The California state legislature has backed off from a resolution that would have removed Fish and Game Commission President Dan Richards from office, after he took part in a legal mountain lion hunt in Idaho. A commission meeting last week in Riverside featured a packed house, mostly made up of outdoors people who supported Richards. Organized opposition from animal rights groups backed off from their earlier position calling for his ouster.

Mountain lions can be legally killed in California under the auspices of a Depredation Permit. Over 2,000 such permits were issued in California from 1999-2009, with some 1,079 mountain lions legally killed during that period as a result, including 11 in Butte County.

The controversy attracted national attention, including media coverage of the normally staid commission meetings. The "Keep America Fishing" organization issued a release stating, "As a commissioner, Richards has consistently voted on the side of sound science and proven fish and wildlife management."

Some sources say that other members of the commission who disagree with Richards on policy issues may still try to unseat him as president, even though they do not have the power to actually remove him from the panel. Richards is considered to be the most consistently pro-angler and pro-hunter member of the commission, and strongly opposed the recent closures of parts of the state's coastline to any kind of fishing.