An Act to Designate Deer Wintering Areas Under the Jurisdiction of the Bureau of Parks and Lands
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1826
Committee: Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Sponsors: JACKSON, LANDRY, BLACK, CURRY, DILL, FAULKINGHAM
Amends: 12 MRSA §1805-A, 12 MRSA §10264

Legislative Document
No. 1826
S.P. 742
In Senate, April 27, 2023
An Act to Designate Deer Wintering Areas Under the Jurisdiction of 
the Bureau of Parks and Lands
Reference to the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife suggested and ordered 
printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by President JACKSON of Aroostook.
Cosponsored by Representative LANDRY of Farmington and
Senators: BLACK of Franklin, CURRY of Waldo, LaFOUNTAIN of Kennebec, 
Representatives: DILL of Old Town, FAULKINGHAM of Winter Harbor.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  12 MRSA §1805-A is enacted to read:
§1805-A.  Designation of deer wintering areas
The director may designate a deer wintering area on a parcel of land under the 
jurisdiction of the bureau. The designated area must contain high-quality deer wintering 
habitat with a documented history of significant use by deer. The bureau shall manage the 
designated area with deer conservation as the highest management priority and may also 
manage the designated area to benefit other wildlife species that rely on mature softwood 
forests. The director may designate a deer wintering area or remove the designation as a 
deer wintering area of a parcel of land under this section only pursuant to a habitat 
management agreement developed in collaboration with the Department of Inland Fisheries 
and Wildlife. A designated area under this section is eligible for funds from the Maine Deer 
Management Fund under section 10264. The designation of a deer wintering area under 
this section does not preclude or discourage the department from managing another parcel 
of land to promote habitat for deer. The department and the Department of Inland Fisheries 
and Wildlife shall include a summary of additions or changes to deer wintering areas under 
this section in an annual report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having 
jurisdiction over inland fisheries and wildlife matters and to the joint standing committee 
of the Legislature having jurisdiction over agriculture, conservation and forestry matters.
Sec. 2.  12 MRSA §10264, first ¶, as amended by PL 2021, c. 409, §6, is further 
amended to read:
The Maine Deer Management Fund, referred to in this section as "the fund," is 
established within the department as a nonlapsing fund to be used by the commissioner to 
fund or assist in funding predator control and to acquire or enhance deer habitat. If the 
funds from the fund are used to directly enhance or manage a deer wintering area on land 
under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau 
of Parks and Lands, the land must be designated as a deer wintering area pursuant to section 
1805-A. The commissioner shall establish on the department's online licensing system 
checkoff options that allow a person to donate money for predator control or deer habitat 
acquisition or enhancement. The checkoff options must be prominently displayed and 
contain web links to information about how the checkoff revenues have been and will be 
used. The commissioner shall also print in a prominent place on every paper application 
for a hunting license checkoff options that allow a person to donate money to the fund for 
predator control or deer habitat acquisition or enhancement. Revenues from the checkoffs 
must be deposited in the fund and used for purposes indicated by the checkoffs.
Sec. 3. Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of 
Parks and Lands and Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to survey 
regions to locate unmapped deer wintering areas.  The Department of Agriculture, 
Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of Parks and Lands and Department of Inland Fisheries 
and Wildlife shall survey public lands in the northern, eastern and western regions of the 
State to locate existing and unmapped deer wintering areas. The bureau may designate any 
unmapped deer wintering areas located pursuant to this section as a deer wintering area 
pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 12, section 1805-A.
SUMMARY
This bill allows the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of 
Parks and Lands to designate, pursuant to a habitat management agreement with the 
Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, deer wintering areas on parcels of land under 
the jurisdiction of the bureau that are high-quality deer wintering habitat with a documented 
history of significant use by deer. The bureau is required to manage the designated area 
with deer conservation as the highest management priority and may also manage the 
designated area to benefit other wildlife species that rely on mature softwood forests, and 
the designated areas are eligible for funding from the Maine Deer Management Fund. This 
bill also directs the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of Parks 
and Lands and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to survey public lands in 
the northern, eastern and western regions of the State for unmapped deer wintering areas 
for inclusion as designated deer wintering areas by the bureau.