Testimony Presented by president Harold L. Palmer

for the Senate and Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee Hearing

on the Implementation of the Environmental Conservation Budget

February 12, 2008

Members of the New York State Conservation Council have concerns about funding for some items that should be covered in the DEC budget.

The NYSCC is grateful that Governor Spitzer has not cut staffing in the Department of Environmental Conservation. We are also pleased that he allocated $1 million for fish hatchery improvements; however, in future years it will take much more to bring all of the hatcheries to a condition where we will not have to worry about losing fish or losing the use of a hatchery due to disrepair.

Another concern is the lack of management on some lands that the State has acquired over the years.  Many parcels have no signage indicating state land; surveys have not been done and boundaries are not marked. This causes access issues and offers opportunity for possible theft of resources such as trees and plants. In addition, very few habitat improvements have been made. Habitat improvements are needed to produce wildlife on lands open to hunters.

If the budget lacks sufficient funding for proper management of these lands, monies from the sale of timber should be used to cover the costs.  Sale of timber harvested from State lands generates enough money to hire staff to ensure that all state lands are managed properly for fish and wildlife, timber, and recreation.  This would assure the highest return on the State’s investments. A major portion of the money allocated for the Environmental Protection Fund should be dedicated to stewardship of state lands.  In this budget no funds are provided for stewardship.

Members of the New York State Conservation Council are also concerned about boat launch sites.  New York State needs to upgrade boat launch sites to make them accessible to the elderly and those with disabilities. This includes cartop boat launch sites. The motor fuel tax on fuel that boaters use should be placed in a dedicated account for boat launches and parking areas for boaters.

The budget does not address making the financially strapped Conservation Fund solvent. According to the annual report of the Conservation Fund Advisory Board (CFAB), the Conservation Fund was $10,980,000 in the red as of March 31, 2007, and is projected to be $24,130,000 in the red by March 31, 2008. This shortfall is about equal to the cost of fringe benefits for those who are paid out of the Conservation Fund.  Pay raises, health insurance, and fringe benefits per union contracts are a large portion of the overall problem.

            The Conservation Fund is primarily funded by the sale of resident and non-resident hunting, fishing and trapping licenses, along with a partial reimbursement from the Pittman-Robinson tax that sportsmen pay on purchases of guns, bows, ammo and other items.  The sales tax money that sportsmen spend in New York State should be placed in the Conservation Fund. Every other program in this State is paid for with tax dollars; why not keep the Conservation Fund solvent with sportsmen’s tax dollars?

            It has been said in the past that fewer people are buying hunting and fishing licenses; however, the CFAB report shows that license sales remained close to the same for the 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 fiscal years. Yes, the numbers are down in 2006/2007 for those buying the regular licenses. For instance, the sales of individual resident fishing licenses dropped by 996; sales of the big game, small game hunting license dropped by 3,890; sales of archery tags dropped by 2,162; sales of turkey tags dropped 748; and sales of the sportsmen license dropped 4,068, when compared to sales for 2005/2006.

            However, there was an increase in the number of sportsmen who bought resident senior or disabled fishing licenses (+272), sportsmen (+3,226), senior archery (+885), senior muzzleloader (+ 2,214), the super sportsmen (+6,152), and muzzleloader (+3,566) tags.  This more than makes up the difference in numbers between the two fiscal years, and shows the ageing population of the state’s sportsmen. Senior licenses are sold to those hunters over 65 years of age, at $5 each.  Archery, muzzleloader and trapping tags are free to seniors 70 and older, and the disabled. As the average age of sportsmen continues to rise, the monies going into the Conservation Fund will drop, if nothing is done to improve revenue sources. If this trend continues the Conservation Fund will have at least $7.5 million less revenue annually in five years.  

           Without some form of additional revenue coming in for future years, the Fund will continue to be in trouble. Even a modest increase in license fees will not make the Fund solvent. When a license fee increase is implemented, fewer sportsmen will buy a license.

Youth hunting is key to helping the Conservation Fund remain solvent in future years.  Youth who are allowed to hunt, fish, and trap will replace the seniors as they become unable to participate due to age, poor health, or other reasons.  Young people need to be introduced to hunting before they become involved with the teenage interests of cars, girlfriends or boyfriends, high school sports, etc.  Without youth being allowed to hunt, there will be fewer and fewer sportspeople buying licenses each year. 

New York State is the only state that does not allow junior hunters under 16 years of age to have a junior big game license. Junior hunters 12 to 16 years of age are allowed to hunt small game and use the same hunting implement for woodchuck and coyote that they would use to hunt big game.  There are 26 states that have no minimum age for big game hunting. The northeast states adjacent to New York have lower minimum ages, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Vermont has no minimum age.

Many states also have a mentor program, with no minimum age, that allows a youth to accompany an adult (usually a parent) and use the mentor’s hunting implement to harvest wild game. We are losing big game hunters due to old age and other reasons faster than we are recruiting new ones. Some parents start their sons and daughters’ big game hunting by taking them to other states so they can hunt at an earlier age. As a result, some of these parents are now hunting in those other states, instead of hunting big game in New York State, resulting in loss of sportsmen’s revenue to our communities as well as to the State.

New York State needs to recruit new hunters, trappers, and anglers to control fish and wildlife, before we do not have enough sportsmen left who could carry the burden of managing the state’s wildlife. When you have no hunters, trappers and anglers, it will only take a couple years for wildlife populations (especially deer) to increase to the point that farmers would have their crops totally destroyed; woodland owners would have no regeneration of trees; landscape shrubbery would be destroyed; the roads would be too dangerous to drive. Some of these problems already exist in areas where hunting is restricted. Animal over-populations would be controlled by starvation, sharpshooters hired at taxpayers’ expense, vehicle versus animal collisions, or diseases which could spread to farm animals, pets and humans.

To give you an idea of the economic boost from hunting and fishing in New York State, I offer these facts from The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).  The NSSF’s economic survey of hunting and fishing for 2006 for the United States shows that New York sportsmen (hunters and anglers) spent $1.8 billion, or $5 million a day, pursuing their sports, more than the NASDAQ stock market, which was $1.66 billion. It also equals the cash receipts for dairy products and apples combined. New York State took in $250 million in taxes from sportsmen, and the federal government took in $254 million for sportsmen’s taxes. All together the ripple effect sportsmen have on the state’s economy is $3.1 billion. How about some of sportsmen’s tax dollars going to the Conservation Fund?

While it is DEC that decides what the populations of fish and wildlife should be to balance the carrying capacity throughout the state, it is sportsmen who work to accomplish those goals. Sportsmen actually pay to control the state’s wildlife.  Sportsmen have been the eyes for DEC biologists for many years, finding over- and under- populations, die offs, invasive species, and chemical spills, to name a few. Because sportsmen consume fish and wildlife, DEC biologists test to see how much pollutants the state’s fish and wildlife have in their bodies. They look for ways to reduce these harmful chemicals, so the food can be safely consumed. We don’t think the State would spend money and do these tests if no one ate fish or wildlife. Who would care if a new fish or other invasive species showed up in our Great Lakes, or that some disease was killing our deer, turkeys, or other game?

I would like you to note that we are available to assist with issues regarding the DEC budget, the Conservation Fund, and the sportsmen/women/youth of New York State.

 

 

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