and used for: (1) The purchase or repair of decoy animals; and (2) the purchase of equipment for use with decoy animals.
Notwithstanding subdivision (24), section five of this article or any other provision to the contrary, the director is authorized to allow a nonresident to train dogs for coon hunting in West Virginia, if the state in which the nonresident resides allows residents from West Virginia to train dogs for coon hunting. The dog training season for a nonresident to train dogs for coon hunting is from the fifteenth day of August of each year through the legal small game hunting season.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, a person who possesses a valid Class Y permit in accordance with section forty-two-w of this article may, during the designated archery hunting season, hunt with a crossbow. (b) Only crossbows meeting all of the following specifications may be used for hunting in West Virginia: (1) The crossbow has a minimum draw weight of one hundred twenty-five pounds; (2) The crossbow has a working safety; and (3) The crossbow is used with bolts and arrows not less than eighteen inches in length with a broad head having at least two sharp cutting edges, measuring at least 3/4 of an inch in width.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, it shall be lawful for a bona fide resident landowner of this state, any member of said landowner's family and any bona fide tenant of said landowner, to carry an uncased gun at any time, whether accompanied by or without a dog, in their regular pursuits in caring for and looking after such landowner's livestock or poultry on his land and on any lands leased or rented by him for livestock or poultry husbandry purposes.
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, a person licensed to carry a concealed weapon pursuant to the provisions of section four, article seven, chapter sixty-one of this code who is not prohibited at the time from possessing a firearm pursuant to the provisions of section seven, article seven, chapter sixty-one of this code or by any applicable federal law may carry a handgun in a concealed manner for self defense purposes while afield hunting, hiking, camping or in or on a motor vehicle. (b) The provisions of this section shall not exempt any person from obtaining any hunting or fishing license or stamp required by the division of natural resources.
(a) It is unlawful for any person to shoot, hunt, fish or trap upon the fenced, enclosed or posted lands of another person; or to peel trees or timber, build fires or do any other act in connection with shooting, hunting, fishing or trapping on such lands without written permission in his or her possession from the owner, tenant or agent of the owner. (b) Any person who hunts, traps or fishes on land without the permission of the owner, tenant or agent of the owner is guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to the owner or person suffering damage for all costs and damages for: (1) Killing or injuring any domestic animal or fowl; (2) cutting, destroying or damaging any bars, gates or fence or any part of the property; or (3) leaving open any bars or gates resulting in damage to the property. (c) The owner, tenant or agent of the owner may arrest a person violating this section and immediately take him or her before a magistrate. The owner, tenant or agent of the owner is vested with the powers and rights of a conservation officer for these purposes. The officers charged with the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter shall enforce the provisions of this section if requested to do so by the owner, tenant or agent of the owner, but not otherwise. (d) The provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of this section related to criminal penalties and being subject to arrest are inapplicable to a person whose dog, without the person's direction or encouragement, travels onto the fenced, enclosed or posted land of another in pursuit of an animal or wild bird: Provided, That the pursuit does not result in the taking of game from the fenced, enclosed or posted land and does not result in the killing of domestic animals or fowl or other damage to or on the fenced, enclosed or posted land.
The owner, lessee or other person entitled to possession of unenclosed lands may have erected and maintained signs or placards legibly printed, easily discernible, conspicuously posted and reasonably spaced, so as to indicate the territory in which hunting, trapping or fishing is prohibited. Any person who enters upon the unenclosed lands of another which have been lawfully posted, for the purpose of hunting, trapping or fishing, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. The officers charged with the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter shall have the duty to enforce the provisions of this section if requested to do so by such owner, lessee, person or agent, but not otherwise.
It shall be unlawful and shall constitute a misdemeanor offense for any person or his agent or employee wilfully to post any notice or warning or wilfully to ward, drive or attempt to drive any person off, or prevent his hunting or fishing on, any land not owned or lawfully occupied by such person, his agent, or employee, unless such land is a lawfully established game or fish preserve.
It shall be unlawful and shall constitute a misdemeanor offense for any person to destroy, tear down, shoot at, deface or erase any printed matter or signs placed or posted by or under the authority of this chapter: Provided, however, That this section shall not apply to the owner, his agents, tenants or lessees, of the lands on which such signs or printed matter are posted. Each such sign so destroyed, torn down, shot at, defaced or erased shall be considered a separate offense under this section.
No person, except those legally licensed to operate private game preserves for the purpose of propagating game for commercial purposes and those legally licensed to propagate or sell fish, amphibians and other forms of aquatic life, shall purchase or offer to purchase, sell or offer to sell, expose for sale, or have in his or her possession for the purpose of sale any wildlife, or part thereof, which has been designated as game animals, fur-bearing animals, game birds, game fish or amphibians, or any of the song or insectivorous birds of the state, or any other species of wildlife which the director may designate: Provided, That pelts of game or fur-bearing animals taken during the legal season may be sold and live red and gray foxes and raccoon taken by legal methods during legal and established trapping seasons may be sold within the state: Provided, however, That hide, head, antlers and feet of a legally killed deer and the hide, head and skull of a legally killed black bear may be sold. No person, including a common carrier, shall transport, carry or convey, or receive for such purposes any wildlife, the sale of which is prohibited, if such person knows or has reason to believe that such wildlife has been or is to be sold in violation of this section. The selling or exposing for sale, having in possession for sale, transporting or carrying in violation of this section shall each constitute a separate misdemeanor offense. Notwithstanding the provisions of this or any other section of this chapter, any game birds or game bird meats sold by licensed retailers may be served at any hotel, restaurant or other licensed eating place in this state. The director shall have authority to promulgate rules in accordance with chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, dealing with the sale of wildlife and the skins thereof.
(a) A person may not transport or have in his or her possession with the intention of transporting beyond the limits of the state any species of wildlife or any part thereof killed, taken, captured or caught within this state, except as provided in this section. (1) A person legally entitled to hunt and fish in this state may take with him or her personally, when leaving the state, any wildlife that he or she has lawfully taken or killed, not exceeding, during the open season, the number that any person may lawfully possess. (2) Licensed resident hunters and trappers and resident and nonresident fur dealers may transport beyond the limits of the state pelts of game and fur-bearing animals taken during the legal season. (3) A person may transport the hide, head, antlers and feet of a legally killed deer and the hide, head, skull, organs and feet of a legally killed black bear beyond the limits of the state. (4) A person legally entitled to possess an animal according to section four, article two of this chapter may transport that animal beyond the limits of the state. (b) The director shall have authority to promulgate rules in accordance with chapter twenty-nine-a of this code dealing with the transportation and tagging of wildlife and the skins. (c) A person violating the provisions of this section by transporting or possessing with the intention of transporting beyond the limits of this state deer or wild boar shall be deemed to have committed a separate offense for each animal so transported or possessed. (d) A person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty dollars nor more than three hundred dollars and be imprisoned in jail not less than ten nor more than sixty days. (e) This section does not apply to persons legally entitled to propagate and sell wild animals, wild birds, fish, amphibians and other forms of aquatic life beyond the limits of the state.
No person shall transport into or have in his possession within this state any live wildlife or viable eggs thereof from without the state, except as authorized by an importation permit issued by the director: Provided, That the director shall not be authorized to issue a permit to any person to transport into this state any coyotes (Canis latrans). The director may issue at his discretion such permit as he is authorized to issue, fix the terms thereof and revoke it at his pleasure. Importers of fish or viable eggs of the family salmondiae (trout, char, salmon) shall furnish a statement from a recognized fish pathologist certifying the source to be free of whirling disease, infectious pancreatic necrosis, viral hemorrhagic septicemia or other diseases which may threaten fish stocks within the state. Importers of wildlife species shall furnish disease free certification from pathologists, or veterinarians, as the director deems necessary to protect native populations. All imported wildlife shall be subject to inspection by authorized agents of the department and such inspections may include biological examinations and the removal of a reasonable sample of fish or eggs for such purposes. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section concerning coyotes shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall for each offense be fined not less than one hundred nor more than three hundred dollars, or confined in jail not less than ten nor more than one hundred days, or be both fined and imprisoned within the limitations aforesaid.
No person shall propagate wildlife for commercial purposes except when licensed to do so as provided in section forty-seven of this article.
(a) Whenever it shall be found that deer or other wildlife are causing damage to cultivated crops, fruit trees, commercial nurseries, homeowners' trees, shrubbery or vegetable gardens, the owner or lessee of the lands on which such damage is done may report such finding to the conservation officer or biologist of the county in which such lands are located or to the director. The director shall then investigate the reported damage and if found substantial, shall issue a permit to the owner or lessee to kill one or more deer or other wildlife in the manner prescribed by the director. (b) In addition to the foregoing, the director shall establish procedures for the issuance of permits or other authorization necessary to control deer or other wildlife causing property damage. (c) All persons attempting to kill deer or other wildlife pursuant to this section are subject to the same minimum caliber restrictions and other firearm restrictions and the same minimum bow poundage and other bow and arrow restrictions that apply when hunting the same animal species during the regular hunting seasons.
No person shall permit his dog to hunt or chase deer. A conservation officer shall take into possession any dog known to have hunted or chased deer and the director shall advertise that such dog is in his possession, giving a description of the dog and stating the circumstances under which it was taken. Such notice shall be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty- nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be the county. He shall hold the dog for a period of ten days after the date of the publication. If, within ten days, the owner does not claim the dog, the director shall destroy it. In this event the cost of keeping and advertising shall be paid by the director. If, within ten days, the owner claims the dog, he may repossess it on the payment of costs of advertising and the cost of keep, not exceeding fifty cents per day. A conservation officer, or any officer or employee of the director authorized to enforce the provisions of this section, after a bona fide but unsuccessful effort to capture dogs detected chasing or pursuing deer, may kill such dogs.
No person shall hunt, capture, trap, take or kill fur-bearing animals except as authorized by regulation of the director. Except as authorized by the director, no person shall have in his possession the fresh skin, or part thereof, of any fur-bearing animal, except beaver, within the period beginning ten days after the end of the open season on such fur-bearing animal and ending with the first day of the next succeeding open season. No person shall disturb properly marked traps of another person, kill, remove or take a fur-bearing animal from the trap of another person without specific authorization of the owner of the trap, except upon land where the owner of such trap may have placed it without right or permission.
The director shall have the power and authority to regulate the number, kind and type of traps to be used in the catching or trapping of any game or fur-bearing animals.
All traps used for taking of any game or fur-bearing animal shall be marked with a durable plate or tag, attached to the trap, trap chain, or set, bearing the name and address of the owner of said trap.
Any person authorized by the provisions of this article to trap any game or fur-bearing animal is also authorized, if that person is checking his or her traps on Sunday, to carry only a twenty-two caliber firearm for the purpose of humanely dispatching trapped animals.
A person may not have in his possession an untagged beaver hide, or part thereof, within the period beginning thirty days after the end of the open season and ending with the first day of the next succeeding open season for beavers.
Each trapper holding a resident statewide hunting and trapping license or a resident statewide hunting, trapping and fishing license shall present beaver pelts legally taken to a game checking station or representative of the department within thirty days after the close of a legal season. A tag provided by the department shall be affixed to each beaver pelt or skin and remain attached to the skin until such pelt or skin has been processed into commercial fur.
(a) Each person killing a bear, bobcat, deer, wild boar or wild turkey found in a wild state shall either attach a completed game tag to the animal or remain with the animal and have upon his or her person a completed game tag before removing the carcass in any manner from where it was killed. (b) While transporting the carcass of a bear, bobcat, deer, wild boar or wild turkey from where it was killed, each person shall either attach a completed game tag to the animal or have upon his or her person a completed game tag. (c) Upon arriving at a residence, camp, hunting lodge, vehicle or vessel each person shall attach a game tag to the killed bear, bobcat, deer, wild boar or wild turkey. The game tag shall remain on the carcass until it is retagged by a conservation officer or an official checking station. (d) If a person who does not possess a game tag kills a bear, bobcat, deer, wild boar or wild turkey, he or she shall make a tag. The tag shall bear the name, address and, if applicable, the license number of the hunter and the time, date and county of killing. (e) The carcass of a wild turkey shall be delivered to a conservation officer or an official checking station for checking and retagging before it is either skinned or transported beyond the boundaries of the county adjacent to that in which the kill was made. (f) The fresh skin and head or carcass of the deer shall be delivered to a conservation officer or an official checking station for checking and retagging before it is transported beyond the boundaries of the county adjacent to that in which the kill was made. (g) A person who kills a bear shall treat the carcass and remains in accordance with the provisions of section twenty-two-a of this article. (h) For each violation of this section a person is subject to the penalties provided in this article.
(a) A person in any county of this state may not hunt, capture, or kill any bear, or have in his or her possession any bear or bear parts, except during the hunting season for bear and in the manner designated by rules promulgated by the Division of Natural Resources and as provided in this section. For the purposes of this section, bear parts include, but are not limited to, the pelt, gallbladder, skull and claws of bear. (b) A person who kills a bear shall, within twenty-four hours after the killing, deliver the bear or fresh skin to a conservation officer or checking station for tagging. A Division of Natural Resources tag shall be affixed to it before any part of the bear may be transported more than seventy-five miles from the point of kill. The Division of Natural Resources tag shall remain on the skin until it is tanned or mounted. Any bear or bear parts not properly tagged shall be forfeited to the state for disposal to a charitable institution, school or as otherwise designated by the Division of Natural Resources. (c) It is unlawful: (1) To hunt bear without a bear damage stamp as prescribed in section forty-four-b of this article, in addition to a hunting license as prescribed in this article; (2) To hunt a bear with: (A) A shotgun using ammunition loaded with more than one solid ball; (B) a rifle of less than twenty-five caliber using rimfire ammunition; or, (C) a crossbow; (3) To kill or attempt to kill any bear through the use of poison, explosives, snares, steel traps or deadfalls other than as authorized in this section; (4) To shoot at or kill: (A) A bear weighing less than seventy-five pounds live weight or fifty pounds field dressed weight, after removal of all internal organs; (B) Any bear accompanied by a cub; or, (C) Any bear cub so accompanied, regardless of its weight; (5) To possess any part of a bear not tagged in accordance with the provisions of this section; (6) To enter a state game refuge with firearms for the purpose of pursuing or killing a bear except under the direct supervision of division personnel; (7) To hunt bear with dogs or to cause dogs to chase bear during seasons other than those designated by the Division of Natural Resources for the hunting of bear; (8) To pursue a bear with a pack of dogs other than the pack used at the beginning of the hunt once the bear is spotted and the chase has begun; (9) To possess, harvest, sell or purchase bear parts obtained from bear killed in violation of this section; (10) To organize for commercial purposes or to professionally outfit a bear hunt or to give or receive any consideration whatsoever or any donation in money, goods or services in connection with a bear hunt notwithstanding the provisions of sections twenty-three and twenty-four of this article; or (11) For any person who is not a resident of this state to hunt bear with dogs or to use dogs in any fashion for the purpose of hunting bear in this state except in legally authorized hunts. (d) The following provisions apply to bear destroying property: (1) (A) Any property owner or lessee who has suffered damage to real or personal property, including loss occasioned by the death or injury of livestock or the unborn issue of livestock, caused by an act of a bear may complain to any conservation officer of the Division of Natural Resources for protection against the bear. (B) Upon receipt of the complaint, the officer shall immediately investigate the circumstances of the complaint. If the officer is unable to personally investigate the complaint, he or she shall designate a wildlife biologist to investigate on his or her behalf. (C) If the complaint is found to be justified, the officer or designated person may, together with the owner and other residents, proceed to hunt, destroy or capture the bear that caused the property damage: Provided, That only the conservation officer or the wildlife biologist shall determine whether to destroy or capture the bear and whether to use dogs to capture or destroy the bear: Provided, however, That, if out-of-state dogs are used in the hunt, the owners of the dogs are the only nonresidents permitted to participate in hunting the bear. (2) (A) When a property owner has suffered damage to real or personal property as the result of an act by a bear, the owner shall file a report with the Director of the Division of Natural Resources. The report shall state whether or not the bear was hunted and destroyed and, if so, the sex, weight and estimated age of the bear. The report shall also include an appraisal of the property damage occasioned by the bear duly signed by three competent appraisers fixing the value of the property lost. (B) The report shall be ruled upon and the alleged damages examined by a commission comprised of the complaining property owner, an officer of the division and a person to be jointly selected by the officer and the complaining property owner. (C) The division shall establish the procedures to be followed in presenting and deciding claims under this section in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. (D) All claims shall be paid in the first instance from the Bear Damage Fund provided in section forty-four-b of this article. In the event the fund is insufficient to pay all claims determined by the commission to be just and proper, the remainder due to owners of lost or destroyed property shall be paid from the special revenue account of the Division of Natural Resources. (3) In all cases where the act of the bear complained of by the property owner is the killing of livestock, the value to be established is the fair market value of the livestock at the date of death. In cases where the livestock killed is pregnant, the total value shall be the sum of the values of the mother and the unborn issue, with the value of the unborn issue to be determined on the basis of the fair market value of the issue had it been born. (e) Criminal penalties. -- (1) Any person who commits a violation of the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000, which fine is not subject to suspension by the court, confined in jail not less than thirty nor more than one hundred days, or both fined and confined. Further, the person's hunting and fishing licenses shall be suspended for two years. (2) Any person who commits a second violation of the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $2,000 nor more than $7,500, which fine is not subject to suspension by the court, confined in jail not less than thirty days nor more than one year, or both fined and confined. The person's hunting and fishing licenses shall be suspended for life. (3) Any person who commits a third or subsequent violation of the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $5,000 nor more than $10,000, which fine is not subject to suspension by the court, imprisoned in a correctional facility not less than one year nor more than five years, or both fined and imprisoned.
(a) Services of outfitters and guides for the benefit and convenience of hunters, fishermen and others in this state are recognized as essential, and such outfitters and guides may be licensed and authorized to serve as provided in this article. The director is hereby authorized to promulgate rules and regulations on services of outfitters and guides as herein authorized and defined. (b) The term "outfitter," as used herein, means and includes any person who, operating from any temporary or permanent camp, private or public lodge, or private or incorporated home situate within this state, provides for monetary profit or gain, saddle or pack animals or other animals, vehicles, boats, conveyances or equipment, or guide services for any person or persons hunting game animals, game birds, fishing or taking expeditions, both land and water, in this state. The term "outfitter" shall not include, however, any person who occasionally for accommodation or favor rather than profit or gain, rents equipment to hunters, fishermen or others as a service incidental to his principal occupation or business without advertising outfitter or guide services or holding out to the public the offering of such services. The term "guide," as used herein, includes and embraces outfitter services and the term "outfitter" includes and embraces guide services, but the applicant for any license hereunder may in his or her application elect to be designated as an outfitter or guide. (c) The term "commercial whitewater outfitter," as used herein, means any person, partnership, corporation or other organization, or any combination thereof, duly authorized and operating from within or from without the state, which for monetary profit or gain, provides whitewater expeditions or rents whitewater craft or equipment for use in whitewater expeditions on any river, portions of rivers or waters of the state in accordance with this article. The term "commercial whitewater guide," as used herein, means any person who is an owner, agent or employee of a commercial whitewater outfitter, and who is qualified and authorized to provide services for whitewater expeditions in the state in accordance with this article.
(a) There is hereby created a whitewater commission within the division of natural resources. The commission shall consist of the director of the division of natural resources or his or her designee; the director of the division of parks and tourism or his or her designee; three representatives of private river users who have no affiliation with any commercial river enterprise to be appointed by the governor: Provided, That no more than one representative of the private river users may be from each whitewater zone; and four persons representing four different licensed commercial whitewater outfitters currently operating within the state to be appointed by the governor. The superintendent of the New River Gorge National Park or his or her designee shall be a nonvoting member of the commission. All appointed members of the commission shall be citizens and residents of West Virginia. Of the four representatives of commercial outfitters, two persons shall represent commercial whitewater outfitters holding or controlling through corporate affiliation or common ownership multiple licenses in West Virginia and two persons shall represent commercial whitewater outfitters in West Virginia who hold only a single license and who have no common ownership or corporate affiliation with another licensee, the director of the division of natural resources shall serve as chairperson of the commission. Of the seven members of the commission first appointed by the governor, two shall be appointed for a term of one year, two for a term of two years and three for a term of three years. Thereafter, the terms of all appointed members of the commission are for three years. Members shall serve until their successors have been appointed and any vacancy in the office of a member shall be filled by appointment for the unexpired term. Members representing commercial outfitters who have served at least two years on the commission are not eligible for reappointment to a successive term. (b) The commission has the following powers and duties: (1) To investigate and study commercial whitewater rafting, outfitting and activities related thereto which take place along the rivers or waters of the state; (2) To designate any such rivers or waters or any portions thereof as "whitewater zones" for which commercial whitewater rafting, outfitting and activities are to be investigated and studied, and to determine the order and the periods of time within which the investigations and studies are to be conducted. The commission shall first investigate and study those whitewater zones which it finds to present serious problems requiring immediate regulation, including, without limitation, safety hazards and problems of overcrowding or environmental misuse; (3) To restrict, deny or postpone the issuance of licenses to additional commercial whitewater outfitters seeking to operate in areas and portions of rivers and waters in this state designated whitewater zones by action of the director of the division of natural resources as authorized under prior enactment of this section and so designated by the filing of a written notice entered upon the records of the division containing the designation and reasonable description of the whitewater zone: Provided, That in consideration of the consolidation occurring among outfitting companies providing rafting services on the Gauley River, the commission shall grant one additional whitewater rafting license for the Gauley River on or before the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, with preference being given in the selection process to the applicant best satisfying the following criteria: (i) The applicant demonstrates a record of providing commercial rafting and related whitewater services in a safe and lawful manner on the New River and other rivers; (ii) the applicant has continuously engaged for three or more years in the commercial rafting business on the New River and has, or can obtain, the necessary equipment and facilities to support Gauley River operations; (iii) the seniority of the application as measured by the length of time the applicant has sought a Gauley River license with the more senior application given preference; (iv) that the applicant is not affiliated with, operated or owned by an existing Gauley River licensee; (v) that the applicant has no common ownership with an existing Gauley River licensee; and (vi) that the economic benefit represented by the award of a Gauley River license will serve to assist the promotion of tourism and the delivery of outfitting services beyond Fayette and Nicholas counties. In authorizing the issuance of an additional Gauley River license, it is the intention of the Legislature that the commission not increase the carrying capacity of a current Gauley River licensee, but that the commission promote and maintain competition among licensees by increasing the number of independent outfitters operating on the Gauley; (4) To commission such studies as are necessary to determine the physical carrying capacity and monitor the levels of use on the New, Gauley, Cheat, Shenandoah and Tygart rivers and how each relates to the overall quality of the rafting experience, the economic impact of rafting, tourism and employment in the state and the safety of the general public: Provided, That if, during a study period, the commission deems that overcrowding is not a problem on any whitewater zone on the Cheat, Shenandoah and Tygart rivers, or on the New River upstream of the confluence of the Greenbrier and New rivers and on the Gauley River upstream of the Summersville Dam, then it may issue a license; (5) Based on the findings of a study of the carrying capacity of a river, to formulate rational criteria for an allocation methodology for the river subject to the study, including, but not limited to, a minimum allocation for each river studied; (6) To immediately implement a freeze on mandated changes in use allocations for the licenses of existing licensees on moratorium sections of the Gauley and New rivers as defined in subsection (d) of this section. All such licenses shall carry the use allocation in effect on the second day of May, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two. The commission shall implement allocation methodologies for other rivers as the commission, after appropriate study, may deem necessary with all such allocation methodologies implemented by rules promulgated pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-a of this code; (7) To determine administrative policies relating to regulation of the whitewater industry and to administer such policies, except that the commission shall delegate to the director of the division of natural resources or his or her designee the authority to administer the day-to-day responsibilities of the commission pursuant to this section and may vest in the director of the division of natural resources or his or her designee the authority to make determinations with respect to which it is not practicable to convene or to poll the commission, within guidelines established by the commission; (8) To review all contracts or agreements with governmental agencies related to whitewater studies or regulation, and any negotiations related thereto; (9) To verify reports by outfitters of numbers of river users and guides, to monitor the extent of the crowding conditions on the rivers and to establish a system for reporting the number of river users and guides on each whitewater expedition; (10) To regulate the issuance, transfer, and renewal of licenses. However, licenses issued to commercial whitewater outfitters or use allocations or other privileges conferred by a license may be transferred, sold, offered as security to financial institutions or otherwise encumbered, upon notice in writing to the commission and the director of the division of natural resources, subject to the following limitations: (i) The commission may refuse a transfer upon a finding that there is reasonable cause to believe that the safety of members of the public may be adversely affected by the transfer; and (ii) the commission shall require that taxes, workers' compensation and other obligations due the state be paid prior to any transfer; (11) To collect, for the duration of a study period established in subdivision (4) of this subsection, an annual license fee of five hundred dollars for each river on which a commercial whitewater outfitter operates. The annual per river license fee is limited to the Cheat, Gauley, New, Shenandoah and Tygart rivers. The annual license fee for a commercial whitewater outfitter operating on a river not so designated is five hundred dollars regardless of the number of rivers operated on. A commercial whitewater outfitter who is operating on a river designated in this subdivision and who has paid the annual per river license fee may not be required to pay an additional annual license fee to operate on a nondesignated river. The commercial whitewater outfitter license shall be issued by the commission and is for a period of ten years: Provided, That an outfitter pays the required annual license fee. If an outfitter fails to pay the license fee, then the license shall be suspended until the license fee is paid. Licenses are subject to the bonding provisions set forth in section twenty-three-d of this article and the revocation provisions set forth in the rules promulgated by the director of the division of natural resources. License fees shall be used by the division of natural resources for the purpose of enforcing and administering the provisions of this section; (12) To establish a special study and improvement fee to be paid by outfitters and to establish procedures for the collection and enforcement of the special study and improvement fee; (13) To establish a procedure for hearings on violations of this section and rules promulgated thereunder and to establish civil penalties for violations of this section and rules promulgated thereunder; and (14) To approve rules promulgated by the director of the division of natural resources pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, with respect to commercial whitewater outfitters operating upon the waters of the state, whether or not such waters have been designated whitewater zones, which relate to: (i) Minimum safety requirements for equipment; (ii) standards for the size of rafts and number of persons which may be transported in any one raft; (iii) qualifications of commercial whitewater guides; and with respect to waters designated whitewater zones; (iv) standards for the number of rafts and number of persons transported in rafts. (c) The commission shall meet upon the call of the chairperson or a majority of the members of the commission. However, the commission shall meet at least quarterly and shall conduct business when a majority of the members are present. At the meetings, the commission shall review all data, materials and relevant findings compiled relating to any investigation and study then under consideration and, as soon as practicable thereafter, the commission may recommend rules to govern and apply to the designated whitewater zone(s). The commission may meet at its discretion for the purpose of considering and adjusting allocations and review fees and proposed expenditures. A budget shall be approved for each fiscal year for the expenditure of funds subject to the commission's control. The commission may not limit the number of commercial whitewater outfitters operating on rivers not designated as whitewater zones, nor may the commission limit the number of rafts or total number of persons transported in rafts by commercial whitewater outfitters on rivers not designated as whitewater zones. Commission members shall be reimbursed all reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the exercise of their duties. (d) Special provisions for the New River and the Gauley River: (1) After the issuance of the Gauley River rafting license provided for in subdivision (3), subsection (b) of this section, a moratorium shall be imposed by the commission upon the issuance of additional commercial rafting licenses on whitewater zones of the New River between the confluence of the Greenbrier and New rivers and the confluence of the New and Gauley rivers and upon whitewater zones of the Gauley River from the Summersville Dam to the confluence of the New and Gauley rivers. The moratorium hereby imposed shall continue until such time as the commission is authorized by the Legislature to discontinue the moratorium. (2) For the portions of the Gauley and New rivers subject to the moratorium imposed by this section, the minimum use allocation conferred by a license is one hundred twenty for each designated section of a whitewater zone on the Gauley and one hundred fifty for each designated section of a whitewater zone on the New River. A licensee who held a use allocation on the second day of May, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, with a use allocation greater than the minimum allocation established in this subdivision shall retain such use allocation on each designated section of a whitewater zone on the moratorium portions of the New and Gauley rivers subject only to the sale, loss or forfeiture of the license or to a subsequent action of the commission imposing a reduction in use allocations pursuant to subdivision (4) of this subsection. The commission is authorized to increase or decrease minimum use allocations for the moratorium sections of the New and Gauley rivers only in accordance with the provisions of subdivisions (4) and (5) of this subsection. The commission may permit additional allocations or licenses for whitewater outfitters which are nonprofit entities operating upon the waters of the state upon the effective date of this section. Except as provided in subdivision (4), subsection (d) of this section, nothing in this section shall be deemed to require the reduction of a use allocation granted under an existing license or to prohibit a commercial whitewater outfitter from acquiring a license with a use allocation in excess of the minimum allocations hereby established: Provided, That if a licensee has sold, leased or assigned his license, or sold or leased a portion of the use allocation under his license, nothing herein shall be deemed to have the effect of increasing the use allocation assigned to such license. (3) The commission may permit peak-day variances from license limitations not exceeding ten percent of the use allocation granted under a license. The commission may permit off-peak-day variances from license limitations not exceeding twenty-five percent of the use allocation granted under a license. (4) If, as result of a study employing the limits of acceptable change process, the whitewater commission acts to reduce the aggregate maximum daily use limit for all commercial rafting licenses on a section of the New River or Gauley River subject to the license moratorium, the reduction shall be distributed on a pro-rata basis among all licenses granted for the section in proportion to an individual license's relative share of the total use allocation for such river section. (5) If the limits of acceptable change process results in an increase in the aggregate maximum daily use limit for all commercial rafting licenses on any section of the New River or Gauley River subject to a moratorium on new licenses, such increase shall be divided by the total number of commercial rafting licenses issued for the relevant section of river and the minimum use allocation for each such license shall be increased by the nearest whole number resulting from the division. (6) If any party contracts to purchase a license containing a use allocation for a moratorium section of the New River or the Gauley River, or if a licensee has obtained, or in the future shall obtain additional use allocations for a moratorium section by lease or purchase from another licensee, the commission shall permit the transfer of such license rights in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (10), subsection (b) of this section. Unless the owners of a license otherwise agree, when two or more licensees share ownership or control of the use allocation assigned to a license, any increase or decrease in use allocations which results from an action of the commission under subdivisions (4) and (5) of this subsection shall be distributed by the commission between such owners in proportion to their ownership or control of the use allocation assigned to such license. (e) In the event the commission determines through an appropriate study and the limits of acceptable change process that a whitewater zone or a designated section of a whitewater zone on waters other than the moratorium sections of the New and Gauley rivers requires implementation of use allocations, all whitewater rafting licenses issued for such zone or section thereof shall be given the same use allocation. (f) Violation of this section or any rule promulgated pursuant to this section constitutes a misdemeanor punishable by the penalties set forth in section twenty-three-d of this article. (g) The director of the division of natural resources shall promulgate, pursuant to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, all rules necessary to effectuate the purposes of this section and these rules must be approved by the commission. The division of natural resources shall enforce the provisions of this section and rules promulgated pursuant to this section, and shall provide necessary staff and support services to the commission to effectuate the purposes of this section. (h) All orders, determinations, rules, permits, grants, contracts, certificates, licenses, waivers, bonds, authorizations and privileges which have been issued, made, granted or allowed to become effective pursuant to any prior enactments of this section by the governor, the secretary of the department of commerce, labor and environmental resources, the director of the division of natural resources, the whitewater advisory board or by a court of competent jurisdiction, and which are in effect on the effective date of this section, shall continue in effect according to their terms until modified, terminated, superseded, set aside or revoked by the governor, secretary, director or commission pursuant to this section, by a court of competent jurisdiction, or by operation of law.
There is hereby created in the state treasury a special revenue account, which shall be an appropriated, interest-bearing account, designated as the whitewater study and improvement fund. All proceeds from this fund shall be used exclusively for the purposes of the administration, regulation, promotion and study of the whitewater industry. The special study and assessment fee collected by the commission pursuant to the provisions of section twenty-three-a of this article shall be deposited, within fifteen days after receipt, to the whitewater study and improvement fund and dedicated to the purposes of this section.
There is hereby created in the state treasury a special revenue account, which shall be an appropriated, interest-bearing account designated as the "whitewater advertising and promotion fund". Each whitewater license holder may contribute any sum desired to this fund, which fund shall be used for the purpose of advertising and promoting whitewater in West Virginia.
(a) Immediately upon the issuance of a whitewater outfitter's license and before any whitewater outfitter's services are offered or rendered thereunder, the licensee shall execute a surety bond in the penal sum of one thousand dollars payable to the state of West Virginia and conditioned upon the faithful and reliable discharge of his or her services under and pursuant to the license. The bond shall be approved as to form by the attorney general and as to surety by the director, and when so executed and approved, shall be filed in the office of the director of the division of natural resources. The bond shall be for the life of the license. (b) The whitewater commission is hereby authorized to revoke and cancel any whitewater outfitter's license for failure of the licensee to give the bond required by this section, for a licensee's violation or disregard of any of the provisions of this chapter, upon a licensee's conviction of a crime, or for any other reason or cause justifying refusal of the whitewater outfitter's license to the licensee upon a new application therefor. The commission shall afford a licensee an opportunity to be heard upon the revocation and cancellation of the license. (c) No person shall act or serve as a whitewater outfitter, as defined in this article, without procuring and having on his or her person at the time a valid whitewater outfitter's license from the commission authorizing them to do so. (d) Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section or of section twenty-three-a of this article, or any rule promulgated by the director of the division of natural resources or who misrepresents any material fact in an application, record, report or other document filed or required to be maintained under the provisions of this article, or any rules promulgated hereunder by the director of the division of natural resources, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars per violation not to exceed a total penalty of seventy-five hundred dollars or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or both fined and imprisoned.
Other provisions of this article notwithstanding, the implementation of an allocation methodology for the nonmoratorium whitewater zones of the New, Gauley, Cheat, Shenandoah and Tygart rivers, shall be made based upon criteria identified in existing or future studies of carrying capacity, the overall economic impact on the state and the safety of the general public as identified in section twenty-three-a of this article, and shall be implemented at such time as the commission deems appropriate, by rules promulgated pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. In determining whether to increase or decrease existing use allocations on the portions of the New and Gauley rivers subjected to a moratorium on new licenses by this article, the commission may continue existing studies and undertake new studies of the carrying capacity of whitewater zones, the quality of the rafting experience, the economic impact of rafting and the safety of the general public.
Pursuant to the provisions of article ten, chapter four of this code, the whitewater commission shall continue to exist until the first day of July, two thousand six, unless sooner terminated, continued or reestablished by act of the Legislature.
Each outfitter and guide licensed under the provisions hereof shall be a financially responsible citizen of the United States of America. He shall possess and inventory proper and adequate materials and equipment to provide for hunters, fishermen and others the services and conveniences he advertises. All such materials and equipment shall be safe and free of infection and conditions inimical to the health and well-being of hunters, fishermen, their traveling, camping and lodging companions. The director shall cause all outfitter and guide applicants to be investigated and shall make a determination of their qualifications prior to the issuance or refusal of licenses thereto.
Each applicant for an outfitter or guide license shall file with the director a verified application setting forth the applicant's name, his address, the property possessed and to be used in the proposed outfitter and guide services, the area within which he proposes to serve, his citizenship, his age and such other data and information as may be prescribed and required by the director on the application forms to be furnished by the department. Each such application, when filed by the applicant, shall be approved and signed by three resident real property owners of the county in which such applicant resides. Before any outfitter or guide license shall be issued for serving hunters, fishermen or others in any national forest areas within this state, the applicant shall obtain from the supervisor of such national forest area a designation of the camp site or other site from which the outfitter or guide proposes to operate therein and shall likewise obtain from such supervisor any other authority or permit to so operate in such national forest area, together with copies of any rules and regulations of the forest incident to maintenance of camps, sanitary conditions, and prevention of forest fires and water pollution. The applicant shall satisfy the director that he has obtained such designation, permit, authority and rules and regulations, as may be required, as a prerequisite to the director's consideration of the applicant's license application.
When satisfied as to the applicant's qualifications for an outfitter's or guide's license and upon receipt of a fee of ten dollars therefor, the director shall issue such license which shall be for the calendar year therein designated. Immediately upon the issuance of an outfitter's or guide's license and before any outfitter's or guide's services are offered or rendered thereunder, the licensee shall execute a surety bond in the penal sum of one thousand dollars payable to the state of West Virginia and conditioned upon the faithful and reliable discharge of his services under and pursuant to such license. Such bond shall be approved as to form by the attorney general and as to surety by the director, and when so executed and approved, shall be filed in the office of the director. Such bond shall be for the life of the license. The director is hereby authorized to revoke and cancel any such license for failure of the licensee to give the bond herein required, for licensee's violation or disregard of any of the provisions of this chapter, upon licensee's conviction of crime, or for any other reason or cause justifying refusal of the license to the licensee upon a new application therefor. The director shall afford a licensee an opportunity to be heard upon the revocation and cancellation of the license. No person shall act or serve as a guide or outfitter, as defined in this article, without procuring and having on his person at the time a valid license from the director authorizing him so to do. Any person violating this provision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, may be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars or confined in the county jail not exceeding ninety days, or, in the discretion of the court, be both fined and imprisoned within the limits herein prescribed.
Except as otherwise provided by law, no resident who has reached his fifteenth birthday and who has not reached his sixty-fifth birthday, and no nonresident shall at any time take, hunt, pursue, trap for, kill or chase any wild animals, wild birds, or fish for, take, kill or catch any fish, amphibians or aquatic life of any kind whatsoever in this state without first having secured a license or permit, and then only during the respective open seasons, except that a nonresident who has not reached his fifteenth birthday may fish for, take, kill or catch any fish, amphibians or aquatic life of any kind whatsoever in this state without first having secured a license or permit. No person under the age of fifteen years shall hunt or chase any wild animals or wild birds upon lands of another unless accompanied by a licensed adult. A resident or nonresident member of any club, organization or association, or persons owning or leasing a game preserve, or fish preserve, plant or pond in this state shall not hunt or fish therein without first securing a license or permit as required by law: Provided, however, That resident landowners or their resident children, or bona fide resident tenants of such land may, without a permit or license, hunt and fish on their own land during open seasons in accordance with laws and regulations applying to such hunting and fishing unless such lands have been designated as a wildlife refuge or preserve. Licenses and permits shall be of the kinds and classes set forth in this article, and shall be conditioned upon the payment of the fees established therefor.
Persons in the following categories shall not be required to obtain licenses or permits as indicated: (a) Bona fide resident landowners or their resident children, or resident parents, or bona fide resident tenants of such land may hunt, trap or fish on their own land during open season in accordance with the laws and regulations applying to such hunting, trapping and fishing without obtaining a license to do so unless such lands have been designated as a wildlife refuge or preserve. (b) Any bona fide resident of this state who is totally blind may fish in this state without obtaining a fishing license to do so. A written statement or certificate from a duly licensed physician of this state showing the resident to be totally blind shall serve in lieu of a fishing license and shall be carried on the person of the resident at all times while he or she is fishing in this state. (c) All residents of West Virginia on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States of America, while on leave or furlough, shall have the right and privilege to hunt, trap or fish in season in West Virginia without obtaining a license to do so. Leave or furlough papers shall serve in lieu of any such license and shall be carried on the person at all times while trapping, hunting or fishing. (d) In accordance with the provisions of section twenty-seven of this article, any resident sixty-five years of age or older is not required to have a license to hunt, trap or fish during the legal seasons in West Virginia, but in lieu of such license any such person shall at all times while hunting, trapping or fishing carry on his or her person a valid West Virginia driver's license or nondriver identification card issued by the Division of Motor Vehicles. (e) Residents of the state of Maryland who carry hunting or fishing licenses valid in that state may hunt or fish from the West Virginia banks of the Potomac River without obtaining licenses to do so, but the hunting or fishing shall be confined to the fish and waterfowl of the river proper and not on its tributaries: Provided, That the state of Maryland shall first enter into a reciprocal agreement with the director extending a like privilege of hunting and fishing on the Potomac River from the Maryland banks of said river to licensed residents of West Virginia without requiring said residents to obtain Maryland hunting and fishing licenses. (f) Residents of the state of Ohio who carry hunting or fishing licenses valid in that state may hunt or fish on the Ohio River or from the West Virginia banks of the river without obtaining licenses to do so, but the hunting or fishing shall be confined to fish and waterfowl of the river proper and to points on West Virginia tributaries and embayments identified by the director: Provided, That the state of Ohio shall first enter into a reciprocal agreement with the director extending a like privilege of hunting and fishing from the Ohio banks of the river to licensed residents of West Virginia without requiring the residents to obtain Ohio hunting and fishing licenses. (g) Any resident of West Virginia who was honorably discharged from the Armed Forces of the United States of America and who receives a veteran's pension based on total permanent service-connected disability as certified to by the Veterans Administration shall be permitted to hunt, trap or fish in this state without obtaining a license therefor. The director shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code setting forth the procedure for the certification of the veteran, manner of applying for and receiving the certification and requirements as to identification while said veteran is hunting, trapping or fishing. (h) Any disabled veteran who is a resident of West Virginia and who, as certified to by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, is eligible to be exempt from the payment of any fee on account of registration of any motor vehicle owned by such disabled veteran as provided in section eight, article ten, chapter seventeen-a of this code shall be permitted to hunt, trap or fish in this state without obtaining a license therefor. The director shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code setting forth the procedure for the certification of the disabled veteran, manner of applying for and receiving the certification and requirements as to identification while the disabled veteran is hunting, trapping or fishing. (i) Any resident or inpatient in any state mental health, health or benevolent institution or facility may fish in this state, under proper supervision of the institution involved, without obtaining a fishing license to do so. A written statement or certificate signed by the superintendent of the mental health, health or benevolent institution or facility in which the resident or inpatient, as the case may be, is institutionalized shall serve in lieu of a fishing license and shall be carried on the person of the resident or inpatient at all times while he or she is fishing in this state. (j) Any resident who is developmentally disabled, as certified by a physician and the Director of the Division of Health, may fish in this state without obtaining a fishing license to do so. As used in this section, "developmentally disabled" means a person with a severe, chronic disability which: (1) Is attributable to a mental or physical impairment or a combination of mental and physical impairments; (2) Is manifested before the person attains age twenty-two; (3) Results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity: (A) Self-care; (B) receptive and expressive language; (C) learning; (D) mobility; (E) self-direction; (F) capacity for independent living; and (G) economic self-sufficiency; and (4) Reflects the person's need for a combination and sequence of care, treatment or supportive services which are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated. (k) A student eighteen years of age or younger receiving instruction in fly fishing in a public, private, parochial or Christian school in this state may fly fish in the state for catch and release only without obtaining a fishing license to do so while under the supervision of an instructor authorized by the school.
(a) The director may exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, article one, chapter twenty-nine-b of this code, any record concerning the site-specific location of an animal species protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 7 U.S.C. §136, a plant protected under the Plant Variety Protection Act, 7 U.S.C. §2321:2583 and any plant or animal species native to West Virginia determined by the director to be sensitive and in need of conservation to maintain viability or existence. (b) The director may not deny the release of records under subsection (a) of this section if requested: (1) By the owner of the land upon which the resource is located; (2) By an entity which can take the land through the right of eminent domain; or (3) For scientific purposes which include, but are not limited to, conservation and education, by a person or entity that demonstrates to the director's satisfaction that the request for information is necessary, will not cause harm to the plant or animal species, and that the person or entity will use the information only for the limited purpose which is the basis for the request of information. The director retains the right to provide any such data in a form which in his or her opinion, is of sufficient resolution to satisfy that request and is not obligated to provide exact coordinate data. (c) Persons or entities receiving records under this subsection may not release the information to the public or release the information to another entity for commercial purposes.
(a) Each person who applies for any class of license must state to the issuing agent that he or she is eligible for and has satisfied all prerequisites required by this chapter for that class of license. (b) It is unlawful for a person to make a false statement when applying for any license issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, no hunting license or stamp may be issued to any person who was born on or after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred seventy-five, unless the person submits to the person authorized to issue hunting licenses a certificate of training as provided in this section or proof of completion of any course which promotes as a major objective safety in the handling of firearms and of bow and arrows and which course is approved by the hunter education association or the Director, or provides a State of West Virginia resident or nonresident hunting license from the previous hunting season that displays a certification of training, or attests that a hunter training course has been completed when purchasing a license or stamp online. (b) The Director shall establish a course in the safe handling of firearms and of bows and arrows, such as the course approved by the hunter education association. This course shall be given at least once per year in each county in this state and shall be taught by instructors certified by the Director. In establishing and conducting this course, the Director may cooperate with any reputable association or organization which promotes as a major objective safety in the handling of firearms and of bows and arrows: Provided, That any person holding a Class A-L or AB-L lifetime resident license obtained prior to his or her fifteenth birthday shall be required to obtain a certificate of training as provided in this section before hunting or trapping pursuant to said license. This course of instruction shall be offered without charge, except for materials or ammunition consumed. Upon satisfactory completion of the course, each person instructed in the course shall be issued a certificate of training for the purposes of complying with the requirements of subsection (a) of this section. The certificate shall be in the form prescribed by the Director and shall be valid for hunting license application purposes. (c) (1) Upon satisfactory completion of this course, any person whose hunting license has been revoked for a violation of the provisions of this chapter may petition the Director for a reduction of his or her revocation time. However, under no circumstances may the time be reduced to less than one year. (2) Successful completion of this course shall be required to consider the reinstatement of a hunting license of any person whose license has been revoked due to a conviction for negligent shooting of a human being or of livestock under the provisions of section fifty-seven of this article, and who petitions the Director for an early reinstatement of his or her hunting privileges. Such a petitioner shall also comply with the other requirements for consideration of reinstatement contained in section thirty-eight of this article. (d) It is unlawful for any person to falsify, alter, forge, counterfeit or utter a certificate of training. Any person who violates the provisions of this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or confined in jail for a period not to exceed one year, or both fined and imprisoned. (e) Nothing herein contained shall mandate that any county school district in the state be responsible for implementing hunter safety education programs.
(a) The size, content and form of all licenses, tags, and permits shall be prescribed by the director. The information which a licensee is required to furnish shall be placed upon the license by the license issuing authority before delivery of such license to the licensee. (b) It shall be unlawful for any person to alter, mutilate, or deface any license, tag, or permit, or the entries thereon, for the purpose of evading the provisions of this chapter. Any person violating the provisions of this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty dollars nor more than three hundred dollars; and upon a second and subsequent conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty dollars nor more than three hundred dollars, or confined in the county or regional jail not less than ten nor more than one hundred days, or both.
The clerk of the county commission in each county and other persons designated by the director shall be license-issuing authorities. Each license-issuing authority shall issue a license to a license applicant if, in the opinion of the authority, the license applicant is legally entitled to obtain the license applied for and pays the proper fee. All materials and supplies necessary for the issuance of licenses shall be furnished by the director to each person authorized to issue licenses. Each license shall bear a serial number and shall be signed by the licensee. The issuing authority shall keep an accurate record, in the form and manner prescribed by the director, of all licenses issued and of all money collected as license fees. Any license-issuing authority may issue a duplicate license, to replace a lost, destroyed or damaged license, upon receipt of a verified application duly executed by the original license holder and the payment to the issuing authority of a duplicate license fee of one dollar.
(a) The Director may appoint, in addition to the clerk of the county commission, agents to issue licenses under the provisions of this article to serve the convenience of the public. Each person appointed shall, before issuing any license, file with the Director a bond payable to the State of West Virginia, in the amount to be fixed by the Director, conditioned upon the faithful performance of his or her obligation to issue licenses only in conformity with the provisions of this article and to account for all license fees received by him or her. The form of the bond shall be prescribed by the Attorney General. No person, other than those designated as issuing agents by the Director, may sell licenses or buy licenses for the purpose of resale. (b) Except when a license is purchased from a state official, every person making application for a license shall pay, in addition to the license fee prescribed in this article, an additional fee of three dollars to any county official issuing the license and all fees collected by county officials must be paid by them into the general fund of the county treasury or, in the case of an agent issuing the license, an additional fee of three dollars as compensation: Provided, That only one issuing fee of three dollars may be collected by county officials or authorized agents, respectively, for issuing two or more licenses at the same time for use by the same person or for issuing combination resident statewide hunting, trapping and fishing licenses: Provided, however, That a person with a lifetime license or a person who has paid the original additional fee of three dollars to a county official or issuing agent for a license shall only be charged an additional fee of one dollar as additional compensation when subsequently purchasing an additional license from a county official or issuing agent: Provided further, That licenses may be issued electronically in a manner prescribed by the Director and persons purchasing electronically issued licenses may be assessed, in addition to the license fee prescribed in this article, an electronic issuance fee to be prescribed by the Director: And Provided further, That, notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, an electronic issuance fee of at least two dollars shall be assessed on each Go Wild transaction. The electronic issuance fee shall be dedicated to the administration and maintenance of Go Wild. The Director may propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code increasing the license issuing fees authorized by this section. (c) In lieu of the license issuance fee prescribed in subsection (b) of this section, the Director shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code governing the application for and issuance of licenses by telephone and other electronic methods. (d) The Director may propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code governing the management of issuing agents.
(a) (1) Every application for electronic license shall include a solicitation for a voluntary donation to the division's previously established hunters helping the hungry program. (2) The license applicant will be offered an opportunity to designate a donation in any amount to the hunters helping the hungry program. (b) There is hereby created a subaccount, designated the "hunters helping the hungry fund", within the special revenue account established in section thirty-four of this article, into which all donations derived under this section shall be deposited. Moneys in the subaccount shall be expended solely for the purposes set forth in subsection (c) of this section. Funds paid into the subaccount may also be derived from the following sources: (1) All interest or return on investment accruing to the subaccount; (2) Any gifts, grants, bequests, transfers, appropriations or other donations which may be received from any governmental entity or unit or any person, firm, foundation, or corporation; and (3) any appropriations by the Legislature which may be made for the purposes of this section. Any balance including accrued interest and other earnings at the end of any fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain in the fund for the purposes set forth in this section. (c) The moneys in the fund will be paid out, at the direction of the director, to eligible participants for the butchering of game carcasses and for the expenses related to the acquisition and distribution of food to the needy residents of West Virginia. (d) For purposes of this section, "eligible participant" means a nonprofit organization that coordinates, with the division of natural resources and other entities, a statewide system for the distribution of meat products derived from the butchering of donated game carcasses by a person licensed under the provisions of article two-b, chapter nineteen of this code.
(a) (1) Effective the first day of January, two thousand six, every application for a hunting or fishing electronic license shall include a solicitation for a voluntary donation to the division's established Coyote Management Program. (2) The license applicant will be offered an opportunity to designate a donation in the amount of two dollars for the Coyote Management Program. (b) There is hereby created a special revenue account, designated the "Coyote Management Fund" into which all donations derived under this section shall be deposited. Moneys in this account shall be expended solely for the purposes set forth in subsection (c) of this section. Funds paid into this account may also be derived from the following sources: (1) All interest or return on investment accruing to this account; (2) Any gifts, grants, bequests, transfers, appropriations or other donations which may be received from any governmental entity or unit or any person, firm, foundation, or corporation; and (3) any appropriations by the Legislature which may be made for the purposes of this section. Any balance including accrued interest and other earnings at the end of any fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain in the fund for the purposes set forth in this section. (c) The moneys in the fund shall be paid out, at the sole discretion and direction of the director, to address coyote management issues.
(a) All persons in this state who receive money for licenses and permits required by this chapter, or as donations for the hunters helping the hungry program, shall deposit the moneys into an account at a financial institution at intervals designated by the director with the approval of the state treasurer. The payment shall be accompanied by a sales report. The form and content of the sales report shall be prescribed by the director. (b) Except where other provisions of this chapter specifically require direct payment of moneys into designated funds for specific uses and purposes, all license fees received by the director shall be promptly paid into the state treasury and credited to the division of natural resources "license fund--wildlife resources" which shall be used and paid out, upon order of the director, solely for law enforcement and for other purposes directly relating to the conservation, protection, propagation and distribution of wildlife in this state pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. No funds from the "license fund--wildlife resources" may be expended for recreational facilities or activities that are used by or for the benefit of the general public, rather than purchasers of hunting and fishing licenses. The director shall retain ten percent of the "license fund-wildlife resources" for capital improvements and land purchases benefitting state wildlife, forty percent shall be budgeted to the wildlife resources division, forty percent to law enforcement and ten percent apportioned by the director within provisions of this section. Any unexpended moneys for capital improvements and land purchases shall be carried forward. All interest generated from game and fish license fees shall be used by the director for the division of natural resources in the same manner as is provided for the use of license fees. (c) Moneys received as donations to the hunters helping the hungry program shall be deposited in the subaccount designated "hunters helping the hungry fund".
Licenses and permits provided by this chapter shall be valid through the last day of the calendar year for which they are issued unless otherwise provided by law.
(a) A person who is required by this article to be licensed may not hunt, take, pursue, trap for, kill, catch or chase for sport any wild animal or wild bird; or fish for, take, kill or catch any fish or amphibians of any kind whatsoever in this state unless he or she shall have on his or her person: (1) A valid license issued to him or her, or other proof that a valid license has been issued to him or her in accordance with this article; (2) all applicable stamps, permits, and written consents required by this article; (3) a driver's license, passport, or picture identification issued to him or her by his or her state of residence; and (4) a certificate of training or other proof of hunter safety education as required by section thirty-a of this article. As an alternative to the identification required by subsection (a)(3) of this section, the name, address and birthdate of a licensee under the age of fifteen years may be established by the averment of an accompanying licensed adult. (b) It is unlawful for any person to use at any time any license other than those valid licenses legally issued to him or her in accordance with this article. (c) Except as expressly provided by this article, it is unlawful for any person to transfer a license to any other person.
Any person whose license to hunt or fish has been revoked, who hunts or fishes during the period of revocation, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall for each offense be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail for not less than ten days nor more than one hundred days, or both fined and imprisoned.
Any person having in his or her possession in or near the fields or woods, or about the streams of this state, any dog, gun, fishing rod or other hunting, fishing or trapping paraphernalia, shall, upon demand of any officer authorized to enforce the provisions of this chapter, state his or her correct name and address, and shall exhibit for inspection: (a) All applicable licenses and documents set forth in section thirty-six of this article; and (b) all firearms and wildlife which he or she may have in his or her possession. Nothing in this section may be construed as authorizing searches that violate article three, section six of the West Virginia Constitution or the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, nor may anything in this section be construed as effecting a waiver of these constitutional provisions.
The director may, for cause, refuse a license or permit to any person or revoke a license or permit which had been granted. In case the director desires to refuse a license to any person, he shall notify personnel authorized to issue licenses, in counties where it is expected such license may be sought, of the name and address of such person and such other information in relation thereto as he may desire to give, and such issuing authority shall not issue a license to such person thereafter, and shall report to the director any application made therefor. In case any issuing authority shall, after receiving such notice knowingly issue such license, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. The director may revoke any such license so wrongfully issued. The violation of any of the provisions of this chapter by any person holding a license shall be sufficient cause for the director to refuse or revoke a license. All licenses and permits authorized by this chapter to be granted shall be deemed to have been granted by the director, and the power and authority to revoke such licenses is vested in the director. Upon the revocation of any license, the one to whom the same was issued shall, upon having knowledge of such revocation, forthwith deliver the license and tag so issued to him to the director, his agent, or the clerk of any county court. A clerk shall transmit the same to the director. The hunting license of any person convicted under section fifty-seven, article two, chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, shall be revoked, and such person shall not be issued any other hunting license for a period of five years: Provided, That any person heretofore or hereafter convicted of any offense under section eleven, article seven, chapter sixty-one, or under section fifty-seven, article two, chapter twenty, other than a negligent shooting which has resulted in the killing of a human being, after the expiration of two years may petition the director for reinstatement of all hunting license privileges and if the director upon a hearing and full investigation finds that the applicant has paid and satisfied all claims against him, if any, and the circumstances at the time and the nature of the offense indicate that he is not likely again to commit a like or similar offense and that the public good does not require that the applicant's hunting privileges remain revoked or suspended, the director may enter an order restoring full hunting privileges to the applicant.
The director shall suspend the license or permit of any person to whom a license or permit has been granted upon receiving notice from a magistrate court of this state, pursuant to subsection (b), section two-a, article three, chapter fifty of this code, that such person has defaulted on the payment of costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties which were imposed on the person by the magistrate court upon conviction of any hunting or fishing violation, after ninety days following such conviction. Any reinstatement of a license or permit under this section shall be subject to a reinstatement fee, in an amount to be prescribed by the director of the department of natural resources, which fee shall be collected by the department of natural resources and deposited into the law-enforcement division account to be utilized by the law-enforcement division in administering the provisions of this section.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
Repealed.
Acts, 2001 Reg. Sess., Ch. 216.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
The license and stamp fees in article two and two-b of this chapter as amended during the regular session of the 2005 regular session of the Legislature shall become effective on the first day of January, two thousand six. The Director may from time to time propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, changing any license or stamp fee set forth in this article or in article two-b. All increases in license and stamp fees in this article which are set forth in rule shall be computed in a manner that results in the increase being indexed to an increase in the Consumer Price Index (All Items) published by the United States Department of Labor rounded down to the nearest dollar: Provided, That no increase in fee resulting from increases in the Consumer Price Index (All Items) may be made after the first day of January, two thousand eleven.
A Class A license is a resident hunting and trapping license and entitles the licensee to hunt and trap all legal species of wild animals and wild birds in all counties of the state, except that the licensee may not hunt deer during the deer archery and muzzle-loader seasons, or black bear, wild turkey or wild boar during the respective seasons, and except as prohibited by rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission and when additional licenses, stamps or permits are required. It shall be issued only to residents or aliens lawfully residing in the United States who have been domiciled residents of West Virginia for a period of thirty consecutive days or more immediately prior to the date of their application for a license. The fee for the license is eighteen dollars. This is a base license and does not require the purchase of a prerequisite license to participate in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class B license is a resident fishing license and entitles the licensee to fish for all legal fish except trout and to take frogs in all counties of the state, except as prohibited by rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission and when additional licenses, stamps or permits are required. It shall be issued only to residents or aliens lawfully residing in the United States who have been domiciled residents of West Virginia for a period of thirty consecutive days or more immediately prior to the date of their application for a license. The fee for the license is eighteen dollars. To fish for trout, a Class B license holder must purchase and carry a valid Class O stamp or Class O-L license. This is a base license and does not require the purchase of a prerequisite license to participate in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class C license is a courtesy hunting and fishing license and entitles the licensee to hunt and fish in all counties of this state. It may be issued by the Director upon application made to him or her and without fee to: (1) Members and agents of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service; (2) Members of State Commissions of other states extending similar courtesies; (3) Diplomatic and consular representatives of foreign countries; (4) Persons engaged in scientific wildlife research; (5) Nonresident outdoor writers and other nonresidents engaged in promoting an interest in the Natural Resources of the State of West Virginia. Not more than one hundred courtesy licenses shall be issued in one year. This is a base license and does not require the purchase of a prerequisite license to participate in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class E license is a nonresident hunting and trapping license and entitles the licensee to hunt and trap all legal species of wild animals and wild birds in all counties of the state except as prohibited by rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission and except when other licenses, stamps or permits are required. The fee for the license is one hundred ten dollars. This is a base license and does not require the purchase of a prerequisite license to participate in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class EE license is a nonresident bear hunting license and entitles the licensee to hunt bear in all counties of the state, except as prohibited by rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission and except when additional licenses, stamps or permits are required. The fee for the license is one hundred fifty dollars. This is a base license and does not require the purchase of a prerequisite license to participate in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class F license is a nonresident fishing license and entitles the licensee to fish for all legal fish except trout and to take frogs, in all counties of the state except as prohibited by rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission and except when additional licenses, stamps or permits are required. The fee for the license is thirty-five dollars. To fish for trout, a Class F license holder must purchase and carry a valid Class OO trout stamp. This is a base license and does not require the purchase of a prerequisite license to participate in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class H license is a nonresident small game hunting license and entitles the licensee to hunt small game in all counties of the state, except as prohibited by rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission and except when additional licenses, stamps or permits are required, for a period of six consecutive hunting days chosen by the licensee, excluding Sunday in counties closed to Sunday hunting. The fee for the license is twenty-five dollars. This is a base license and does not require the purchase of a prerequisite license to participate in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class J license is a nonresident small game shooting preserve license and entitles the licensee to hunt small game on designated shooting preserves, except as prohibited by rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission and except when additional licenses, stamps or permits are required, for a period of six consecutive hunting days chosen by the licensee, excluding Sunday in counties closed to Sunday hunting. The fee for the license is ten dollars. This is a base license and does not require the purchase of a prerequisite license to participate in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class LL license is a nonresident fishing license and entitles the licensee to fish for all legal fish except trout and to take frogs in all counties of the state for the calendar date chosen by the buyer and which will be specified on the license, except as prohibited by rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission and except when additional licenses, stamps or permits are required. To fish for trout, a Class LL licensee must purchase and carry a valid Class OO trout stamp. The fee for the license is three dollars. This is a base license and does not require the purchase of a prerequisite license to participate in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class X license is a resident hunting, fishing and trapping license and entitles the licensee to hunt and trap for all legal species of wild animals and wild birds, to fish for all legal species of fish except trout and to take frogs in all counties of the state, except as prohibited by the rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission and when additional licenses, stamps or permits are required. No additional fees shall be required of Class X licensees for a Class CS stamp. To fish for trout, a Class X licensee must purchase and carry a valid Class O stamp or Class O-L license. The Class X license shall be issued only to residents or aliens lawfully residing in the United States who have been domiciled residents of West Virginia for a period of thirty consecutive days or more immediately prior to the date of their application for a license. The fee for the license is thirty-three dollars. The portion of the Class X license fee equal to the annual fee for the Class CS stamp shall be designated as conservation stamp revenue and expended pursuant to section nine, article two-b of this code. This is a base license and does not require the purchase of a prerequisite license to participate in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class XJ license is a resident junior hunting, fishing and trapping license and a Class XXJ license is a nonresident junior hunting, fishing and trapping license. These licenses entitle the licensee to hunt and trap for all legal species of wild animals and wild birds, to fish for all legal species of fish except trout and to take frogs in all counties of the state, except as prohibited by the rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission and when additional licenses, stamps and permits are required. No additional fees are required of Class XJ licensees for a Class CS stamp. No additional fees are required of Class XXJ licensees for Class I, UU, VV or WW stamps. To fish for trout, Class XJ or XXJ licensees must purchase and carry a valid Class O or OO stamp or O-L license. The Class XJ license may be issued only to a resident who has not reached his or her eighteenth birthday and is otherwise required by section twenty-seven of this article to purchase a license. The Class XXJ license may be issued to a nonresident who has not reached his or her eighteenth birthday and is at least eight years old and is otherwise required by section twenty-seven of this article to purchase a license. The fee for the Class XJ license is fifteen dollars. The portion of the Class XJ license fee equal to the annual fee for the Class CS stamp shall be designated as conservation stamp revenue and expended pursuant to section nine of article two-b. The fee for the Class XXJ license is fifteen dollars. In addition to buying a Class XXJ license, a nonresident must purchase a Class CS/LE stamp as required in section ten of article two-b. This is a base license and does not require the purchase of a prerequisite license to participate in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
Notwithstanding the provisions of section two, article seven, chapter sixty-one of this code, a Class A-l stamp is a small arms hunting stamp. To be eligible to get a Class A-l stamp, a person must be legally able to possess a firearm. If a person is otherwise qualified, a Class A-l stamp may be issued to a person twenty-one years of age or older who holds a valid resident or nonresident hunting license, or to a person who is a resident sixty-five years of age or older, but a Class A-l stamp shall never be issued to a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor associated with the use of firearms or dangerous weapons or who has been convicted of a felony. A Class A-l stamp entitles the licensee to hunt, as otherwise permitted by the provisions of this chapter, but only during small game and big game seasons as established annually by the Director, with either a revolver or pistol which has a barrel at least four inches in length. Unless otherwise permitted by the Code of West Virginia, a Class A-1 stamp entitles the licensee to carry or have in his or her possession only one revolver or pistol when going to and from his or her home or residence and a place of hunting and while hunting: Provided, That the Class A-l stamp may not be valid unless the licensee has in his or her possession a valid resident or nonresident hunting license or is a resident sixty-five years of age or older: Provided, however, That at all times, when not actually hunting, the revolver or pistol shall be unloaded. While hunting, the licensee shall carry the revolver or pistol in an unconcealed and easily visible place. The fee for the stamp is eight dollars. A lifetime Class A-1 stamp may be issued to anyone otherwise qualified and holding a valid Class A-L or AB-L license or to a resident sixty-five years of age or older. The lifetime Class A-1 stamp will be issued in a form prescribed by the Director. The fee for a lifetime Class A-I stamp is seventy-five dollars. All fees collected for the issuance of the Class A-l and lifetime Class A-l stamps shall be deposited in the State Treasury and credited to the law-enforcement section of the Division of Natural Resources. The fees collected shall be paid out of the State Treasury on order of the Director and used solely for law-enforcement purposes. Any person convicted of a misdemeanor associated with the use of firearms or dangerous weapons or convicted of a felony, or any person who becomes legally unable to possess a firearm shall immediately surrender the stamp to the Division of Natural Resources. A holder of a Class A-l or lifetime Class A-l stamp is required to purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class I stamp is a nonresident national forest hunting, trapping and fishing stamp and entitles the licensee, when within national forest land in West Virginia, to hunt legal species in season; to trap fur-bearing animals in season; and to fish in the waters therein. The stamp shall be issued only to a nonresident holding a Class E, EE, F, H or LL license. The fee for the stamp is two dollars. This stamp requires that the licensee purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class N stamp is a resident deer hunting stamp for antlerless deer. A Class NN stamp is a nonresident deer hunting stamp for antlerless deer. These stamps entitle the licensee to hunt and take antlerless deer of either sex during the Class N season. The fee for a Class N stamp is ten dollars and the fee for a Class NN stamp is twenty-five dollars. Class N and NN stamps may be issued only for the purpose of removing antlerless deer when the Director determines it essential for proper management of the wildlife resources. The Director may promulgate rules governing the issuance and use of the Class N and NN stamps as deemed necessary to limit, on a fair and equitable basis, the number of persons who may hunt for antlerless deer in a county, or part of a county. When the Director determines it essential that a Class N or NN season be held in a particular county or part of a county, that season shall be set by the Natural Resources Commission as provided in section seventeen, article one of this chapter. Bona fide resident landowners or their resident children, or resident parents, bona fide resident tenants of such land and bona fide resident stockholders of resident corporations which are formed for the primary purpose of hunting or fishing and which are the fee simple owners of no less than one thousand acres of land upon which the antlerless deer may be hunted are not required to have a Class N stamp in their possession while hunting antlerless deer on their own land during the Class N season. A resident hunter, including those not required to purchase a license pursuant to section twenty-seven of this article, must purchase and carry a valid Class N stamp. A nonresident hunter must purchase and carry a valid Class NN stamp. These stamps require that the licensee purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class O stamp is a resident trout fishing stamp. A Class OO stamp is a nonresident trout fishing stamp. These stamps entitle the licensee to fish for trout in all counties of the state, except as prohibited by rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission. The fee for a Class O stamp is ten dollars and the fee for a Class OO stamp is fifteen dollars. The revenue derived from the sale of these stamps shall be deposited in the State Treasury and credited to the Division of Natural Resources and shall be used and paid out, upon order of the Director, for state trout program expenses. These stamps, issued in a form prescribed by the Director, shall be in addition to a Class AB-L, B, B-L, F, LL, X, XJ or XXJ license or Class Q permit. These stamps require that the licensee purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
The Director has the authority to issue a Class RG resident and a Class RRG nonresident gun deer hunting stamp when deemed essential for the proper management of the wildlife resources. These stamps allow the licensee to hunt and take an additional deer as designated by the Director. The fee for a Class RG stamp is twenty dollars and the fee for a Class RRG stamp is forty dollars. The Director may promulgate rules in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code governing the issuance and use of these stamps. These stamps require that the licensee purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
The Director has the authority to issue a Class RB resident and a Class RRB nonresident archery deer hunting stamp when deemed essential for the proper management of the wildlife resources. This stamp allows the licensee to hunt and take an additional deer as designated by the Director. The fee for a Class RB stamp is twenty dollars and the fee for a Class RRB stamp is thirty-five dollars. The Director may promulgate rules in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code governing the issuance and use of these stamps. These stamps require that the licensee purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
The Director shall have the authority to issue a Class RM resident and a Class RRM nonresident muzzle-loader deer hunting stamp when deemed essential for the proper management of the wildlife resources. These stamps allow the licensee to hunt and take an additional deer as designated by the Director. The fee for a Class RM stamp is fifteen dollars and the fee for a Class RRM stamp is thirty-five dollars. The Director may promulgate rules in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code governing the issuance and use of these stamps. These stamps require that the licensee purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class UU stamp is a nonresident archery deer hunting stamp and entitles the licensee to hunt and take deer with a bow during the archery deer season in all counties of the state, except as prohibited by the rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission. The fee for a Class UU stamp is thirty dollars. The stamp, issued in a form prescribed by the Director, shall be in addition to a Class E license. This stamp requires that the licensee purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class VV stamp is a nonresident muzzle-loading deer hunting stamp and entitles the licensee to hunt and take deer with a muzzle-loader during muzzle-loading deer seasons in all counties of the state, or parts thereof, excluding Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming counties, as set by the Natural Resources Commission in accordance with section seventeen, article one of this chapter. The Director may promulgate rules in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code governing the issuance and use of this stamp. The stamp, issued in a form prescribed by the Director, shall be in addition to a Class E license. The fee for a Class VV stamp is thirty dollars. This stamp requires that the licensee purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class WW stamp is a nonresident turkey hunting stamp and entitles the licensee to hunt and take turkey during any turkey hunting season, except as prohibited by the rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission. The fee for a Class WW stamp is thirty dollars. The stamp, issued in a form prescribed by the Director, shall be in addition to a Class E license. This stamp requires that the licensee purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
A Class BG stamp is a resident big game stamp and entitles the Class A licensee to hunt deer during the deer archery and muzzleloader seasons, and bear, wild turkey and wild boar during the respective seasons, except as prohibited by rules of the Director or Natural Resources Commission: Provided, That the licensee possesses all other required permits and/or stamps. The fee for the stamp is ten dollars. The stamp, issued in a form prescribed by the director, shall be in addition to a Class A license. This stamp requires that the licensee purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
(a) On or after the first day of January, two thousand six, a Class Y permit shall be a special statewide hunting permit and shall entitle the permittee to hunt all wildlife during established archery seasons. An application shall be furnished by the director and a Class Y permit allowing the holder to use a crossbow, during the archery hunting seasons, to applicants who meet the following requirements: (1) He or she holds a Class Q permit; (2) He or she has a permanent and substantial loss of function in one or both hands while failing to meet the minimum standards of the upper extremity pinch, grip and nine-hole peg tests administered under the direction of a licensed physician; or (3) A permanent and substantial loss of function in one or both shoulders while failing to meet the standards of the standard shoulder strength test, administered under the direction of a licensed physician. (b) The application form shall include a written statement or report prepared by a physician, prepared no more than six months preceding the application and verifying that the applicant is physically disabled as described in this section. As part of the application, the applicant shall authorize, by written release, an examination of all medical records regarding his or her qualifying disability. When completed, the permit form constitutes a Class Y permit. The Class Y permit and a completed license application shall be submitted to the Division, which will issue a wallet-sized card to the permittee. The card and all other documents and identification required to be carried by this article shall be in the permittee's possession when hunting. (c) A Class Y permit must be accompanied by a valid statewide hunting license or the applicant must be exempt from hunting licenses as provided in this chapter.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
The Director may designate up to two days each year as free sport fishing days. On a designated free fishing day, an individual is entitled to fish for all legal fish in all counties of the state without having a valid West Virginia fishing license and without the payment of any license fee, subject to the same privileges and restrictions applicable to a holder of any such license.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
To hunt bear in this state, a licensed hunter shall have, in addition to a Class A, A-L, AB-L, X or XJ, in the case of a resident, or a Class C or EE, in the case of a nonresident, a bear damage stamp issued by the Division of Natural Resources. The fee for the stamp is ten dollars. All proceeds from the sale of stamps shall be paid into the bear damage fund which shall be maintained by the Division of Natural Resources for paying claims of property owners for damages to real and personal property caused by acts of bear and to cover the expense of black bear research programs within the state. This stamp requires that the licensee purchase the appropriate base license before participating in the activities specified in this section, except as noted.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
Repealed. Acts, 1983 Reg. Sess., Ch. 111.
Repealed. Acts, 1999 Reg. Sess., Ch. 51.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
(a) A Class Q permit is a special statewide hunting permit entitling the permittee to hunt all legal species of game during the designated hunting seasons from a motor vehicle in accordance with the provisions of this section. (b) A permit form shall be furnished by the director to an applicant who meets the following requirements: (1) He or she is permanently disabled in the lower extremities; and (2) He or she holds a valid resident or nonresident statewide hunting license, a senior citizens license or is otherwise exempt from the license requirement. (c) A licensed physician must certify the applicant's permanent disability by completing the permit form. When completed, the permit form constitutes a Class Q permit. The Class Q permit and a completed license application shall be submitted to the division, which will issue a wallet sized card to the permittee. The card and all other documents and identification required to be carried by this article shall be in the permittee's possession when hunting. (d) A Class Q permit entitles the holder to hunt from a motor vehicle and, notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (9), section five of this article, to possess a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle, but only under the following circumstances: (1) The motor vehicle is stationary; (2) The engine of the motor vehicle is not operating; (3) The permittee and one individual, who is at least sixteen years of age, to assist the permittee are the only occupants of the vehicle; (4) The individual assisting the permittee may not hunt with a firearm, bow or cross-bow while assisting the permittee; (5) The vehicle is not parked on the right-of-way of any public road or highway; and (6) The permittee observes all other pertinent laws and regulations. (e) The director may propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code setting forth the qualifications of applicants and the permitting process.
(a) A Class DT license is a special statewide hunting and fishing license for residents of the State of West Virginia and nonresidents, as permitted in subsection (e) of this section, entitling the licensee to fish or hunt all legal species of game at no charge, in accordance with the provisions of this section. (b) A license form shall be furnished by the director to an applicant who meets the following requirements: (1) He or she has been diagnosed by a licensed physician with a life-threatening condition; and (2) He or she is under twenty-one years of age. (c) A licensed physician must certify the applicant's life-threatening condition by completing the license form. A "life-threatening condition" means a terminal condition or illness that according to current diagnosis has a high probability of death within two years, even with treatment with an existing generally accepted protocol. When completed, the license form constitutes a Class DT license. The Class DT license and a completed license application shall be submitted to the division, which will issue a wallet sized card to the licensee. The card and all other documents and identification required to be carried by this article shall be in the licensee's possession when hunting or fishing. (d) A Class DT license entitles the holder to hunt and fish only under the following circumstances: (1) The licensee is accompanied by a parent, guardian or, with written consent of the parent or guardian, any other competent adult at least twenty-one years of age; (2) The individual assisting the licensee must hold a valid fishing or hunting license appropriate to the situation; (3) The licensee and the individual assisting observe all other pertinent laws and regulations. (e) The director shall provide licenses to nonresidents at no charge who: (1) Meet the requirements of subsections (b) and (c) of this section; and (2) Are recommended by qualifying nonprofit organizations who offer hunting and fishing experiences. (f) The director shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code setting forth the qualifications of applicants and nonprofit organizations and the licensing process.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
Repealed.
Acts, 2002 Reg. Sess., Ch. 228.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
The director may issue a license for the operation of a private game preserve for propagation of wild animals and wild birds for commercial purposes. The license shall authorize the holder to breed or raise animals and birds as specified by the license, to sell the same dead or alive, or to sell the eggs of birds in accordance with regulations prescribed by the director. Application for a license under this section shall designate the property whereon the preserve is to be established. Before the license is issued, the director shall determine that the property is properly enclosed, that the provisions for housing and sanitation are proper and adequate, and that the safety of the public is protected. The annual license fee shall be ten dollars.
The director may issue a license for the operation of a private plant, pond or business for the propagation, sale or purchase of fish, frogs, turtles and other forms of aquatic life for commercial purposes. The license shall authorize the holder to breed or raise fish, frogs, turtles and other forms of aquatic life as specified by the license and to buy and sell the same dead or alive or the eggs thereof in accordance with regulations prescribed by the director. Application for a license under this section shall designate the size, character and location of the plant or pond. Before the license is issued, the director shall determine that the pond or plant will not interfere with the free passage of fish; that any water diverted to such plant or pond does not violate the riparian rights of other landowners and that such plant, pond or diversion will not interfere with the public stocking or propagation of fish frequenting such waters. A licensee selling fish shall furnish the purchaser with a certificate or invoice of sale, bearing date of sale, the number of the license under which sold, the number of fish and number of pounds sold, and such other information which the director may require. The certificate or invoice shall be shown by the holder on demand of any person authorized under the provisions of this chapter to enforce the provisions hereof. The annual license fee shall be ten dollars.
The director may issue licenses for buying or dealing in raw furs, pelts or skins of fur-bearing animals as follows: (1) A resident county license, which shall apply only to the county or counties designated on the license and shall be issued only to persons who have been bona fide residents of this state for a period of at least six months prior to the date of application, and of a county in which the privilege is to be exercised. A license shall apply to the county for which issued and to such adjacent counties as are designated in the license. A fee of one dollar for each county shall accompany the application; (2) A resident statewide license, which shall apply to all counties in the state and shall be issued only to persons who have been bona fide residents of this state for a period of at least six months prior to the date of application. A fee of ten dollars shall accompany the application; (3) A nonresident statewide license, which shall apply to all counties in the state and shall be issued only to nonresidents. A fee of fifty dollars shall accompany the application; and (4) An agent's permit which shall apply to a person employed by a licensee under subsections (1), (2) or (3) above, to buy or deal as an agent of the licensee other than at the place of business of the licensee. A fee of two dollars and fifty cents for each such agent shall accompany the application.
The director may issue a permit to a person to hunt, kill, take, capture or maintain in captivity wildlife exclusively for scientific purposes, but not for any commercial purposes. Any person desiring to collect or procure any wildlife, including any body tissue, organ or other portion thereof, eggs, nesting materials or other materials from the habitat of such wildlife shall be required to make application to the director for a scientific collecting permit. The director shall promulgate rules in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code regarding the issuance of the permits. A permit may be issued only upon written application to the director setting forth at least: (1) The number and kind of wildlife to be taken; (2) The purpose and manner of taking; (3) The name, residence, profession and educational or scientific affiliation of the person applying for the permit; and (4) The geographic location where the collection or procurement is planned to take place. A fee, to be set at the discretion of the director, shall accompany the application. No permit may be issued for the purpose of killing deer and bear.
The director may issue a license to a person to act as a wildlife damage control agent. Unless otherwise prohibited by law, any person licensed as a wildlife damage control agent, acting pursuant to the license and subject to the rules promulgated by the director, is authorized to take and dispose of wildlife found by the wildlife damage control agent to be creating a nuisance in or around homes, businesses and other places where the presence of wildlife may be a nuisance. The director is authorized to impose and collect fees when issuing this license and the fees shall be deposited in the nongame wildlife fund. The director shall promulgate rules, pursuant to article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, governing the issuance and use of the license and setting fees.
The director may issue a permit to a person to keep and maintain in captivity as a pet, a wild animal or wild bird that has been acquired from a commercial dealer or during the legal open season. The fee therefor shall be two dollars.
The director may issue a permit for the keeping and maintaining in captivity of wild animals, wild birds, amphibians or reptiles as a roadside menagerie. A permit shall not be issued unless: (1) The animals, birds, amphibians or reptiles have been purchased from a licensed commercial dealer, either within or without the state, or have been taken legally; or (2) The director is satisfied that provisions for housing and care of wildlife to be kept in captivity and for the protection of the public are proper and adequate. A fee of twenty-five dollars shall accompany each application for such permit.
The director may issue a license for the operation of a private pond or privately owned pond or impoundment to be used as a commercial fishing preserve, provided such impoundments meet the requirements of section twenty-seven of this article: Provided, however, That only one license shall be required where more than one private pond or privately owned pond or impoundment is operated under one ownership and management and on one separate commercial fishing preserve. The licensee shall have the authority to establish the fishing seasons, size and creel limits for such licensed pond or impoundment. A person fishing in such lake shall not be required to possess the same statewide fishing license as would be required of him if he were fishing in any of the public waters of this state. The annual fee for the commercial fishing preserve license shall be twenty-five dollars.
(1) The director may issue a license for privately-owned commercial shooting preserves to any person who meets the following requirements: (a) Each commercial shooting preserve shall contain a minimum of three hundred acres in one tract of leased or owned land (including water area, if any) and shall be restricted to no more than three thousand contiguous acres (including water area, if any), except that preserves confined to the releasing of ducks only shall be authorized to operate with a minimum of fifty contiguous acres (including water area); and (b) The exterior boundaries of each commercial shooting preserve shall be clearly defined and posted with signs erected around the extremity at intervals of one hundred fifty yards or less. (2) The director shall designate the game which may be hunted under this section on which a more liberal season may be allowed. (3) The operating licenses or permits issued by the director shall entitle holders thereof, and their guests or customers, to recover not more than eighty percent of the total number of each species of game bird released on the premises each year, except mallard, black duck, ringnecked pheasant, chukar partridge and other nonnative game species upon which a one hundred percent recovery may be allowed. (4) Except for the required compliance with the restriction on the maximum number of released birds that may be recovered from each preserve each year, as provided in subsections (3) and (8) of this section, shooting preserve operators may establish their own shooting limitations and restrictions on the age, sex and number of birds that may be taken by each person. (5) In order to give a reasonable opportunity for a fair return on a sizeable investment, a liberal season shall be designated by the director during the nine-month period, beginning the first day of August and ending the thirtieth day of April. (6) All harvested game shall be tagged with a numbered tag prior to being either consumed on the premises or removed therefrom, such tags to remain affixed until the game actually is delivered to the point of consumption. (7) Each shooting preserve operator shall maintain a registration book listing all names, addresses and hunting license numbers of all shooters; the date on which they hunted; the amount of game and the species taken; and the tag numbers affixed to each carcass. An accurate record likewise must be maintained of the total number, by species, of game birds and ducks raised and/or purchased, and the date and number of all species released. These records shall be open to inspection by a delegated representative of the director at any reasonable time, and shall be the basis upon which the game recovery limits in subsection (3) of this section shall be determined. (8) Any wild game found on commercial shooting preserves may be harvested in accordance with applicable game and hunting laws pertaining to open seasons, bag and possession limits, and so forth, as are established regularly by the director and the United States fish and wildlife service. (9) State hunting licenses shall be required of all persons hunting or shooting on shooting preserves. (10) The fee for such commercial shooting preserve license shall be fifty dollars per fiscal year for the first three hundred acres of the shooting preserve area, plus twenty-five dollars per fiscal year for each additional three hundred acres or part thereof.
The director shall have the power and authority to issue a license to any person to catch and sell minnows or other bait fish upon written application therefor, signed by the applicant. The fee for such license shall be ten dollars. All licenses issued under this section shall expire on the first day of January following the date of issue. Any such license may be renewed from year to year upon paying to the director the sum of one dollar for each such renewal.
The director may issue a permit to any person, group of persons, club or organization to hold or conduct a field trial, shoot-to-retrieve field trial, water race or wild hunt, hereinafter referred to as a trial, upon receipt of a written application setting forth: (1) The name of the person, group of persons, club or organization; (2) the type or kind of trial; (3) the place and county in which the trial is to be held; and (4) the period or date on which the trial is to be held. The fee for the permit shall be five dollars. No person participating in a field trial, shoot-to-retrieve field trial, water race or wild hunt being held under a permit authorized by this section shall be required to possess a state hunting license.
The director may issue a permit to train bird dogs on wild birds or game birds, provided: (1) The fee for the permit is ten dollars. (2) The training shall be on private land containing a minimum of five acres in a single tract. The permittee must own the land, lease the land or have written permission of landowner for the training. (3) The birds permitted to be used for the training of dogs are quail and pigeons. The quail must be purchased from a licensed commercial game farm. Pigeons may be purchased from a licensed commercial game farm or trapped within the state at any time as long as the person conducting the trapping is legally licensed to do so and also holds the appropriate permit. Each trap must be identified by a waterproof tag attached to the trap that bears the name, address and telephone number of the trapper. (4) The permittee must retain the receipt for two years of all birds purchased from a commercial game farm licensee. (5) The location where the birds are held and all records pertaining to the purchase and dates of training may be inspected by a conservation officer. (6) No more than thirty birds may be held by the permittee at any given time. All birds must have a uniquely numbered leg band attached. The leg band must remain with the birds until consumption or until the birds are legally disposed. (7) Birds held under this permit shall be housed and cared for in accordance with the requirements of applicable rules. (8) The use of the birds held under this permit shall include the release, recapture and/or the shooting of the birds in conjunction with the training of bird dogs. (9) The person holding birds in captivity under the authority of this permit and the person training his or her bird dog must possess a bird dog training permit. (10) All other laws and rules governing hunting, trapping, shooting and training apply. (11) The director may propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to further restrict bird dog training. (12) Any person violating any provision of this law is subject to the penalties prescribed in section nine, article seven, chapter twenty of this code.
(a) It is unlawful for any person, while engaged in hunting, pursuing, taking or killing wild animals or wild birds, to carelessly or negligently shoot, wound or kill livestock, or to destroy or injure any other chattels or property. Any person violating this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000, or confined in jail not more than ninety days, or both fined and confined. Restitution of the value of the livestock, chattel or property injured, damaged or destroyed shall be required upon conviction.
(a) It is unlawful for any person, while engaged in the act of hunting, pursuing, taking or killing wild animals or wild birds, to carelessly or negligently shoot, wound or kill another person. (b) Anyone who negligently shoots, wounds or injures another person while hunting, not resulting in serious bodily injury or death, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1000 or confined in jail not more than six months, or both fined and confined. (c) Anyone who negligently shoots and injures another person while hunting, resulting in serious bodily injury or death, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $2500 or confined in jail for not more than one year, or both fined and confined. (d) For purposes of this section, serious bodily injury means bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death, which causes serious or prolonged disfigurement, prolonged impairment of health or prolonged loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ. (e) (1) Any person who, while hunting, discharges a firearm or arrow and knows or has reason to know that the discharge has caused bodily harm to another person shall: (A) Immediately investigate the extent of the person's injuries; and (B) Render immediate reasonable assistance to the injured person. (2) As used in this subsection, "reasonable assistance" means aid appropriate to the circumstances, including by not limited to obtaining or attempting to obtain assistance from a conservation or law enforcement officer, 911 dispatchers, emergency medical providers and medical personnel. (f) Any person who fails to render aid and assistance to an injured person as required by subsection (e), to an injured party who has not sustained a serious bodily injury is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $2,500 and confined in jail for not more than one year, or both fined and confined. (g) Any person who fails to render aid as required by subsection (e) to an injured party who has sustained a serious bodily injury or dies as a result of their injuries is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned in a correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than five years, or both fined and imprisoned. (h) Any person found guilty of committing a misdemeanor under this section shall have their hunting and fishing licenses suspended for a period of five years from the date of conviction or the date of release from confinement, whichever is later. (i) Any person found guilty of committing a felony offense under this section shall have their hunting and fishing licenses suspended for a period of ten years from the date of conviction or the date of release from incarceration, whichever is later.
(a) It is unlawful for any person to hunt, pursue, take or kill wild animals or wild birds while the person: (1) Is under the influence of alcohol; or (2) Is under the influence of any controlled substance; or (3) Is under the influence of any other drug; or (4) Is under the combined influence of alcohol and any controlled substance or any other drug; or (5) Has an alcohol concentration in his or her blood of eight hundredths of one percent or more by weight. (b) Any person violating subsection (a) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than $500, or confined in jail for not less than 30 days nor more than 100 days, or both fined and confined. (c) It is unlawful for any person, while engaged in hunting, pursuing, taking or killing wild animals or wild birds, to carelessly or negligently shoot and wound another person while the shooter: (1) Is under the influence of alcohol; or (2) Is under the influence of any controlled substance; or (3) Is under the influence of any other drug; or (4) Is under the combined influence of alcohol and any controlled substance or any other drug; or (5) Has an alcohol concentration in his or her blood of eight hundredths of one percent or more, by weight. (d) Any person violating subsection (c) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $500 nor more than $1,500, or confined in jail for not less than two months nor more than one year, or both fined and confined. (e) It is unlawful for any person, while engaged in hunting, pursuing, taking or killing wild animals or wild birds, to carelessly or negligently shoot and kill another person while the shooter: (2) Is under the influence of alcohol; or (3) Is under the influence of any controlled substance; or (4) Is under the influence of any other drug; or (5) Is under the combined influence of alcohol and any controlled substance or any other drug; or (6) Has an alcohol concentration in his or her blood of eight hundredths of one percent or more, by weight. (f) Any person violating subsection (e) of this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000, or imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than three years, or both fined and imprisoned. (e) Any person found guilty of committing an offense under this section shall have their hunting and fishing licenses suspended for a period of five years from the date of conviction or the date of release from incarceration, whichever is later. (f) Any person found guilty of committing a felony offense under this section shall have their hunting and fishing licenses suspended for a period of ten years from the date of conviction or the date of release from incarceration, whichever is later. (g) Any person who shoots another person while intoxicated in violation of this section has the same duty and obligation to render aid to the injured person as is set forth in section fifty-seven-a of this article, and is subject to the additional penalties set forth therein as a separate and distinct violation, in the event that he or she fails to render aid to the injured person.
It shall be unlawful for any person to shoot or discharge any firearms across or in any public road in this state, at any time, or within four hundred feet of any schoolhouse or church, or within five hundred feet of any dwelling house, or on or near any park or other place where persons gather for purposes of pleasure, and any person violating this section is guilty of a misdemeanor: Provided, That any person operating a gun repair shop, licensed to do business in the state of West Virginia and duly licensed under applicable federal statutes, may be exempted from the prohibition established by this section and section twelve, article seven, chapter sixty-one of this code for the purpose of test firing a firearm. The director of the department of natural resources shall prescribe such rules as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the exemption under this section and section twelve, article seven, chapter sixty-one and shall ensure that any person residing in any dwelling home within five hundred feet of such gun repair shop be given an opportunity to protest the granting of such exemption.
The director may issue a license to any resident of West Virginia or Ohio to take fish or mussels for commercial purposes from any portion or all of the main stem of the Ohio River bordering West Virginia. Said license shall be required of every person engaged at any time in taking fish or mussels for commercial purposes. All nets, traps or other devices used to take fish or mussels according to the provisions of this section shall be plainly marked with a durable plate or tag bearing the name and address of the owner of said nets, traps or other devices and an accurate report of any fish or mussels caught therein shall be submitted to the director by the license holder. Species of fish which may be taken, seasons for taking, type of gear, catch limitations, and the frequency and content of said report and other necessary requirements shall be determined by the director in his rules and regulations. The fee for such license shall be twenty-five dollars for West Virginia residents and one hundred dollars for Ohio residents and the license shall expire on the first day of January following the date of issue.
Any person who hunts deer on public lands or the lands of another during the period designated for firearms hunting of deer shall wear a daylight fluorescent orange outer garment over at least four hundred square inches of his person: Provided, That persons engaged in agricultural occupations shall be exempt from the provisions of this section while hunting deer on their own property. Any person violating any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more than fifty dollars.
Repealed. Reserved for future use.
Any person who has been a prisoner of war, was honorably discharged from the military forces and is a resident of this state may take, or catch by angling, fish of the kind lawfully permitted to be taken or caught and may hunt or trap wild birds or wild quadrupeds lawfully permitted to be hunted or trapped without procuring a fishing license, hunting license or trapping permit. The person, while taking or catching fish or hunting or trapping wild birds or wild quadrupeds for which he would otherwise be required to have a fishing license, hunting license or trapping permit, shall carry written evidence in the form of a record of separation, a letter from one of the military forces of the United States, or such other evidence as the director of the department of natural resources requires by rule that satisfies the eligibility criteria established by this section. For purposes of this section, the term "prisoner of war" means any member of the armed forces of the United States, including the United States coast guard and national guard, who was held by any hostile force with which the United States was actually engaged in armed conflict during any period of the incarceration; or any person, military or civilian, assigned to duty on the U.S.S. Pueblo who was captured by the military forces of North Korea on the twenty-third of January, one thousand nine hundred sixty-eight, and thereafter held prisoner. Notwithstanding any provision in this section, a prisoner of war shall not include any person who, at any time, voluntarily, knowingly and without duress, gave aid to or collaborated with or in any manner served any such hostile force.
Repealed. Acts, 2005 Reg. Sess., Ch. 130.
(a) It is unlawful for any person to release any fish, water animal or other aquatic organism, alive or dead, or any part, nest or egg thereof into the waters of this state except as authorized by a stocking permit issued by the director: Provided, That nothing in this subsection shall be construed as restricting the release of fish, water animal or other aquatic organism into the waters of this state from which they were taken by lawful methods: Provided, however, That nothing in this subsection shall be construed as restricting the release of native or established species of fish in privately owned ponds. (b) A stocking permit is not required for the stocking of trout in waters of the state provided that the trout originate from a source within the state or meet the disease free certification requirements for imported salmondiae set forth in section thirteen of this article. (c) A stocking permit is not required for the stocking of black bass provided that the division of natural resources is notified prior to stocking and is provided a disease free certification.
It is in the public interest to preserve, protect and perpetuate all species of wildlife for the use and benefit of the citizens of West Virginia. The intent of this legislation is to provide additional funding for wildlife programs, to be primarily used to enhance nongame wildlife programs and for the management, preservation, protection and perpetuation of nongame species. The financing of these programs will be derived from a voluntary check-off and contribution designation on state personal income tax return forms of a portion or all of a taxpayer's refund. The funding provided shall be supplemental to existing revenues.
(a) Each West Virginia individual income tax return form shall contain a designation as follows:
West Virginia Voluntary Wildlife Check-Off Program. (b) Each individual taxpayer desiring to contribute to the voluntary wildlife program may designate by placing an "X" in the appropriate box on the state income tax return form. His contribution shall be credited to said program.
The tax department shall determine by the first day of July of each year the total amount designated pursuant to this legislation and shall report such amount to the state treasurer who shall credit such amount to a special department of natural resources fund.
The funds shall be used for the purpose of enhancement and perpetuation of nongame wildlife programs in this state upon order of the director. The director shall on the fifteenth day of January each year furnish the Legislature with a report stating the amount of money that has been provided and how such moneys have been expended.
This legislation shall take effect on the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred eighty-two and shall apply to tax return forms filed thereafter.
Recognizing the inestimable importance to the state and its people of conserving the wildlife resources of West Virginia, and for the purpose of providing the opportunity for citizens and residents of the state to invest in the future of its wildlife resources, there is created the West Virginia wildlife endowment fund, the interest and principal of which shall be used only for the purpose of supporting wildlife conservation programs of the state in accordance with this section.
The board of trustees of the wildlife endowment fund of the division of natural resources has full authority over the administration of the wildlife endowment fund. The chairman of the board is the director of the division of natural resources and the members are the executive secretary of the division, the division fiscal officer, the chief of the wildlife resources section, the chief of the law-enforcement section and six citizen members, to be appointed by the governor. To the extent possible, the governor shall appoint the citizen members to ensure an equal geographic representation throughout the state and their terms shall be staggered from the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine. Existing citizen members shall retain their appointed positions for a period of two years from that date. Initial citizen appointments to the board shall be as follows: Two citizen members shall be appointed for a term of three years; two citizen members shall be appointed for a term of four years; and subsequent citizen member appointments to the board shall be for a term of four years. No more than three citizen members may be members of one political party. The actual expenses of the citizen members incurred in the performance of their duties under this section are payable from funds of the division. The state treasurer is the custodian of the wildlife endowment fund and shall invest its assets in accordance with the provisions of article six, chapter twelve of this code.
There is created an advisory board to the board of trustees of the wildlife endowment fund, designated the Ohio river management fund advisory board, which shall be composed of the director of the division of natural resources, the chief of the wildlife resources section of the division and three citizen members to be appointed by the governor. One citizen member shall be a resident of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio or Marshall county; one citizen member shall be a resident of Wetzel, Tyler, Pleasants or Wood county; and one citizen member shall be a resident of Jackson, Mason, Cabell or Wayne county. The actual expenses of the citizen members incurred in the performance of their duties under this section shall be payable from the funds of the division. The advisory board shall advise the wildlife endowment fund board with respect to the management and expenditure of funds from the Ohio river management fund account within the wildlife endowment fund.
The assets of the wildlife endowment fund shall be derived from the following: (a) The proceeds from the sale of lifetime hunting and fishing licenses under the provisions of section seven of this article; and (b) The proceeds of any gifts, grants, contributions or other moneys accruing to the state which are specifically designated for inclusion in the fund.
The wildlife endowment fund is declared to constitute a special fund within the department, to be expendable only after legislative approval, with the following limitations and restrictions on expenditures from the funds: (a) The income received and accruing from the investments of the wildlife endowment fund shall be spent only in furthering the conservation and management of wildlife resources in the state; (b) The income received and accruing from the investments of the wildlife endowment fund shall be distributed among divisions within the department as prescribed by section six of this article; (c) No expenditure or disbursement shall be made from the principal of the wildlife endowment fund except at such time as the income received and accruing from the investments of the wildlife endowment fund is expended or disbursed for purposes other than the conservation and management of wildlife resources; (d) Any disbursement of the principal of the wildlife endowment fund shall be made in the same manner as that prescribed for investment income in section six of this article; and (e) Any expenditure or disbursement from the wildlife endowment fund must result in benefits to the department of natural resources and must be spent only for the conservation and management of wildlife resources.
appropriations; dissolution of department. (b) Expenditure of the income derived from the wildlife endowment fund shall be made through the state budget accounts of the department of natural resources. The wildlife endowment fund is subject to the oversight of the state auditor. (c) The wildlife endowment fund and the income derived therefrom shall not take the place of any other receipts or appropriations accruing to the department of natural resources, or any part thereof, but any portion of the income of the wildlife endowment fund shall be used to supplement other income of and appropriations to the department of natural resources to the end that the department may improve and increase its services to the people of the state and the conservation of their wildlife resources. (d) In the event of the future dissolution of the department of natural resources, such state agency as shall succeed to itsstatutory authority to conserve the wildlife resources of the state shall, ex officio, assume the trusteeship of the wildlife endowment fund and shall be bound by all the limitations and restrictions placed by this section on expenditures from the fund. No appeal or modification of this section shall alter the fundamental purposes to which the wildlife endowment fund may be applied. No future dissolution of the department of natural resources shall invalidate any lifetime license issued in accordance with section seven of this article.
In accordance with the intent of sections thirty-four and forty-two-o, article two of this chapter and pursuant to sections three and four of this article, income accruing from the investments of the wildlife endowment fund shall be distributed in the following manner: (1) Income accruing from the investment of moneys resulting from the sale of Class O-L licenses shall be distributed and disbursed in the same manner as revenues accruing from the sale of Class O licenses as provided in section forty-two-o, article two of this chapter. (2) Income accruing from the investment of any portion of the principal of the wildlife endowment fund which, at the time of its deposit into the fund, is specifically designated for the activities of a particular section within the Division, shall accrue solely to that section within the Division; and (3) All other income accruing from the investments of the wildlife endowment fund shall be distributed within the Division in the same manner as provided in section thirty-four, article two of this chapter.
(a) Pursuant to section three of this article, the Director may issue the following lifetime hunting, fishing and trapping licenses and for the lifetime of the licensee, the lifetime licenses serve in lieu of the equivalent annual license: Lifetime resident statewide hunting and trapping license; lifetime resident combination statewide hunting, fishing and trapping license; lifetime statewide fishing license; and lifetime resident trout fishing license: Provided, That a full-time nonresident student who attends an in-state college or university is not eligible to purchase any of these lifetime licenses. (b) The Director shall propose a rule for legislative approval in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, setting the fees for the lifetime licenses. The rule shall provide that the fee for any resident who has not reached his or her second birthday shall be one half of the adult fee set under the rule. The fees for lifetime licenses shall be twenty-three times the fee for the equivalent annual licenses or stamps.
Pursuant to section seven of this article, lifetime licensees shall be entitled to the same privileges and subject to the same restrictions as licensees possessing the equivalent annual license with the following exceptions: (1) Class A-L, AB-L, B-L and O-L licenses shall be valid for the lifetime of the licensee; (2) A Class O-L lifetime resident trout fishing license shall be issued only to residents of the state and shall be valid only when accompanied by a Class AB-L, B, B-L, X or XJ license; and (3) No additional fee shall be required of Class A-L, AB-L or B-L licensees for the conservation stamp required by section nine of this article. No additional fee shall be required of Class A-L or AB-L licensees for the Class BG stamp required by section forty-two-v, article two of this chapter.
A resident hunter, angler or trapper licensed to hunt, fish or trap in this state shall have, in addition to a Class A or B license, a Class CS conservation stamp. The fee for the stamp is five dollars. The revenue derived from the sale of conservation stamps shall be deposited in the State Treasury and shall be credited to the Division of Natural Resources. The revenue shall be used and paid out, upon order of the Director, for capital improvements and land purchases or leases benefitting wildlife except that at the discretion of the Director, a maximum of twenty percent of the revenue may be used for the operation and maintenance of capital improvements and lands: Provided, That none of this revenue shall be expended for the purchase of wetlands, or for land to be flooded so as to create wetlands, to attract migratory waterfowl within sixty air miles of any established poultry industry: Provided, however, That no expenditures of the revenue derived from the sale of the conservation stamps shall be made for recreational facilities or activities that are used by or for the benefit of the general public rather than by or for purchasers of hunting, fishing or trapping licenses. Any unexpended moneys derived from the sale of conservation stamps shall be carried forward to the next fiscal year.
(a) Any nonresident hunter, angler or trapper licensed to hunt, fish or trap in this state, in addition to a Class E, EE, F, H, LL or XXJ license, shall have a Class CS/LE nonresident conservation, law-enforcement and sports education stamp. The fee for the stamp is twelve dollars. (b) The revenue derived from the sale of Class CS/LE stamps shall be deposited in the State Treasury and shall be credited to the Division of Natural Resources. Fifty percent of the revenue shall be used and paid out, upon order of the Director, for the law-enforcement section's expenses relating to the general enforcement of state laws pertaining to the conservation of fish and wildlife and law-enforcement education programs for hunters, anglers and trappers: Provided, That no expenditures of the revenue derived from the sale of the Class CS/LE stamp shall be made for law-enforcement purposes not directly related to the wildlife resources of the state or for the educational programs set forth in this subsection. Fifty percent of the revenue shall be used and paid out for capital improvements and land purchases or leases benefitting wildlife except that at the discretion of the Director, a maximum of twenty percent of the revenue may be used for the operation and maintenance of the capital improvements and lands: Provided, however, That no expenditures of the revenue derived from the sale of the conservation stamps shall be made for recreational facilities that are used by or for the benefit of the general public rather than by or for purchasers of hunting, fishing or trapping licenses. Any unexpended moneys derived from the sale of Class CS/LE stamps shall be carried forward to the next fiscal year.
The governor of West Virginia, on behalf of this state, is hereby authorized to execute a compact in substantially the following form with any one or more of the states of the United States and the Legislature hereby signifies in advance its approval and ratification of such compact:
INTERSTATE WILDLIFE VIOLATOR COMPACT (1) Wildlife resources are managed in trust by the respective states for the benefit of all residents and visitors. (2) The protection of the wildlife resources of a state is materially affected by the degree of compliance with state statues, rules, regulations and ordinances relating to the management of such resources. (3) The preservation, protection, management and restoration of wildlife resources contributes immeasurably to the aesthetic, recreational and economic values of a state. (4) Wildlife resources are valuable without regard to political boundaries; therefore, every person should be required to comply with wildlife preservation, protection, management and restoration statutes, rules, regulations and ordinances of the participating states as a condition precedent to the continuance or issuance of any license to hunt, trap, fish or otherwise possess wildlife. (5) The violation of wildlife laws interferes with the management of wildlife resources and may endanger the safety of people and property. (6) The mobility of many wildlife law violators necessitates the maintenance of channels of communication among the participating states. (7) In most instances, a person who is cited for a wildlife violation in a state other than his home state is required to post collateral or a bond to secure appearance for trial at a later date, is taken into custody until the collateral or bond is posted or is taken directly to court for an immediate appearance. (8) The purpose of the aforementioned enforcement practices is to ensure compliance with the terms of the wildlife citation by the cited person who, if permitted to continue on his way after receiving the citation, could return to his home state and disregard his duty under the terms of the citation. (9) In most instances, a person receiving a wildlife citation in his home state is permitted to accept the citation from the officer at the scene of the violation and immediately continue on his way after agreeing or being instructed to comply with the terms of the citation. (10) The aforementioned enforcement practices cause unnecessary inconvenience and, at times, a hardship for the person who is unable at the time to post collateral, furnish a bond, stand trial or pay a fine and thus is compelled to remain in custody until some alternative arrangement is made. (11) The aforementioned enforcement practices consume an undue amount of law-enforcement time. (b) It is the policy of the participating states to: (1) Promote compliance with the statutes, rules, regulations and ordinances relating to the management of wildlife resources in their respective states. (2) Recognize the suspension of wildlife license privileges of any person whose license privileges have been suspended by a participating state and treat such suspension as if it occurred in their state. (3) Allow a violator, except as provided in subsection (b) of article III of this compact, to accept a wildlife citation and, without delay, proceed on his way regardless of his state of residence: Provided, That the violator's home state is party to this compact. (4) Report to the appropriate participating state, as provided in the compact manual, any conviction recorded against any person whose home state was not the issuing state. (5) Allow the home state to recognize and treat convictions recorded against its residents which occurred in a participating state as though they had occurred in the home state. (6) Extend cooperation to its fullest extent among the participating states for enforcing compliance with the terms of a wildlife citation issued in one participating state to a resident of another participating state. (7) Maximize the effective use of law-enforcement personnel and information. (8) Assist court systems in the efficient disposition of wildlife violations. (c) The purpose of this compact it to: (1) Provide a means through which participating states may join in a reciprocal program to effectuate the policies enumerated in subsection (b) of article I of this compact in a uniform and orderly manner. (2) Provide for the fair and impartial treatment of wildlife violators operating within participating states in recognition of the violator's right to due process and the sovereign status of a participating state.
ARTICLE II. DEFINITIONS. (a) "Citation" means any summons, complaint, summons and complaint, ticket, penalty assessment or other official document issued to a person by a wildlife officer or other peace officer for a wildlife violation which contains an order requiring the person to respond. (b) "Collateral" means any cash or other security deposited to secure an appearance for trial in connection with the issuance by a wildlife officer or other peace officer of a citation for a wildlife violation. (c) "Compliance" with respect to a citation means the act of answering a citation through an appearance in a court or tribunal or through the payment of fines, costs and surcharges, if any. (d) "Conviction" means a conviction, including any court conviction, for any offense related to the preservation, protection, management or restoration of wildlife which is prohibited by state statute, rule, regulation or ordinance. The term "conviction" shall also include the forfeiture of any bail, bond or other security deposited to secure appearance by a person charged with having committed any such offense, the payment of a penalty assessment, a plea of nolo contendere or the imposition of a deferred or suspended sentence by the court. (e) "Court" means a court of law, including magistrate's court. (f) "Home state" means the state of primary residence of a person. (g) "Issuing state" means the participating state which issues a wildlife citation to the violator. (h) "License" means any license, permit or other public document which conveys to the person to whom it was issued the privilege of pursuing, possessing or taking any wildlife regulated by statute, rule, regulation or ordinance of a participating state. (i) "Licensing authority" means the governmental agency within each participating state that is authorized by law to issue or approve licenses or permits to hunt, trap, fish or otherwise possess wildlife. (j) "Participating state" means any state which enacts legislation to become a member of this wildlife compact. (k) "Personal recognizance" means an agreement by a person made at the time of issuance of the wildlife citation that such person will comply with the terms of the citation. (l) "State" means any state, territory or possession of the United States, including the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. (m) "Suspension" means any revocation, denial or withdrawal of any or all license privileges, including the privilege to apply for, purchase or exercise the benefits conferred by any license. (n) "Terms of the citation" means those conditions and options expressly stated upon the citation. (o) "Wildlife" means all species of animals including, but not limited to, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, mollusks and crustaceans which are defined as "wildlife" and are protected or otherwise regulated by statute, rule, regulation or ordinance in a participating state. Species included in the definition of "wildlife" vary from state to state and determination of whether a species is "wildlife" for the purposes of this compact shall be based on the law in the issuing state. (p) "Wildlife law" means any statute, rule, regulation or ordinance developed and enacted for the management of wildlife resources and the uses thereof. (q) "Wildlife officer" means any individual authorized by a participating state to issue a citation for a wildlife violation. (r) "Wildlife violation" means any cited violation of a statute, rule, regulation or ordinance developed and enacted for the management of wildlife resources and the uses thereof.
ARTICLE III. PROCEDURES FOR ISSUING STATE. (b) Personal recognizance is acceptable if not prohibited by law in the issuing state or by the compact manual and if the violator provides adequate proof of identification to the wildlife officer. (c) Upon conviction or failure of a person to comply with the terms of a wildlife citation, the appropriate official shall report the conviction or failure to comply to the licensing authority of the participating state in which the wildlife citation was issued. The report shall be made in accordance with procedures specified by the issuing state and shall contain information as specified in the compact manual as minimum requirements for effective processing by the home state. (d) Upon receipt of the report of conviction or noncompliance pursuant to subsection (c) of article III of this compact, the licensing authority of the issuing state shall transmit to the licensing authority of the home state of the violator the information in form and content as prescribed in the compact manual.
ARTICLE IV. PROCEDURES FOR HOME STATE. (b) Upon receipt of a report of conviction from the licensing authority of the issuing state, the licensing authority of the home state shall enter such conviction in its records and shall treat such conviction as though it occurred in the home state for the purposes of the suspension of license privileges. (c) The licensing authority of the home state shall maintain a record of actions taken and shall make reports to issuing states as provided in the compact manual.
ARTICLE V. RECIPROCAL RECOGNITION OF SUSPENSION. (b) Each participating state shall communicate suspension information to other participating states in form and content as contained in the compact manual.
ARTICLE VI. APPLICABILITY OF OTHER LAWS.
ARTICLE VII. BOARD OF COMPACT ADMINISTRATORS. (b) Each member of the board of compact administrators shall be entitled to one vote. No action of the board shall be binding unless taken at a meeting at which a majority of the total number of the board's votes are cast in favor thereof. Action by the board shall be only at a meeting at which a majority of the participating states are represented. (c) The board shall elect annually from its membership a chairman and vice-chairman. (d) The board shall adopt bylaws not inconsistent with the provisions of this compact or the laws of a participating state for the conduct of its business and shall have the power to amend and rescind its bylaws. (e) The board may accept for any of its purposes and functions under this compact any and all donations and grants of moneys, equipment, supplies, materials and services, conditional or otherwise, from any state and may receive, utilize and dispose of same. (f) The board may contract with or accept services of personnel from any governmental or intergovernmental agency, individual, firm or corporation or from any private nonprofit organization or institution. (g) The board shall formulate all necessary procedures and develop uniform forms and documents for administering the provisions of this compact. All procedures and forms adopted pursuant to board action shall be contained in the compact manual.
ARTICLE VIII. ENTRY INTO COMPACT AND WITHDRAWAL. (b) (1) Entry into the compact shall be made by resolution of ratification executed by the authorized officials of the applying state and submitted to the chairman of the board. (2) The resolution shall substantially be in the form and content as provided in the compact manual and shall include the following: (A) A citation of the authority from which the state is empowered to become a part to this compact; (B) An agreement of compliance with the terms and provisions of this compact; and (C) An agreement that compact entry is with all states participating in the compact and with all additional states legally becoming a party to the compact. (3) The effective date of entry shall be specified by the applying state but shall not be less than sixty days after notice has been given by the chairman of the board of compact administrators or by the secretariat of the board of each participating state that the resolution from the applying state has been received. (c) A participating state may withdraw from this compact by official written notice to each member state but withdrawal shall not become effective until ninety days after the notice of withdrawal is given. The notice shall be directed to the compact administrator of each member state. No withdrawal of any state shall affect the validity of this compact as to the remaining participating states.
ARTICLE IX. AMENDMENTS TO THE COMPACT. (b) Adoption of an amendment shall require endorsement by all participating states and shall become effective thirty days after the date of the last endorsement. (c) Failure of a participating state to respond to the compact chairman within one hundred twenty days after receipt of a proposed amendment shall constitute endorsement thereof.
ARTICLE X. CONSTRUCTION AND SEVERABILITY.
When the governor shall have executed said compact on behalf of this state and shall have caused a verified copy thereof to be filed with the secretary of state and when said compact shall have been ratified by one or more other states, then said compact shall become operative and effective between this state and such other state or states. The governor is hereby authorized and directed to take such action as may be necessary to complete the exchange of official documents between this state and any other state ratifying said compact.
The compact administrator representing this state, as provided for in article VII of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, shall not be entitled to any additional compensation for his duties and responsibilities as said administrator but shall be entitled to reimbursement for reasonable expenses actually incurred in connection with his duties and responsibilities as said administrator in the same manner as for expenses incurred in connection with other duties and responsibilities of his office or employment.
Repealed. Acts, 1994 Reg. Sess., Ch. 119.
§20-3-2. Acquisition of suitable lands by director; maintenance
thereof as state forests or wildlife areas; relinquishment of
construction and maintenance of roads to the commissioner of
highways. The director shall protect, preserve and maintain lands so acquired as forest culture areas, state forests, wildlife areas, public hunting areas, public fishing areas, public hunting and fishing areas, public access sites and other such lands for the propagation and distribution of forest trees and for the protection, management, propagation and distribution of the fish, wild animals and birds thereon. He may prescribe and enforce rules and regulations consistent with the laws of the state to carry out that objective. The director may prescribe and enforce rules prohibiting all hunting and fishing, pursuing, catching, trapping, capturing and killing of fish, wild animals and birds upon such areas and lands for such length of time as he may deem proper. The director may provide special regulations and open seasons for the taking of any wild birds, wild animals or fish upon such areas and lands in the manner provided in this chapter. Except for the authority and responsibility to do the necessary cutting and planting of vegetation along road rights-of-way in state parks, state forests and public hunting and fishing areas, the director of the department of natural resources shall, upon the effective date of this section, relinquish to the commissioner of highways his authority over publicly owned roads in state parks, state forests and public hunting and fishing areas, and shall thereafter neither construct, reconstruct nor maintain any road or vehicular bridge for public usage in such areas except as is specifically authorized by this chapter. This relinquishment shall not be construed to alter the responsibilities assigned to the director of the department of natural resources in section eleven, article four, chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia.
The director shall establish and maintain wildlife areas on lands purchased, leased or given for this purpose. Upon such state-owned or leased lands under its administration, or lands purchased from departmental funds for the establishment of wildlife areas, or upon lands purchased in cooperation with any agency of the federal government or leased therefrom or managed cooperatively therewith, the director shall regulate public hunting, chasing for sport, shooting, and limit the number of wildlife, which may be taken from such areas open to public shooting in any year. The director may establish special open seasons on any such lands, and may close any such areas, or parts thereof, to public shooting. It shall be unlawful at any time to hunt, pursue or molest in any manner, any animals, birds or fowls on that section of any wildlife area designated as wildlife refuge, except that any legally constituted enforcement officer, or other person designated by the director, may hunt, pursue, catch and kill in any manner predatory animals and predatory birds thereon. On the boundary of each state wildlife refuge, there shall be posted in conspicuous places, not more than one hundred and fifty yards apart, notices bearing the following words:"State wildlife refuge -- hunting is unlawful," and such other information or rules and regulations as the director may deem advisable. On the boundary line of any such wildlife area which has been established as a public shooting ground, the director shall have posted in conspicuous places, not more than one hundred and fifty yards apart, notices bearing the following words:"Public shooting grounds," together with information as to when hunting is legal on such tract. The director shall also have the power to lease lands for this purpose for not less than ten-year periods, the rental price thereof not to be more than the amount of the annual property taxes on such land, and in no event to exceed ten cents per acre per annum. The director may, with the consent of the owner, set apart any tract of land in the state as a wildlife area. When such lands have been set apart, the director shall manage them in the same manner and for the same purpose as wildlife areas owned by the state. Such lands not owned by the state and now operated by the director as wildlife areas shall, at the expiration of the agreement, be reorganized as wildlife areas or be discontinued.
Upon receiving notice of any fire which is injuring or endangering forest land within the state, the director of the division of forestry or his or her duly authorized representatives shall employ all necessary means to confine, extinguish or suppress the fire. For these purposes, any temporary or permanent employee of the division of forestry or any other agency of the state and any volunteer shall, under the general supervision of the director of the division of forestry, have the right and authority to enter upon public or private lands, to destroy fences thereon, to plow such lands, and in case of extreme emergency, to set backfires thereon. No person performing or reasonably attempting to perform any of the activities authorized by the preceding sentence under the general supervision of the director of the division of forestry, whether as a temporary or permanent employee of the division of forestry or any other agency of the state or as a volunteer, shall be liable in damages for the death of or injury to any person or for damage to any property as a result of his or her performance of such activities to an extent greater than the applicable limits of any liability insurance coverage available to such person under any liability insurance policy or policies issued to the division of forestry, any other agency of the state involved in suppressing the forest fire, any volunteer fire department of which such person was a member and which volunteer fire department was responding to the forest fire at the time of the incident alleged to have caused such death, personal injury or property damage, or any combination thereof. The limitation of liability established by the preceding sentence shall not apply if the death, personal injury or property damage alleged was caused by such person's willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence or reckless misconduct, or by a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of any person harmed by such conduct. The director of the division of forestry and any duly authorized representative may employ persons to detect fires which may injure or endanger forest land and may likewise summon or employ persons to assist in extinguishing such fires, who shall be paid for the actual time so employed, at a rate per hour to be determined by the director of the division of forestry: Provided, That the rate per hour shall not exceed the rate per hour paid for any comparable labor or skills by the division of forestry. Any person so summoned who shall fail or refuse to assist in extinguishing any such fire shall, unless such failure or refusal to assist is due to physical inability, be guilty of a misdemeanor. Expenditures for detecting, confining, extinguishing or suppressing fires described in this section shall be charged against the state. The director of the division of forestry or his or her representative shall prepare, as soon as practicable, a sworn statement with the names of all persons who were summoned or employed to assist in fighting such fires, the time so spent by each, as well as the names of persons who furnished equipment, subsistence or supplies, or transportation therefor, and the amount of money due each for such services, subsistence, supplies or transportation. Requisitions shall be issued and payment of the sums due shall be made in the same manner as is provided for the making of other expenditures by the director of the division of forestry.
The periods of each year between March first and May thirty-first, inclusive, and October first and December thirty-first, inclusive, are hereby designated as forest fire seasons. No person shall during any such fire season, except between the hours of four o'clock p.m. and seven o'clock a.m. prevailing time, set on fire or cause to be set on fire any forest land, or any grass, grain, stubble, slash, debris, or other inflammable materials. Any fire set during this time shall be extinguished prior to seven o'clock a.m. prevailing time. Such prohibition of fires between seven o'clock a.m. and four o'clock p.m. prevailing time shall not be construed to include (1) small fires set for the purpose of food preparation, or providing light or warmth around which all grass, brush, stubble, or other debris has been removed for a distance of ten feet from the fire, and (2) burning which may be conducted at any time when the ground surrounding the burning site is covered by one inch or more of snow. Any person who sets or causes to be set any fire permitted by this section shall not leave such fire unattended for any period of time. The director or his designated appointees or employees may issue permits authorizing fires prohibited by the preceding paragraph. Such permits may be granted on such conditions and for such periods of time as the director deems necessary to prevent danger from fire to life or property, and noncompliance with any term of the permit shall be a violation of this section. Any permit which was obtained through willful misrepresentation shall be invalid. All permit holders shall take all necessary and adequate precautions to confine and control any fire permitted by the authorization; failure to take such action shall be a violation of this section and shall be justification for the director or his duly authorized representative to cancel the permit. When the director considers it necessary to prevent danger from fire to life or property, he may, with the prior approval of the governor, prohibit the starting of and require the extinguishment of any fire in any area designated by the director, and such action may include any fire for which a permit has been issued under the preceding paragraph. In addition, if so deemed necessary, the director may, with the prior approval of the governor, designate any forest area as a danger area and prohibit entry thereon or use thereof except for the purposes and on the conditions he designates. The director by proclamation shall establish such areas and designate which fires are prohibited therein; and if a danger area is established, he shall announce the purposes for which and conditions under which entry thereon or use thereof may be made. Action hereunder may be taken by the director at any time during the year. Notice of any proclamation hereunder shall be furnished to newspapers, radio stations and television stations which serve the area designated. The proclamation shall not be effective until twenty-four hours after it is proclaimed. Any proclamation hereunder shall remain in force until the director, with the approval of the governor, by order terminates it. The order shall designate the time of termination, and notice of any such order shall be furnished to each newspaper, radio station and television station which received a copy of the proclamation. Any person who starts or fails to extinguish a fire so prohibited or enters or uses a danger area otherwise than permitted shall be guilty of a violation of this section. No burning allowed by this section may be done unless all inflammable material has been removed from around the material to be burned as a safety strip for a distance which insures that the fire will not escape and which is no less than ten feet. Any person or his agent or employee who sets or causes to be set any fire at any time in the use and occupation of any land on which the burning was being done is in violation of this section if fire escapes beyond the safety strip and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(a) Any person who, by himself or herself, or by his or her employees, agents or guides, or as an employee, agent or guide of any other person, shall at any time build or use any fire in any field, in any public or private road, or in any area adjacent to or in any forest land in this state, shall, before leaving the fire for any period of time, totally extinguish the same. (b) A person shall not at any time throw or place any lighted match, cigar, cigarette, firecracker or lighted material on any forest land, private road, public highway or railroad right-of-way within this state. (c) In addition to any other law-enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction over criminal violations, the state fire marshal shall enforce this section as provided in section twelve, article three, chapter twenty-nine of this code. (d) Any person who violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to one or more of the following penalties: (1) Fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two thousand dollars; (2) confined in the county or regional jail not less than ten days nor more than two hundred days; or (3) sentenced to perform community service by cleaning up litter from any public highway, road, street, alley or any other public park or public property or waters of the state, as designated by the court, for not less than thirty-two hours nor more than sixty-four hours.
Any person who willfully sets or causes to be set on fire any forest land, grass, grain, stubble, brush, slash, debris, or any other inflammable substance upon the property of another without his consent, or in a place from which it is reasonable to expect that the fire may spread to the property of another without his consent, and as a result of either causes damage or destruction to any natural resources in or on the other person's property, shall be guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than five years, or both, in the discretion of the court.
Every railroad company or other company operating a steam, diesel or other type of locomotive shall clear, for a slope distance of twenty-five feet from the outside rail, or to the limits of the right-of-way if less than twenty-five feet, hazardous areas as designated by the state forester or his duly authorized representative, at least once a year, all grass, brush, and other inflammable materials. Any such company that fails to remove said materials from such road or right-of-way shall be assessed by the department of natural resources five hundred dollars for each mile of road or right-of-way which is not maintained in accordance with this section. Any revenue derived from this section shall be deposited in the state treasury and credited to the department of natural resources and shall be used and paid out, upon order of the director, for forest fire prevention activities within the department of natural resources. Each such company shall employ sufficient personnel to promptly put out fires on such road or right-of-way at times when such land is in a dry and dangerous fire condition. Each such company shall provide internal combustion engines of motive power other than steam used in road service, if not equipped with exhaust driven centrifugal turbocharger, shall have installed integral with the exhaust gas system, a spark- arresting device of a type certified according to the recommended practices of the association of American railroads and approved by the director so as to give the best practical protection against the escape of fire and sparks from the exhausts thereof. No such company, or any employee thereof, shall deposit, cast, or discharge fire coals, or ashes or any other material capable of igniting fires on that part of its road or right-of-way which passes through forest land, or lands subject to fire from any cause, unless the fire therein is immediately extinguished. No such company, or employee thereof, shall place a lighted fusee along such roads or rights-of-way in such a manner as will cause the same to ignite inflammable substances which may cause fire to spread to forest land. In case of any uncontrolled or unguarded fire on such part of its road or right-of-way, the company shall use all practicable means to extinguish it even when the fire spreads to the property of another. Engineers, conductors, trainmen, or other persons who, while working for such companies, discover or know of any fire on, along or near such part of the road or right-of-way of their employer, shall report the same as soon as possible to the state forester or his duly authorized representative. Unless otherwise provided for by law, any such company, or any officer or employee thereof, violating any provision of this section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
For the purpose of providing increased protection to forest land from fire originating along railroads, any company which operates a railroad shall have the right, subject to the provisions of this section, without liability for trespass, to enter upon forest land for a distance of one hundred feet from its road or right-of-way and to clear from such a strip any inflammable material such as leaves, grass, dead trees, slash and brush, but shall not remove any valuable timber growth or other thing of value without consent of and recompense to the owner. Not less than fifteen days prior to clearing such lands, the railroad company shall give the owner thereof notice of its intention, together with a transcript of this section, by letter deposited in the United States mail to his last known address. If the owner shall not file an objection to such clearing with the director within ten days of the date of said notice, he shall be deemed to have given consent. Upon the filing by an owner of such objection showing cause why such clearing should not be done, the director shall review the case and may sustain the objection of the owner or permit the clearing in whole or in part.
No person, firm or corporation shall use or operate on land subject to fire by any cause, a sawmill, a power shovel, or an engine or machine capable of throwing sparks, unless the equipment is provided with an approved spark arrester. Escape of fire from such equipment shall be prima facie evidence that such appliance was not maintained properly in compliance with this section. Any person, firm or corporation owning any land and knowing of inflammable waste disposal on said land, and any person, firm or corporation using any land for the purpose of inflammable waste disposal, shall remove annually all grass, brush, debris and other inflammable material adjacent to such disposal areas to provide adequate protection to prevent the escape of fire to adjacent lands. Escape of fire from any such disposal area shall be prima facie evidence that this section had not been complied with. Any person, firm or corporation owning or leasing any mineral interests and knowing of underground coal being on fire under that land shall between the first of November and the thirty-first of December of each year clear away all inflammable material within forty feet of any mine break or other opening through which the fire could escape to the surface. Any person, firm or corporation owning any underground mineral interests shall use all practical means to confine, extinguish or suppress any such fire in such underground minerals. Any person, firm or corporation violating any provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
The Director of the Division of Forestry shall, in the name of the state, recover from the person or persons, firms or corporations whose negligence or whose violation of any provision of this article caused any fire at any time on grass or forest land, the amount expended by the state for the personal services of persons especially employed under the provisions of section four of this article to control, confine, extinguish or suppress such fire, and the costs associated therewith, including payment for the personal services rendered by full-time State Division of Forestry employees, operating costs of state equipment used and costs related thereto in controlling, confining, extinguishing or suppressing such fire. Such recovery shall not bar an action for damages by any other person. Any such fire which was caused by a trespasser or by a person who was upon the property without the consent of the owner shall not be deemed caused by the negligence of the owner; but the owner shall use all practical means to confine, extinguish or suppress any such fire on his land even though it was caused by any such person. If he fails to do so, after becoming aware of such fire, the Director of the Division of Forestry shall, in the name of the state, recover from him amounts expended by the state for the personal services of persons especially employed under the provisions of section four of this article to control, confine, extinguish or suppress such fire and the costs associated therewith, including payment for the personal services rendered by full-time State Division of Forestry employees, operating costs of state equipment used and costs related thereto in controlling, confining, extinguishing or suppressing such fire. Any time that a landowner, his or her agent or employee is aware of a fire on the landowner's property, the landowner shall use all practical means to confine, extinguish or suppress the fire.
For the purpose of this chapter, any land shall be considered timberland or forest land which has enough timber standing or down to constitute, in the judgment of the department, a fire menace to itself or adjoining lands: Provided, That nothing in this section contained shall be construed to include lands under cultivation or in grass, unless a fire thereon would imperil such lands or adjoining lands.
The director may do all things required to meet the conditions and requirements of the federal government in securing federal cooperation under the provisions of the Weeks Law and the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978, and any other law amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto, for the purpose of the prevention and control of forest fires and the advancement of forestry practices.
The director may cooperate with the owners of forest lands and receive financial assistance from them for forestry purposes and do any and all things necessary therefor, including the establishment and maintenance of patrol and lookout stations: Provided, That the director shall expend for forestry purposes, and for no other purpose, such moneys as shall be appropriated therefor by the state, and such moneys as may be recovered from persons giving origin to grass or forest fires, and such moneys as may be received from the federal government by appropriation under the Weeks Law, the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 and any reference to the Clarke-McNary Law or otherwise.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to relieve the owner, lessee or user of any land from civil liability for damage resulting from any fire for which their agents or employees may be responsible.
In all criminal and civil actions for any injury occasioned by fire communicated by burning or clearing land, the fact that such fire was so communicated shall be prima facie evidence of negligence on the part of the person or agent or employee or any other person who shall at the time of such injury by fire be in the use and occupation of the land on which the burning was done and of those who shall at such time have care and management of such burning.
Receipts from any national forest, paid to the state or its proper officers pursuant to directions of acts of Congress, are to be allocated by the auditor to each county which has acreage located in such national forest, in the proportion which the acreage in the county bears to the total acreage of the national forest in this state. Interest or other earnings accrued upon investment of the receipts pending allocation thereof shall be allocated to the recipients of the allocations in proportion to each recipient's allocation of the receipts. Eighty percent of the funds so allocated to any county are to be paid to the board of education of the county to be expended by the board for the benefit of the public schools of the county. Twenty percent of the funds so allocated to any county are to be paid to the state road commission to be expended for feeder and state local service road purposes in that county. Notwithstanding any contrary provisions of former law, any sheriff or county court of any county having charge or custody of any unexpended national forest proceeds, received under allocations made pursuant to former provisions of law, shall pay over eighty percent of the unexpended balance to the county board of education, and twenty percent thereof to the state road commission, for expenditure as provided herein.
Notwithstanding the provisions of section seventeen of this article, national forests receipts allocated by the auditor as provided in section seventeen of this article to any county in which is located any part of the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks national recreation area as established by Public Law 89-207, 89th Congress, are to be paid by the auditor to the county as follows: Sixty-three percent to the board of education of the county to be expended by the board for the benefit of the public schools of the county, and thirty-seven percent to the county commission of the county to be expended by the commission for general county purposes. Interest or other earnings accrued upon investment of the receipts pending allocation thereof shall be allocated to the recipients of the allocations in proportion to each recipient's allocation of the receipts.
Receipts from the treasurer of the United States, paid to the state or its proper officers pursuant to direction of an act of Congress relating to disposition of funds received on account of the leasing of lands for flood control, navigation and allied purposes, are to be allocated by the state auditor to each county in accordance with the method of allocation specified by the federal government. Interest or other earnings accrued upon investment of the receipts pending allocation thereof shall be allocated to the recipients of the allocations in proportion to each recipient's allocation of the receipts. The state auditor shall transfer to the road commission fifty percent of the funds so allocated to each county for the purpose of maintenance of feeder and state local service roads in the area or areas of the county in which the flooded lands are located. Fifty percent of the funds so allocated to any county in which the lands are located are to be paid by the state auditor to the board of education of that county to be expended by the board for the benefit of the public schools of the county.
In order to protect and preserve forest resources of the state of West Virginia from ravages of bark beetles, defoliators, rusts, blights, wilts and other destructive forest pests and diseases, and thereby enhance the growth and maintenance of forests; promote the stability of forest-using industries and employment associated therewith; reduce the fire risk created by dying and dead trees injured or killed by insects or diseases; conserve forest cover on watersheds and protect recreational and other forest values, it shall be the policy of the state of West Virginia independently and through cooperation with adjoining states, the federal government, and private timber owners and other private organizations, to prevent, retard, control, suppress, or eradicate incipient, potential or emergency outbreaks of destructive insects and diseases on, or threatening, all forest land irrespective of ownership. (a) Authority. -- The director is authorized either directly or in cooperation with other agencies, subject to such conditions as he may deem necessary and using such funds as have been, or may hereafter be made available for those purposes, to conduct surveys on any forest land to detect and appraise infestations of forest insect pests and tree diseases, to determine the measures which should be applied on such lands, in order to prevent, retard, control, suppress or eradicate incipient, threatening, potential or emergency outbreaks of such insects or disease pests, and to plan, organize, direct and carry out such measures as he may deem necessary to accomplish the objectives and provisions of this section: Provided, That actual control measures shall be conducted with the cooperation and consent of the quarantine and regulatory official of the department of agriculture. (b) Establishing control zone; notice to landowners. -- Where an insect infestation or disease infection is believed to exist on a forest land within this state, the director shall investigate the condition. Whenever he finds that an infestation or infection exists, he shall request the quarantine officials of the state department of agriculture to declare the same a public nuisance. When same has been declared a public nuisance he shall establish a control zone of the forest land wherein the same is found, and shall give notice thereof by publication as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be each county in which the area or areas are located in which the control zone is established. Such notice shall also be given by mail or otherwise to forest landowners within the control zone, advising them of the nature of the infestation or infection, recommending control measures and offering technical advice on methods of carrying out the control measures. (c) Institution of control measures. -- If, after notification by the director, any landowner fails, neglects, or is unable to carry out the control measures recommended by the director as set forth in subdivision (b), the director may, through his agents, institute and carry out such control measures. (d) Appeals. -- Any person damaged or aggrieved by any action of any officer or employee of the department under the provisions of this section shall have the right to appeal from such action to the director and then to the circuit court of the county in which such person resides in which he owns forest land affected by such action. The court, after hearing the evidence in the case, may make such orders as may be appropriate to protect the interests of the appellant, adjacent forest landowners, or the state. (e) Cooperation with individuals and public agencies. -- The director is authorized to cooperate with landowners and appropriate authorities of town, city, county, adjoining state and the United States government, and other agencies having jurisdiction of state lands, concerning forest tree insect and disease investigation and control, and to accept money, gifts and donations, and to disbursethe same for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this section. (f) Annual appropriation; forest pest control fund. -- There is hereby created in the state treasury a special fund to be known as the forest pest control fund. Such fund shall consist of all moneys appropriated thereto by the Legislature and all moneys received and deposited with the state treasurer under the provisions of this section. All such funds are hereby appropriated to the department of natural resources to be used to carry out the purposes of this section. (g) Definitions. -- As used in this section, unless the context clearly requires otherwise: (1) "Forest trees" means only those trees which are a part of and constitute a stand of potential, immature, or mature commercial timber trees: Provided, That the term "forest trees" shall be deemed to include shade trees of any species around houses, along highways and within cities and towns if the same constitute an insect or disease menace to nearby timber trees or timber stands; (2) "Forest land" means land on which forest trees occur; (3) "Control zone" means an area of potential or actual infestation or infection, the boundaries of which are fixed and clearly described in a manner to definitely identify the zone; (4) "Infestation" means infestation by means of any insect in any stage of growth which is determined to be dangerously injurious to forest trees; and (5) "Infection" means infection by any disease affecting forest trees which is determined to be dangerously injurious thereto.
The governor of West Virginia, on behalf of this State, is hereby authorized to execute a compact in substantially the following form, with any one or more of the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, and the legislature hereby signifies in advance its approval and ratification of such compact:
Southeastern Interstate Forest Fire Protection Compact
Article II
Article III The compact administrators of the member states shall coordinate the services of the member states and provide administrative integration in carrying out the purposes of this compact. There shall be established an advisory committee of legislators, forestry commission representatives, and forestry or forest products industries representatives, which shall meet from time to time with the compact administrators. Each member state shall name one member of the senate and one member of the house of delegates who shall be designated by that state's commission on interstate cooperation, or if said commission cannot constitutionally designate the said members, they shall be designated in accordance with laws of that state; and the governor of each member state shall appoint two representatives, one of whom shall be associated with forestry or forest products industries, to comprise the membership of the advisory committee. Action shall be taken by a majority of the compacting states and each state shall be entitled to one vote. The compact administrators shall formulate and, in accordance with need, from time to time, revise a regional forest fire plan for the member states. It shall be the duty of each member state to formulate and put into effect a forest fire plan for that state and take such measures as may be necessary to integrate such forest fire plan with the regional forest fire plan formulated by the compact administrators.
Article IV
Article V No member state or its officers or employees rendering outside aid pursuant to this compact shall be liable on account of any act or omission on the part of such forces while so engaged, or on account of the maintenance or use of any equipment or supplies in connection therewith: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed as relieving any person from liability for his own negligent act or omission, or as imposing liability for such negligent act or omission upon any state. All liability, except as otherwise provided hereinafter, that may arise either under the laws of the requesting state or under the laws of a third state on account of or in connection with a request for aid, shall be assumed and borne by the requesting state. Any member state rendering outside aid pursuant to this compact shall be reimbursed by the member state receiving such aid for any loss or damage to, or expense incurred in the operation of, any equipment answering a request for aid, and for the cost of all materials, transportation, wages, salaries, subsistence of employees and maintenance of equipment incurred in connection with such request: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent any assisting member state from assuming such loss, damage, expense or other cost or from loaning such equipment or from donating such service to the receiving member state without charge or cost. Each member state shall provide for the payment of compensation and death benefits to injured employees and the representatives of deceased employees in case employees sustain injuries or are killed while rendering outside aid pursuant to this compact, in the same manner and on the same terms as if the injury or death were sustained within such state. For the purposes of this compact, the term "employee" shall include any volunteer or auxiliary legally included within the forest fire-fighting forces of the aiding state under the laws thereof. The compact administrators shall formulate procedures for claims and reimbursement under the provisions of this article, in accordance with the laws of the member states.
Article VI Nothing in this compact shall be construed to limit or restrict the powers of any state ratifying the same to provide for the prevention, control and extinguishment of forest fires, or to prohibit the enactment or enforcement of state laws, rules or regulations intended to aid in such prevention, control and extinguishment in such state. Nothing in this compact shall be construed to affect any existing or future cooperative relationship or arrangement between any federal agency and a member state or states.
Article VII
Article VIII
Article IX
When the governor shall have executed said compact on behalf of this state and shall have caused a verified copy thereof to be filed with the secretary of state and when said compact shall have been ratified by one or more of the states named in section twenty of this article, then said compact shall become operative and effective as between this state and such other state or states. The governor is hereby authorized and directed to take such action as may be necessary to complete the exchange of official documents as between this state and any other state ratifying said compact.
In pursuance of article three of said compact, the director of the department of natural resources of the state of West Virginia or his designated representative shall act as compact administrator for the state of West Virginia of the southeastern interstate forest fire protection compact during his term of office as director, and his successor as compact administrator shall be his successor as director. As compact administrator he shall be an ex officio member of the advisory committee of the southeastern interstate forest fire protection compact, and chairman ex officio of the West Virginia members of said advisory committee. There shall be four members of the southeastern interstate forest fire protection compact advisory committee from the state of West Virginia. Two of the members from the state of West Virginia shall be members of the Legislature of West Virginia, one from the Senate and one from the House of Delegates, designated by the state's commission on interstate cooperation, and the terms of any such members shall terminate at the time they cease to hold legislative office, and their successors as members shall be named in like manner. The governor shall appoint the other two members from the state of West Virginia, one of whom shall be associated with forestry or forest products industries. Such members shall hold office until their respective successors shall be appointed and qualified. Vacancies occurring in the office of such members for any reason or cause shall be filled by appointment by the governor for the unexpired term. The director as compact administrator may delegate, from time to time, to any deputy or other subordinate in his department or office, the power to be present and participate, including voting as his representative or substitute at any meeting of or hearing by or other proceeding of the compact administrators or of the advisory committee. The terms of each of the initial four memberships of the advisory committee, whether appointed at said time or not, shall begin upon the date upon which said compact shall become effective in accordance with article two of said compact. Any member of said advisory committee may be removed from office by the governor upon charges and after a hearing.
There is hereby granted to the director, as compact administrator and chairman ex officio of the West Virginia members of said advisory committee, and to the members from West Virginia of said advisory committee, all the powers provided for in the said compact and all the powers necessary or incidental to the carrying out of said compact in every particular. All officers of the state of West Virginia are hereby authorized and directed to do all things falling within their respective provinces and jurisdiction necessary or incidental to the carrying out of said compact in every particular, it being hereby declared to be the policy of the state of West Virginia to perform and carry out the said compact and to accomplish the purposes thereof. All officers, bureaus, departments and persons of and in the state government or administration of the state of West Virginia are hereby authorized and directed at convenient times and upon request of said compact administrator, or of said advisory committee, to furnish information and data relating to the purposes of said compact possessed by them or any of them to said compact administrator or said advisory committee. They are further authorized to aid said compact administrator or said advisory committee by loan of personnel, equipment or other means in carrying out the purposes of said compact.
Any powers herein granted to the state forester shall be regarded as in aid of and supplemental to, and in no case a limitation upon, any of the powers vested in said director by other laws of the state of West Virginia or by the laws of the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, or by the Congress or the terms of said compact.
PROTECTION COMPACT. §20-3-25. Governor's authority to execute. The governor of West Virginia, on behalf of this state, is hereby authorized to execute a compact in substantially the following form, with any one or more of the states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the Legislature hereby signifies in advance its approval and ratification of such compact:
MIDDLE ATLANTIC INTERSTATE FOREST FIRE
ARTICLE II.
ARTICLE III. The compact administrators of the member states shall organize to coordinate the services of the member states and provide administrative integration in carrying out the purposes of this compact. The compact administrators shall formulate and, in accordance with need, from time to time, revise a regional forest fire plan for the member states. It shall be the duty of each member state to formulate and put in effect a forest fire plan for that state and take such measures as may be necessary to integrate such forest fire plan with the regional forest fire plan formulated by the compact administrators.
ARTICLE IV.
ARTICLE V. No member state or its officers or employees rendering outside aid pursuant to this compact shall be liable on account of any act or omission on the part of such forces while so engaged, or on account of the maintenance or use of any equipment or supplies in connection therewith. All liability, except as otherwise provided hereinafter, that may arise either under the laws of the requesting state or under the laws of the aiding state or under the laws of a third state on account of or in connection with a request for aid, shall beassumed and borne by the requesting state. Any member state rendering outside aid pursuant to this compact shall be reimbursed by the member state receiving such aid for any loss or damage to, or expense incurred in the operation of any equipment answering a request for aid, and for the cost of all materials, transportation, wages, salaries, and maintenance of employees and equipment incurred in connection with such request: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent any assisting member state from assuming such loss, damage, expense or other costs or from loaning such equipment or from donating such services to the receiving member state without charge or cost. Each member state shall provide for the payment of compensation and death benefits to injured employees and the representatives of deceased employees in case employees sustain injuries or are killed while rendering outside aid pursuant to this compact, in the same manner and on the same terms as if the injury or death were sustained within such state: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed as relieving any person from liability for his own negligent act or omission, or as imposing liability for such negligent act or omission upon any state. For the purposes of this compact the term "employee" shall include any volunteer or auxiliary legally included within the forest fire-fighting forces of the aiding state under the laws thereof. The compact administrators shall formulate procedures for claims and reimbursement under the provisions of this article, in accordance with the laws of the member states.
ARTICLE VI. Nothing in this compact shall be construed to limit or restrict the powers of any state ratifying the same to provide for the prevention, control and extinguishment of forest fires, or to prohibit the enactment or enforcement of state laws, rules or regulations intended to aid in such prevention, control and extinguishment in such state. Nothing in this compact shall be construed to affect any existing or future cooperative relationship or arrangement between the United States forest service and a member state or states.
ARTICLE VII.
ARTICLE VIII.
ARTICLE IX.
When the governor shall have executed said compact on behalf of this state and shall have caused a verified copy thereof to be filed with the secretary of state and when said compact shall have been ratified by one or more of the states named in section twenty-five of this article, then said compact shall become operative and effective as between this state and such other state or states. The governor is hereby authorized and directed to take such action as may be necessary to complete the exchange of official documents as between this state or any other state ratifying said compact.
In pursuance of article two of said compact, the director of the department of natural resources of the state of West Virginia may appoint the state forester and the assistant state forester in charge of forest fire control to represent the state of West Virginia on the compact committee.
There is hereby granted to the members of the compact committee appointed by the director and under the general supervision of the director, all the powers provided for in the said compact. All officers of the state of West Virginia are hereby authorized and directed to do all things falling within their respective provinces and jurisdiction necessary to the carrying out of said compact. All officers, bureaus, departments and persons of and in the state government or administration of the state of West Virginia are hereby authorized and directed at convenient times and upon request of the duly appointed members of the compact committee, to furnish information and data relating to the purpose of said compact possessed by them or any of them to said members of the compact committee. They are further authorized to aid said compact committee members by loan of personnel, equipment, or other means in carrying out the purposes of said compact.
Any powers herein granted to the state forester shall be regarded as in aid of and supplemental to, and in no case a limitation upon, any of the powers vested in said director by other laws of the State of West Virginia or by the laws of the State of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, or by the Congress or the terms of said compact.
The Legislature finds that the sport of skiing is practiced by a large number of citizens of West Virginia and also attracts to West Virginia a large number of nonresidents, significantly contributing to the economy of West Virginia. Since it is recognized that there are inherent risks in the sport of skiing which should be understood by each skier and which are essentially impossible to eliminate by the ski area operator, it is the purpose of this article to define those areas of responsibility and affirmative acts for which ski area operators shall be liable for loss, damage or injury and those risks which the skier expressly assumes for which there can be no recovery.
Unless the context of usage clearly requires otherwise: (a) "Aerial passenger tramway" means any device operated by a ski area operator used to transport passengers, by single or double reversible tramway; chair lift or gondola lift; T-bar lift, J-bar lift, platter lift, conveyor lift or similar device; or a fiber rope tow. (b) "Competitor" means a skier actually engaged in competition, a special event, or training or practicing for competition or a special event on any portion of the area made available by the ski area operator. (c) "Freestyle terrain" includes, but is not limited to, terrain parks and terrain park features such as jumps, rails, fun boxes, and all other constructed and natural features, half-pipes, quarter pipes, and freestyle-bump terrain. (d) "Passenger" means any person who is lawfully using an aerial passenger tramway, or is waiting to embark or has recently disembarked from an aerial passenger tramway and is in its immediate vicinity. (e) "Ski area" means any property owned or leased and under the control of the ski area operator or operators within West Virginia. (f) "Ski area operator" means any person, partnership, corporation or other commercial entity and their agents, officers, employees or representatives, or the State of West Virginia, or any political subdivision thereof, who has operational responsibility for any ski area or aerial passenger tramway. (g) "Skiing area" means all ski slopes and trails not including any aerial passenger tramway. (h) "Skier" means any person present at a skiing area under the control of a ski area operator for the purpose of engaging in the sport of skiing in locations designated as the ski slopes and trails, but does not include a passenger using an aerial passenger tramway. (i) "Skiing" means sliding downhill or jumping on snow or ice on skis, a toboggan, a sled, a tube, a snowbike, a snowboard, or any other device by utilizing any of the facilities of the ski area. (j) "Ski slopes and trails" means all ski slopes or trails and adjoining skiable terrain, including all their edges and features, and those areas designated by the ski area operator to be used by skiers for the purpose of participating in the sport of skiing in areas designated for that type of skiing activity. Ski slopes and trails shall be designated on trail maps, if provided, and by signs indicating to the skiing public the designated skiing activity for skiing areas.
Every ski area operator shall: (1) Mark all trail maintenance vehicles and furnish such vehicles with flashing or rotating lights which shall be in operation whenever the vehicles are working or are in movement in the skiing area. (2) Mark with a visible sign or other warning implement the location of any hydrant or similar equipment used in snowmaking operations and located on ski slopes and trails. (3) Mark conspicuously the top or entrance to each ski slope, trail or area to designate open or closed and relative degree of difficulty using the appropriate symbols approved by the national ski areas association as of the effective date of this article and as may thereafter be modified by the association. (4) Maintain one or more trail boards at prominent locations at each ski area displaying that area's network of ski trails and slopes with each trail and slope rated thereon in accordance with the aforementioned symbols' code and containing a key to the code in accordance with the designations in subdivision (3) herein. (5) Designate by trail board or otherwise which trails or slopes are open or closed. (6) Place, or cause to be placed, whenever snow grooming or snowmaking operations are being undertaken upon any trail or slope while such trail or slope is open to the public, a conspicuous notice to that effect at or near the top of the trail or slope. (7) Post notice at prominent locations of the requirements of this article concerning the use of ski retention devices. This obligation shall be the sole requirement imposed upon the ski area operator regarding the requirement for or use of ski retention devices. (8) Maintain the ski areas in a reasonably safe condition, except that such operator shall not be responsible for any injury, loss or damage caused by the following: variations in terrain; surface or subsurface snow or ice conditions; bare spots, rocks, trees, other forms of forest growth or debris; collisions with pole lines, lift towers or any components thereof; or, collisions with snowmaking equipment which is marked by a visible sign or other warning implement in compliance with subdivision (2) of this section. (9) When no certified ambulance service is available in the vicinity, have on duty at or near the skiing area, during all times that skiing areas are open for skiing, at least one trained and currently certified emergency medical technician.
No passenger shall: (1) Board or embark upon or disembark from an aerial passenger tramway except at an area designated for such purpose; (2) Drop, throw or expel any object from an aerial passenger tramway; (3) Perform any act which interferes with the running or operation of an aerial passenger tramway; (4) Enter the boarding area of or use any aerial passenger tramway without requesting and receiving instruction on its use from the ski area operator, unless the passenger has the ability to use it safely without instruction; (5) Engage in any harmful conduct, or willfully or negligently engage in any type of conduct which contributes to or causes injury to any person; or (6) Embark on an aerial passenger tramway without the authority, expressed or implied, of the ski area operator.
(a) It is recognized that skiing as a recreational sport is hazardous to skiers, regardless of all feasible safety measures which can be taken. Each skier expressly assumes the risk of and legal responsibility for any injury, loss or damage to person or property which results from participation in the sport of skiing including, but not limited to, any injury, loss or damage caused by the following: Variations in terrain including freestyle terrain; surface or subsurface snow or ice conditions; bare spots, rocks, trees, other forms of forest growth or debris; collisions with pole lines, lift towers or any component thereof; or, collisions with snowmaking equipment which is marked by a visible sign or other warning implement in compliance with section three of this article. Each skier shall have the sole individual responsibility for knowing the range of his or her own ability to negotiate any ski slope or trail, and it shall be the duty of each skier to ski within the limits of the skier's own ability, to maintain reasonable control of speed and course at all times while skiing, to heed all posted warnings, to ski only on a skiing area designated by the ski area operator and to refrain from acting in a manner which may cause or contribute to the injury of anyone. If while actually skiing, any skier collides with any object or person, except an obviously intoxicated person of whom the ski area operator is aware, the responsibility for such collision shall be solely that of the skier or skiers involved and not that of the ski area operator. (b) No person shall place any object in the skiing area or on the uphill track or any aerial passenger tramway which may cause a passenger or skier to fall. (c) No skier shall cross the track of any T-bar lift, J-bar lift, platter lift, conveyor lift or similar device, or a fiber rope tow except at a designated location, nor shall any skier place any object in such an uphill track. (d) No person involved in a skiing accident shall depart the ski area without leaving personal identification, including name and address, with an employee of the ski area operator or without notifying the proper authorities or without obtaining assistance when that person knows or reasonably should know that any other person involved in the accident is in need of medical or other assistance. (e) A ski or snowboard used by a skier while skiing or snowboarding shall be equipped with a strap or other device capable of stopping the ski or snowboard should the ski or snowboard detach from the skier. No skier shall fail to wear retention straps or other devices to help prevent runaway skis or snowboards. This requirement shall not apply to cross country skis. (f) Each skier has the duty to maintain control of his or her speed and course at all times when skiing and to maintain a proper lookout so as to be able to avoid other skiers and objects. However, the primary duty shall be on the person skiing downhill to avoid collision with any person or objects below him or her. (g) No skier shall ski on a ski slope or trail that has been posted as "Closed." (h) No skier shall use any ski slope while such person's ability to do so is impaired by the consumption of alcohol or by the use of any controlled substance or other drug or while such person is under the influence of alcohol or any controlled substance or other drug. (i) Each skier has the duty to heed all posted information and other warnings. (j) Before beginning to ski from a stationary position or before entering a ski slope or trail from the side, the skier shall have the duty to avoid moving skiers already on the ski slope or trail.
Any ski area operator shall be liable for injury, loss or damage caused by failure to follow the duties set forth in section three of this article where the violation of duty is causally related to the injury, loss or damage suffered. A ski area operator shall not be liable for any injury, loss or damage caused by the negligence of any person who is not an agent or employee of such operator, nor shall a ski area operator be liable for any injury, loss or damage caused by any object dropped, thrown or expelled by a passenger from an aerial passenger tramway. Every ski area operator shall carry public liability insurance in limits of no less than one hundred thousand dollars per person, three hundred thousand dollars per occurrence and ten thousand dollars for property damage.
Any passenger shall be liable for injury, loss or damage resulting from violations of the duties set forth in section four.
Any skier shall be liable for injury, loss or damage resulting from violations of the duties set forth in section five.
§20-4-0 to 20-4-14.
Repealed. Acts, 1985 Reg. Sess., Ch. 41.
§20-4-15 to 20-4-25.
Repealed. Acts, 1967 Reg. Sess., Ch. 147.
(a) The ski area operator shall, prior to use of any portion of the area made available by the ski area operator, allow each competitor the opportunity to conduct a reasonable visual inspection of the ski slopes and trails or freestyle terrain used in the competition. (b) The competitor shall be held to assume the risk of all ski slopes and trails or freestyle terrain conditions including, but not limited to, weather and snow conditions; obstacles, course or feature location, construction or layout, freestyle terrain configuration and conditions; and other courses, layouts, or configurations of the area to be used. No liability shall attach to a ski area operator for injury or death to any competitor caused by course, venue, or area conditions that a visual inspection should have revealed or by collisions with other competitors.
Unless the context of usage clearly requires otherwise: (a) "Commercial whitewater outfitter" means any person, partnership, corporation or other organization, or any combination thereof, as defined in section twenty-three, article two of this chapter. (b) "Commercial whitewater guide" means any person as defined in section twenty-three, article two of this chapter. (c) "Participant" means any person using the services of a commercial whitewater outfitter or commercial whitewater guide on any river, portions of rivers or waters of the state.
(a) All commercial whitewater outfitters and commercial whitewater guides offering professional services in this state shall provide facilities, equipment and services as advertised or as agreed to by the commercial whitewater outfitter, commercial whitewater guide and the participant. All services, facilities and equipment provided by commercial whitewater outfitters and commercial whitewater guides in this state shall conform to safety and other requirements set forth in article two of this chapter and in the rules promulgated by the commercial whitewater advisory board created by section twenty-three-a, article two of this chapter. (b) In addition to the duties set forth in subsection (a) of this section, all commercial whitewater guides providing services for whitewater expeditions in this state shall, while providing such services, conform to the standard of care expected of members of their profession.
(b) No participant may: (1) Board upon or embark upon any commercial whitewater expedition when intoxicated or under the influence of nonintoxicating beer, intoxicating beverages or controlled substances; or (2) Fail to advise the trip leader or the trip guide of any known health problems or medical disability and any prescribed medication that may be used in the treatment of such health problems during the course of the commercial whitewater expedition; or (3) Engage in harmful conduct or willfully or negligently engage in any type of conduct which contributes to or causes injury to any person or personal property; or (4) Perform any act which interferes with the safe running and operation of the expedition, including failure to use safety equipment provided by the commercial whitewater outfitter or failure to follow the instructions of the trip leader or trip guide in regard to the safety measures and conduct requested of the participants; or (5) Fail to inform or notify the trip guide or trip leader of any incident or accident involving personal injury or illness experienced during the course of any commercial whitewater expedition. If such injury or illness occurs, the participant shall leave personal identification, including name and address, with the commercial whitewater outfitter's agent or employee.
It is recognized that some recreational activities conducted by commercial whitewater outfitters and commercial whitewater guides are hazardous to participants regardless of all feasible safety measures which can be taken. (a) No licensed commercial whitewater outfitter or commercial whitewater guide acting in the course of his employment is liable to a participant for damages or injuries to such participant unless such damage or injury was directly caused by failure of the commercial whitewater outfitter or commercial whitewater guide to comply with duties placed on him by article two of this chapter, by the rules of the commercial whitewater advisory board, or by the duties placed on such commercial whitewater outfitter or commercial whitewater guide by the provisions of this article. (b) The limitations on liability created by this article apply only to commercial whitewater outfitters licensed under the provisions of article two of this chapter and to commercial whitewater guides who are agents or employees of licensed commercial whitewater outfitters, and only when the commercial whitewater outfitter or commercial whitewater guide is acting within the course of his employment.
The Legislature finds that equestrian activities are engaged in by a large number of citizens of West Virginia and that such activities also attract to West Virginia a large number of nonresidents, significantly contributing to the economy of West Virginia. Since it is recognized that there are inherent risks in equestrian activities which should be understood by participants therein and which are essentially impossible for the operators of equestrian businesses to eliminate, it is the purpose of this article to define those areas of responsibility and those affirmative acts for which the operators of equestrian businesses shall be liable for loss, damage or injury suffered by participants, and to further define those risks which the participants expressly assume and for which there can be no recovery.
In this article, unless a different meaning plainly is required: (1) "Equestrian activity" means any sporting event or other activity involving a horse or horses, including, but not limited to: (A) Shows, fairs, competitions, performances or parades; (B) Any of the equine disciplines such as dressage, hunter and jumper shows, grand prix jumping, three day events, combined training, rodeos, driving, western games and hunting; (C) Rides, trips or hunts; (D) Riding classes, therapeutic riding programs, school and college sponsored classes and programs, or other classes in horsemanship; (E) The boarding or keeping of horses; and (F) Providing equipment or tack. (2) "Horseman" or "operator of a horseman's business" means any individual, sole proprietorship, partnership, association, public or private corporation, the United States or any federal agency, this state or any political subdivision of this state, and any other legal entity which engages, with or without compensation, in organizing, promoting, presenting or providing equestrian activities or in providing facilities for equestrian activities.
(3) "Horse" means each animal of the horse kind, in every
class or breed of horses, and, without limitation or exception, all
members of the genus Equus and family Equidae.
Every horseman shall: (1) Make reasonable and prudent efforts to determine the ability of a participant to safely engage in the equestrian activity, to determine the ability of the horse to behave safely with the participant, and to determine the ability of the participant to safely manage, care for and control the particular horse involved; (2) Make known to any participant any dangerous traits or characteristics or any physical impairments or conditions related to a particular horse which is involved in the equestrian activity of which the horseman knows or through the exercise of due diligence could know; (3) Make known to any participant any dangerous condition as to land or facilities under the lawful possession and control of the horseman of which the horseman knows or through the exercise of due diligence could know, by advising the participant in writing or by conspicuously posting warning signs upon the premises; (4) In providing equipment or tack to a participant, make reasonable and prudent efforts to inspect such equipment or tack to assure that it is in proper working condition and safe for use in the equestrian activity; (5) Prepare and present to each participant or prospective participant, for his or her inspection and signature, a statement which clearly and concisely explains the liability limitations, restrictions and responsibilities set forth in this article.
It is recognized that equestrian activities are hazardous to participants, regardless of all feasible safety measures which can be taken. Each participant in an equestrian activity expressly assumes the risk of and legal responsibility for any injury, loss or damage to person or property which results from participation in an equestrian activity. Each participant shall have the sole individual responsibility for knowing the range of his or her own ability to manage, care for, and control a particular horse or perform a particular equestrian activity, and it shall be the duty of each participant to act within the limits of the participant's own ability, to maintain reasonable control of the particular horse or horses at all times while participating in an equestrian activity, to heed all posted warnings, to perform equestrian activities only in an area or in facilities designated by the horseman and to refrain from acting in a manner which may cause or contribute to the injury of anyone. If while actually riding in an equestrian event, any participant collides with any object or person, except an obviously intoxicated person of whom the horseman is aware, or if the participant falls from the horse or from a horse-drawn conveyance, the responsibility for such collision or fall shall be solely that of the participant or participants involved and not that of the horseman. A participant involved in an accident shall not depart from the area or facility where the equestrian activity took place without leaving personal identification, including name and address, or without notifying the proper authorities, or without obtaining assistance when that person knows or reasonably should know that any other person involved in the accident is in need of medical or other assistance.
(a) A horseman shall be liable for injury, loss or damage caused by failure to follow the duties set forth in section three of this article where the violation of duty is causally related to the injury, loss or damage suffered. A horseman shall not be liable for any injury, loss or damage caused by the negligence of any person who is not an agent or employee of such horseman. (b) A horseman shall be liable for acts or omissions which constitute gross negligence or willful and wanton conduct which is the proximate cause of injury to a participant. (c) A horseman shall be liable for an intentional injury which he or she inflicts upon a participant. (d) Every horseman shall carry public liability insurance in limits of no less than one hundred thousand dollars per person, three hundred thousand dollars per occurrence and ten thousand dollars for property damage.
Any participant shall be liable for injury, loss or damage resulting from violations of the duties set forth in section four of this article.
The provisions of this article do not apply to the horse racing industry that is regulated by the provisions of article twenty-three, chapter nineteen of this code.
(a) Skin and scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) diving is permitted in all waters in this state, including natural and artificial lakes, except in the following areas: (1) Within one hundred feet of boat ramps, controlled swimming areas, marina areas and fishing piers marked for use by physically disabled persons; (2) Designated hazards areas; (3) Areas near dams and outlet structures in artificial lakes; (4) Heavily traveled boat lanes; (5) Narrow channels; and (6) Areas where visibility is obscured. (b) The provisions of this section shall not apply to professional skin or scuba divers engaged in demolition, salvage, construction, rescue or repair work in the regular course of their business.
(1) No person may skin or scuba dive in any waters of the state that are used by motorboats unless the diving area is marked by one "diver down" flag displayed at all times while a diver is in the water. (2) The "diver down" flag shall be a red field with a white diagonal stripe not less than one and one-half inches wide running upper left to lower right. The dimensions of the flag shall be not less than ten inches by ten inches and the top of the flag shall be at least three feet above the surface of the water. (3) The "diver down" flag shall be anchored and affixed to a separate flotation device. No such flag may be attached to any navigational device or placed so as to obstruct boat traffic. (4) A diver must surface within one hundred feet of the "diver down" flag marking his diving area.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty nor more than three hundred dollars, or confined in jail not less than ten nor more than one hundred days, or both fined and imprisoned.
(a) The section of parks and recreation of the division of natural resources shall have within its jurisdiction and supervision the parks functions of the former division of tourism and parks, transferred to the division of natural resources pursuant to the provisions of section twelve, article one, chapter five-b of this code enacted in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-four. The section of parks and recreation shall be under the control of a chief, to be appointed by and to serve at the will and pleasure of the director, who shall be qualified by reason of exceptional training and experience in the field of public recreation administration or natural resource management. (b) The division of natural resources shall have the duty and authority to administer those properties which are a part of the state parks and public recreation system, to which legal title has remained with the division of natural resources, while the section of parks and recreation was part of the former division of tourism and parks. (c) All existing contracts and obligations of the section of parks and recreation, including those in the name of the division of tourism and parks administered on behalf of the section of parks and recreation, shall remain in full force and effect and any existing contracts and obligations relating to parks and recreation shall be performed by the division of natural resources. (d) The transfer, made pursuant to executive order, to the division of natural resources of the unexpended balance existing on the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, in any appropriation originally made to the division of tourism and parks is hereby ratified.
(a) The Director of the Division of Natural Resources is responsible for the execution and administration of the provisions in this article as an integral part of the parks and recreation program of the state and shall organize and staff the section of parks and recreation for the orderly, efficient and economical accomplishment of these ends. The authority granted in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-four to the Director of the Division of Natural Resources to employ up to six additional unclassified personnel to carry out the parks' functions of the Division of Natural Resources is continued. (b) The Director of the Division of Natural Resources shall: (1) Establish, manage and maintain the state's parks and recreation system for the benefit of the people of this state and do all things necessary and incidental to the development and administration of the state's parks and recreation system; (2) Acquire property for the state in the name of the Division of Natural Resources by purchase, lease or agreement; retain, employ and contract with legal advisors and consultants; or accept or reject for the state, in the name of the division, gifts, donations, contributions, bequests or devises of money, security or property, both real and personal, and any interest in the property, including lands and waters, for state park or recreational areas for the purpose of providing public recreation: Provided, That the provisions of section twenty, article one of this chapter are specifically made applicable to any acquisitions of land: Provided, however, That any sale, exchange or transfer of property for the purposes of completing land acquisitions or providing improved recreational opportunities to the citizens of the state is subject to the procedures of article one-a of this chapter: Provided further, That no sale of any park or recreational area property, including lands and waters, used for purposes of providing public recreation on the effective date of this article and no privatization of any park may occur without statutory authority; (3) Approve and direct the use of all revenue derived from the operation of the state parks and public recreation system for the operation, maintenance and improvement of the system, individual projects of the system or for the retirement of park development revenue bonds: Provided, That all revenues derived from the operation of the state parks and public recreation system shall be invested by the Treasurer and all proceeds from investment earnings shall accrue for the exclusive use for the operation, maintenance, and improvement of the system, individual projects of the system or for the retirement of park development revenue bonds; (4) Effectively promote and market the state's parks, state forests, state recreation areas and wildlife recreational resources by approving the use of no less than twenty percent of the: (A) Funds appropriated for purposes of advertising and marketing expenses related to the promotion and development of tourism, pursuant to subsection (j), section eighteen, article twenty-two, chapter twenty-nine of this code; and (B) Funds authorized for expenditure from the Tourism Promotion Fund for purposes of direct advertising, pursuant to section twelve, article two, chapter five-b of this code and section ten, article twenty-two-a, chapter twenty-nine of this code; (5) Issue park development revenue bonds as provided in this article; (6) Provide for the construction and operation of cabins, lodges, resorts, restaurants and other developed recreational service facilities, subject to the provisions of section fifteen of this article and section twenty, article one of this chapter; (7) The director may sell timber that has been severed in a state park incidental to the construction of park facilities or related infrastructure where the construction is authorized by the Legislature in accordance with section twenty, article one of this chapter, and the sale of the timber is otherwise in the best interest of park development, without regard to proceeds derived from the sale of timber. The gross proceeds derived from the sale of timber shall be deposited into the operating budget of the park from which the timber was harvested; (8) Propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to control the uses of parks: Provided, That the director may not permit public hunting, except as otherwise provided in this section, the exploitation of minerals or the harvesting of timber for commercial purposes in any state park; (9) Exempt designated state parks from the requirement that all payments must be deposited in a bank within twenty-four hours for amounts less than five hundred dollars notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary: Provided, That such designated parks shall make a deposit in any amount no less than every seven working days; (10) Waive the use fee normally charged to an individual or group for one day's use of a picnic shelter or one week's use of a cabin in a state recreation area when the individual or group donates the materials and labor for the construction of the picnic shelter or cabin: Provided, That the individual or group was authorized by the director to construct the picnic shelter or cabin and that it was constructed in accordance with the authorization granted and the standards and requirements of the division pertaining to the construction. The individual or group to whom the waiver is granted may use the picnic shelter for one reserved day or the cabin for one reserved week during each calendar year until the amount of the donation equals the amount of the loss of revenue from the waiver or until the individual dies or the group ceases to exist, whichever first occurs. The waiver is not transferable. The director shall permit free use of picnic shelters or cabins to individuals or groups who have contributed materials and labor for construction of picnic shelters or cabins prior to the effective date of this section. The director shall propose a legislative rule for promulgation in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code governing the free use of picnic shelters or cabins provided in this section, the eligibility for free use, the determination of the value of the donations of labor and materials, the appropriate definitions of a group and the maximum time limit for the use; (11) Provide within the parks a market for West Virginia arts, crafts and products, which shall permit gift shops within the parks to offer for sale items purchased on the open market from local artists, artisans, craftsmen and suppliers and local or regional crafts cooperatives; (12) Provide that reservations for reservable campsites may be made, upon two days' advance notice, for any date for which space is available within a state park or recreational area managed by the parks and recreation section; (13) Provide that reservations for all state parks and recreational areas managed by the parks and recreation section of the division may be made by use of a valid credit card; (14) Develop a plan to establish a centralized computer reservation system for all state parks and recreational areas managed by the parks and recreation section and to implement the plan as funds become available; and (15) Notwithstanding the provisions of section fifty-eight, article two of this chapter, the Natural Resources Commission is authorized to promulgate rules in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to permit and regulate the hunting of white-tail deer in any state park as deemed appropriate by the director to protect the ecological integrity of the area.
The purposes of the section of parks and recreation shall be to promote conservation by preserving and protecting natural areas of unique or exceptional scenic, scientific, cultural, archaeological or historic significance and to provide outdoor recreational opportunities for the citizens of this state and its visitors. It shall be the duty of the section of parks and recreation to have within its jurisdiction and supervision: (a) All state parks and recreation areas, including all lodges, cabins, swimming pools, motorboating and all other recreational facilities therein, except the roads heretofore transferred pursuant to section one, article four, chapter seventeen of this code to the state road system and to the responsibility of the commissioner of highways with respect to the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of the roads or any future roads for public usage on publicly owned lands for future state parks, state forests and public hunting and fishing areas; (b) The authority and responsibility to do the necessary cutting and planting of vegetation along road rights-of-way in state parks and recreational areas; (c) The administration of all laws and regulations relating to the establishment, development, protection, use and enjoyment of all state parks and state recreational facilities consistent with the provisions of this article; (d) The continued operation and maintenance of the Berkeley Springs historical state park, in Morgan County, as a state recreational facility, designated the Berkeley Springs sanitarium under prior enactment of this code; (e) The continued operation and maintenance of that portion of Washington Carver camp in Fayette County formerly incorporated within the boundaries of Babcock state park; (f) The continued operation and maintenance of Camp Creek state park as a state recreational facility, formerly delineated according to section three, article one-a, chapter nineteen of this code; (g) The continued operation and maintenance of Moncove Lake state park as a state recreational facility, formerly delineated pursuant to enactment of section thirteen, article one, chapter five-b of this code in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety; (h) The continued protection, operation and maintenance of approximately seventy-five miles of right-of-way along the former Greenbrier subdivision of the Chessie railroad system between Caldwell in Greenbrier County and Cass in Pocahontas County, designated the Greenbrier river trail, including the protection of the trail from motorized vehicular traffic and operation for the protection of adjacent public and private property; (i) The continued protection, operation and maintenance of approximately sixty and fifty-seven one-hundredths miles of right-of-way of the CSX railway system between Walker in Wood County and Wilsonburg in Harrison County, designated the North Bend rail trail, including the protection of the trail from motorized vehicular traffic and operation for the protection of adjacent public and private property; and (j) The continued development, operation and maintenance of Blennerhassett Island Historical State park, including all the property, powers and authority previously held by the Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park Commission formerly delineated pursuant to article eight, chapter twenty-nine of this code.
As used in this article, unless the context clearly requires otherwise: "Bonds" shall mean bonds issued by the director. "Cost of project" shall embrace the cost of construction, the cost of all land, property, material and labor which are deemed essential thereto, cost of improvements, financing charges, interest during construction and all other expenses, including legal fees, trustees', engineers' and architects' fees which are necessary or properly incidental to the project. "Project" shall be deemed to mean collectively the acquisition of land, the construction of any buildings or other works, together with incidental approaches, structures and facilities, reasonably necessary and useful in order to provide new or improved recreational facilities. "Recreational facilities" shall mean and embrace cabins, lodges, swimming pools, golf courses, restaurants, commissaries and other revenue producing facilities in any state park. "Rent or rental" shall include all moneys received for the use of any recreational facility.
The director, with the approval of the governor, is hereby empowered to raise the cost of any project, as defined in this article, by the issuance of park development revenue bonds of the state, the principal of and interest on the bonds shall be payable solely from the special fund herein provided for the payment. The bonds shall be authorized by order of the director, approved by the governor, which shall recite an estimate by the director of the cost of the project, and shall provide for the issuance of bonds in an amount sufficient, when sold as hereinafter provided, to produce the cost, less the amount of any grant or grants, gift or gifts received, or in the opinion of the director expected to be received from the United States of America or from any other source. The acceptance by the director of any and all grants and gifts, whether in money or in land, labor or materials, is hereby expressly authorized. All bonds shall have and are hereby declared to have all the qualities of negotiable instruments under the provisions of article eight, chapter forty-six of this code. The director shall have the power: (a) To issue negotiable bonds, security interests or notes and to provide for and secure the payment thereof and to provide for the rights of the holders thereof and to purchase, hold and dispose of any of its bonds, security interests or notes. (b) To sell, at public or private sale, any bond or other negotiable instrument, security interests or obligation of the director in any manner and upon such terms as the director deems would best serve the purposes set forth herein. (c) To issue its bonds, security interests and notes payable solely from the revenues or funds available to the director therefor; and the director may issue its bonds, security interests or notes in such principal amounts as it shall deem necessary to provide funds for any purposes herein including: (i) The payment, funding or refunding of the principal of, interest on or redemption premiums on any bonds, security interests or notes issued by it whether the bonds, security interests, notes or interest to be funded or refunded have or have not become due. (ii) The establishment or increase of reserves to secure or to pay bonds, security interests, notes or the interest thereon and all other costs or expenses of the director incident to and necessary or convenient to carry out its purposes and powers. Any bonds, security interests or notes may be additionally secured by a pledge of any revenues, funds, assets or moneys of the special fund herein provided. (d) To issue renewal notes, or security interests, to issue bonds to pay notes or security interests and, whenever it deems refunding expedient, to refund any bonds by the issuance of new bonds, whether the bonds to be refunded have or have not matured except that no such renewal notes shall be issued to mature more than ten years from date of issuance of the notes renewed, and no such refunding bonds shall be issued to mature more than twenty-five years from the date of original issuance. (e) To apply the proceeds from the sale of renewal notes, security interests or refunding bonds to the purchase, redemption or payment of the notes, security interests or bonds to be refunded. (f) To accept gifts or grants or property, funds, security interests, money, materials, labor, supplies or services from the United States of America or from any governmental unit or any person, firm or corporation and to carry out the terms or provisions of, or make agreements with respect to, or pledge, any gifts or grants and to do any and all things necessary, useful, desirable or convenient in connection with the procuring, acceptance or disposition of gifts or grants. (g) To the extent permitted under its contracts with the holders of bonds, security interests or notes of the authority, to consent to any modification of the rate of interest, time of payment of any installment of principal or interest, security or any other term of any bond, security interest, note or contract oragreement of any kind to which the director is a party. (h) The director shall determine the form of the bonds, including coupons to be attached thereto to evidence the right of interest payments, which bonds shall be signed by the director, under the great seal of the state, attested by the secretary of state and the coupons attached thereto shall bear the facsimile signature of the director. In case any of the officers whose signatures appear on bonds or coupons shall cease to be officers before the delivery of the bonds, the signatures shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes the same as if they had remained in office until such delivery. (i) The director shall fix the denominations of the bonds, the principal and interest of which shall be payable at the office of the treasurer of the state of West Virginia, at the capitol of the state or, at the option of the holder, at such other place to be named in the bonds in such medium as may be determined by the director. (j) The director may provide for the registration of the bonds in the name of the owner as to principal alone, and as to both principal and interest under such terms and conditions as the director may determine, and shall sell the bonds in such manner as he or she may determine to be for the best interest of the state, taking into consideration the financial responsibility of the purchaser and the terms and conditions of the purchase and especially the availability of the proceeds of the bonds when required for payment of the cost of the project. (k) The proceeds of the bonds shall be used solely for the payment of the cost of the project and shall be deposited and withdrawn as provided by section thirteen-g of this article, and under such further restrictions, if any, as the director may provide. (l) If the proceeds of such bonds, by error in calculation or otherwise, shall be less than the cost of the project, additional bonds may in like manner be issued to provide the amount of the deficiency and, unless otherwise provided for in the trust agreement hereinafter mentioned, shall be deemed to be of the same issue and shall be entitled to payment from the same fund without preference or priority as the bonds before issued. (m) If the proceeds of bonds issued for the project shall exceed the cost thereof, the surplus shall be paid into a special fund to be established for payment of the principal and interest of the bonds as specified in the trust agreement provided for in the following section. The fund may be used for the purchase of any of the outstanding bonds payable from such fund at the market price, but not exceeding the price, if any, which bonds shall in the same year be redeemable, and all bonds redeemed or purchased shall forthwith be canceled and shall not again be issued. Prior to the preparation of definitive bonds, the director may, under like restrictions, issue temporary bonds with or without coupons exchangeable for definitive bonds upon the issuance of the latter. The revenue bonds may be issued without any other proceedings or the happening of any other conditions or things than those proceedings, conditions and things which are specified and required herein or by the constitution of the state.
The exercise of the powers granted to the director herein will be in all respects for the benefit of the people of the state, for the improvement of their health, safety, convenience and welfare and for the enhancement of their recreational opportunities and is a public purpose. As the operation and maintenance of park development projects will constitute the performance of essential government functions, the director shall not be required to pay any taxes or assessments upon any park development projects or upon any property acquired or used by the director or upon the income therefrom, other than taxes collected from the consumer pursuant to article fifteen, chapter eleven of this code. The bonds and notes and all interest and income thereon shall be exempt from all taxation by this state or any county, municipality, political subdivision or agency thereof, except inheritance taxes.
The notes, bonds and security interests of the director are hereby made securities in which the state board of investments, all insurance businesses, all banking institutions, trust companies, building and loan associations, savings and loan associations may invest and upon which notes, security interests or bonds become subject to redemption plus accrued interest to such date. Upon the purchase, the notes, security interests or bonds shall be canceled.
The state of West Virginia shall not be liable on notes, security interests or bonds or other evidences of indebtedness of the director and the notes, security interests or bonds or other evidence of indebtedness shall not be a debt of the state of West Virginia and the notes, security interests or bonds or other evidence of indebtedness shall contain on the face thereof a statement to such effect.
The director may enter into an agreement or agreements with any trust company, or with any bank having the powers of a trust company, either within or outside the state, as trustee for the holders of bonds issued hereunder, setting forth therein the duties of the state and of the director in respect to acquisition, construction, improvement, maintenance, operation, repair and insurance of the project, the conservation and application of all moneys, the insurance of moneys on hand or on deposit and the rights and remedies of the trustee and the holders of the bonds, as may be agreed upon with the original purchasers of the bonds, and including therein provisions restricting the individual right of action of bondholders as is customary in trust agreements respecting bonds and debentures of corporations, protecting and enforcing the rights and remedies of the trustee and the bondholders and providing for approval by the original purchaser of the bonds of the appointment of consulting architects, and of the security given by those who contract to construct the project, and by any bank or trust company in which the proceeds of bonds or rentals shall be deposited, and for approval by the consulting architects of all contracts for construction. All expenses incurred in carrying out the agreement may be treated as a part of the cost of maintenance, operation and repair of the project.
The proceeds of all bonds sold for any park development project and the proceeds of any grant or gift received by the director for any project financed by the issuance of park development revenue bonds shall be paid to the treasurer of the state of West Virginia, who shall not commingle the funds with any other moneys, but shall deposit them in a separate bank account or accounts. The moneys in the accounts shall be paid by the treasurer on requisition of the director or any other person as the director may authorize to make such requisition. All deposits of the moneys shall, if required by the treasurer or the director, be secured by obligation of the United States, of the state of West Virginia, or of the director, of a market value equal at all times to the amount of the deposit and all banking institutions are authorized to give such deposits.
The director, with the approval of the governor, shall have authority to pledge all revenue derived from any project as security for any bonds issued to defray the cost of the project. In any case in which the director may deem it advisable, he or she shall also have the authority to pledge the revenue derived from any existing recreational facilities under his or her control, or any state park or forest, as additional security for the payment of any bonds issued under the provisions of this article to pay the cost of any park development project.
The division shall properly maintain, repair, operate, manage and control the project, fix the rates of rental and establish bylaws and rules for the use and operation of the project and may make and enter into all contracts or agreements necessary and incidental to the performance of its duties and the execution of its powers hereunder.
It shall not be necessary to secure from any officer or board not named in this article any approval or consent, or any certificate or finding, or to hold an election, or to take any proceedings whatever, either for the construction of any project, or the improvement, maintenance, operation or repair thereof, or for the issuance of bonds hereunder, except as are prescribed by these provisions or are required by the constitution of this state. Nothing contained herein shall be so construed or interpreted as to authorize or permit the incurring of state debt of any kind or nature as contemplated by the provisions of the constitution of the state in relation to state debt.
The director may, on all areas under his or her jurisdiction and control, operate commissaries, restaurants and other establishments for the convenience of the public. For these purposes the director may purchase equipment, foodstuffs, supplies and commodities according to law.
(a) The director may enter into a contract with a person, firm, corporation, foundation or public agency for the operation of a commissary, restaurant, recreational facility or other establishment within the state parks and public recreational system, for a duration not to exceed ten years, but the contract may provide for an option to renew at the director's discretion for an additional term or terms not to exceed ten years at the time of renewal. Prior to initiating of a contract for the operation of a state park lodge, cabin, campground, gift shop, golf facility, including pro shop operations, or ski facility, the director shall submit written notice of the specific location subject to the contract to the Legislature by letter to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Delegates. (b) Prior to initiating a contract for a previously state-operated state park lodge, cabin, campground, gift shop, golf facility, including pro shop operations, or ski facility, the director shall conduct a public hearing to be held at a reasonable time and place within the county in which the facility is located. Notice of the time, place and purpose of the public hearing shall be provided as a Class II legal advertisement in accordance with the provisions of section two, article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code which notice shall be given at least for the first publication twenty days in advance of said hearing. (c) Any contract entered into by the director shall provide an obligation upon the part of the operator that he or she maintain a level of performance satisfactory to the director and shall further provide that any contract may be terminated by the director in the event he or she determines that the performance is unsatisfactory and has given the operator reasonable notice of the termination.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, in addition to all other powers and authority vested in the director, he or she is hereby authorized and empowered to: (1) Enter into contracts with third parties for the financing, construction and operation of recreational, lodging and ancillary facilities at Chief Logan State Park, Beech Fork State Park, Tomlinson Run State Park, Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park, Lost River State Park and Canaan Valley Resort State Park. The contracts may allow and recognize both direct and subsidiary investment arrangements. The term of the contracts may not exceed a period of twenty-five years, at which time the full title to the recreational facilities shall vest in the state, except as otherwise provided in this section; (2) Enter into contracts with third parties for the construction, but not the operation, of cabins at any state park or forest. Upon completion of the construction of the cabins, full title to the cabins shall immediately vest in the state and the cabins shall be operated by the parks and recreation section; (3) Authorize the construction of at least five cabins by any single third party in state parks and state forests which do not offer the facilities on the effective date of this subsection; and (4) Propose emergency and legislative rules, in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, that set the conditions upon which the director may enter into a contract with a single third party proposing to construct cabins. (b) All contracts shall be presented to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance for review and comment prior to execution. (c) A contract may provide for renewal for the purpose of permitting continued operation of the facilities at the option of the director for a term or terms not to exceed ten years. (d) Except as otherwise authorized by this section, no extension or renewal beyond the original twenty-five year term may be executed by the director absent the approval of the Joint Committee on Government and Finance. (e) Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park. -- (1) With respect to the financing, construction and operation of lodging at Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park, in addition to the lodging in existence as of the first day of July, two thousand eight, contracts entered into pursuant to this section may grant, convey or provide for commercially reasonable lodging usage and related rights and privileges all on terms and conditions as the director may deem appropriate, desirable or necessary to attract private investment for the construction of additional lodging units. (2) No contracts may be entered into prior to the preparation of lodging unit development plans and standard lodging unit contract documents in a form and at a level of detail acceptable to the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the director, and subsequent to the presentation of the lodging unit development plans and standard lodging unit contract documents to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance for review and comment. (3) At a minimum, the lodging unit development plans and standard lodging unit contracts shall comply with the following requirements: (A) That no more than one hundred additional lodging units may be constructed, in addition to the lodging in existence as of the first day of July, two thousand eight; (B) That lodging unit contracts, with respect to any additional lodging units that may be financed, constructed or operated pursuant to the provision of this section, shall generally conform to the contracts entered into by federal agencies or the National Park Service with private parties regarding privately financed property that is constructed, developed or operated on public lands administered by federal agencies or the National Park Service, subject to modification and adaptation by the director as the director deems appropriate, suitable and relevant to any lodging units to be constructed at Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park. (C) That a party granted rights and privileges under lodging unit contracts awarded under the provisions of this subsection shall have the right to renew his, her or its lodging unit contract for successive terms not to extend beyond the termination date of the state's lease with the United States Army Corps of Engineers; or, in the event that the state's lease with the United States Army Corps of Engineers is extended beyond the termination date of the lease as of the first day of July, two thousand seven, not to exceed five ten-year extensions or renewals beyond the termination date of the lease between the state and the United States Army Corps of Engineers in effect as of the first day of July, two thousand seven: Provided, That the party extended the renewal rights is in compliance with all material rights, duties and obligations arising under his, her or its contract and all relevant and applicable provisions of federal, state and local laws, rules, regulations, contracts or agreements at the time of renewal: Provided, however, That if and in the event the director makes an affirmative determination that further renewals beyond the time periods set forth in this subsection are in the best interest of the state and Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park, giving due consideration to financial, operational and other considerations deemed relevant and material by the director, that the director may authorize further renewals; (D) That all rights and privileges arising under a lodging unit contract shall be transferred to the state or the state's designee upon the expiration or termination of the contract, upon the terms and conditions as each contract may provide or as may otherwise be agreed upon between the parties; (E) That the state is not, and cannot be, obligated for any costs, expenses, fees or other charges associated with the development of the additional lodging units under this subsection or the operation and maintenance of the additional lodging units over time, including, but not limited to, costs associated with infrastructure improvements associated with development or operation of the additional lodging units. In his or her discretion, the director may engage professionals to assist the state in connection with its review and oversight of development of the additional lodging units; (F) That at any time following the initial term and first renewal period of any lodging unit contract entered into with a private party with respect to an additional lodging unit that is constructed under this section, the state shall have the right and option, in its sole discretion, to purchase a lodging unit or lodging units in accordance with the provisions of this subsection and any and all contracts that may be entered into from time to time under this section; (G) That at its sole option and discretion, the state may elect to purchase a lodging unit from a private party. In that event, the private party shall be paid the fair value of the private party's residual rights and privileges under the lodging unit contract, the residual rights and privileges to be valued generally in accordance with the valuation standards set forth in the National Park Service's standard contract provisions, or other relevant federal agency standards applicable to similar or like contract rights and provisions as may be in existence at the time of transfer, all as the same may be deemed relevant and appropriate by the director, and all in the exercise of the director's reasonable discretion. Nothing in this section is intended or shall be construed to impose an obligation on the state to purchase, buy, buy out or otherwise acquire or pay for any lodging unit under this section, or to limit the right and ability of a private party to donate or contribute | |
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