AUGUSTA – A bill that aimed to make the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife more inclusive of those who do not hunt, fish or trap, faced overwhelming opposition Tuesday when considered by the very decision-makers whom the bill’s authors accuse of bias.

The bill, LD 303, is titled “An Act to Promote Fairness and Democracy in Wildlife Management” and is the first piece of legislation to be proposed by the new Wildlife Alliance of Maine. The Bangor-based nonprofit was created in the wake of last fall’s bear hunting referendum to attack what its members see as a too cozy relationship between state wildlife managers and hunting groups such as the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.

The group points out that Deputy DIF&W Commissioner Paul Jacques once served as SAM’s lobbyist. WAM also frequently has criticized both the Joint Standing Legislative Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife – which held Tuesday’s public hearing – and the DIF&W Commissioner’s Advisory Council for being composed almost exclusively of hunters and SAM members.

“This is not democracy, and this is not good government,” said WAM member John Glowa of South China, who wrote the bill proposing to strike from current law those provisions requiring DIF&W commissioners and deputy commissioners be experienced in hunting, fishing and trapping.

“It’s time for everyone to be represented,” Glowa said. “The wildlife of Maine belong to everyone.”

Only 10 percent of Mainers hunt, 18 percent fish and fewer than 1 percent trap – leaving the vast majority of people unqualified to oversee the state’s wildlife management – regardless of their scientific, political or administrative qualifications, Glowa said.

Other natural resource departments have no such standard, he said.

“They don’t need to know how to shoot a deer, trap a beaver or catch a salmon any more than other commissioners need to know how to dig a clam or milk a cow,” he said.

But Rep. Richard Cebra, R-Naples, spoke for many of his colleagues when he referred to the proposal as “dumbing down the commissioner.”

Managing wildlife requires an understanding of the tools used to do the job – hunting, fishing and trapping, said Rep. David Trahan, R-Waldoboro.

“It shouldn’t matter whether [the commissioner] hunts or not,” argued Don Loprieno, a WAM member from Bristol.

Several committee members who hike, boat and birdwatch in addition to hunting and fishing, took offense at the accusation that, as Sen. Chandler Woodcock, R-Farmington, put it, “We’re all villains because we’re consumptive users.”

Deputy Commissioner Jacques gave particularly fiery testimony attacking WAM.

“Just for the record, I’ve probably hiked, skied and canoed across the state of Maine more than any person here today,” Jacques said.

The deputy commissioner accused WAM of “seeking to manage wildlife by emotion” by placing unqualified people at the head of DIF&W – a department charged with a job that has always revolved around hunting and fishing.

George Smith, executive director of SAM, who WAM has accused of being all but a shadow commissioner, Tuesday dismissed the group’s allegations as “just wild and fantastic and inaccurate.”

DIF&W leadership took a similar position. “One thing that we’ve always tried to do is keep politics out of the department,” Jacques said.

Glowa testified he believes the department’s funding scheme to be tremendously political – ensuring that wildlife managers are financially dependent on the hunters and fishermen whose license fees pay their salaries and cloud their judgment.

“Really, this department is funded by sportsmen … it seems that everybody wants their little piece of the pie, but they don’t want to pay for it,” Trahan responded, asking Glowa and Loprieno if they have donated to voluntary conservation funds like the loon license plate.

Glowa called the voluntary measures, which raise minimal funds, “a facade,” testifying that representation in decision-making and financial support must go hand-in-hand.

Rep. John Eder, G-Portland, had sponsored LD 303 for WAM, but Tuesday, distanced himself from the bill, testifying that he would be willing to see it rewritten so that the requirements for DIF&W leadership stand, so long as DIF&W’s mission is expanded to include a focus on the growing ecotourism industry.

Several legislators agreed that ecotourism must be encouraged, but said that it should be addressed elsewhere.

“It seems to me, with all due respect, that you’re mixing up some antipathy toward the department with this goal … the debate is getting mired in your personal issues,” Rep. Stan Moody, D-Manchester, said to the WAM members.