Commissioner: DEC wants license-fee increase 

BY DENNIS APRILL, Outdoors Columnist

The tight state budget, what it means for sportsmen and women, and what to do about short revenues was the thrust of Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Erin Crotty’s Press Conference last Wednesday. 

After a preliminary report that highlighted Governor George Pataki’s environmental accomplishments including major land acquisitions by the Governor that reminded some of Cuomo administration policy Crotty gave us the cold facts: DEC needs a license increase to keep fish and wildlife programs going through 2003 and beyond. 

This proposed increase is similar to the one last year that was canned by the legislature who preferred instead to keep DEC going with monies from the General Fund. 

This year once again, there will be a push for the legislature to approve the increases that will bring in 5. 3 million dollars more into the Conservation Fund, for a total of 39. 9 million from hunting fishing and trapping license sales. 

Among the proposed new license costs are fishing ($14 to $19), sportsman ($31 to $37) and the addition of a new Super Sportsman License ($68) that will include all tags and special season permits. With this license the hunter need not apply for a second deer permit; all tags will be included when the license is purchased. 

And, such purchases should be automated by July meaning a drivers license and the required money will be all that is needed for a license. New license applicants will, of course need to show proof the required safety courses where taken. 

What does all this mean to the average hunter? If the increases are passed by the legislature, the person who hunts with a Super Sportsman license in the Northern Zone will be able to take a buck during the Regular Firearms Season and a doe or deer of either sex during the Special Seasons or three deer total. 

In other issues I asked the Commissioner about the status of reciprocal licenses for anglers on Lake Champlain. I related the Vermont idea of a stamp pro-rated so New Yorkers would pay say $10. 00, while Vermonters $5 for the right to fish the entire lake. Gerry Barnhart,  DEC Head of Fish and Wildlife doesn’t like that idea, but instead favors a reciprocal license of equal cost. 

Other issues brought up in the Question and Answer Session included the following: If the Governor keeps buying up land, and we continue to have a hiring freeze who is going to maintain these lands mark boundaries improve trails and staff them? Crotty’s response was that some of the money is coming from the Environmental Protection Fund that has an annual budget of 125 million dollars. More on this in future columns. 

Finally though it wasn’t mentioned at the Press Conference from all the unofficial reports I have been able to obtain, it appears almost certain there was a smaller deer harvest last fall,  and that includes all parts of the state. The exact numbers should be out soon, but the consensus is that even in the deer-rich St. Lawrence Valley the take was down slightly. As for the Central Adirondacks the drop-off was even more dramatic. Stay tuned.