Wildlife division gets added funds in state budget

Not often do citizens ask the government to take more of their money, yet that was the wish of many an Ohio sportsman the past few years.

And although it might be a stretch to call it a dream come true, the Ohio General Assembly granted that wish with the passage of a $69.8 billion budget last week.

While the parts of the twoyear tax and spending bill signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine entail many things, the focus of dozens of hunting, fishing and conservation groups was generating enough revenue to keep the Ohio Division of Wildlife viable.

The division, which operates under the umbrella of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, gets little to no general tax money. Revenues are generated from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses and permits, along with federal outlays generated by excise taxes levied on firearms and other sporting equipment.

The budget’s mandate for increases in fishing license fees and in deer and turkey permits is expected to raise about $4 million annually for the increasingly cashstrapped wildlife division, which manages numerous game and non-game species in the state. The increases will include:

■ $25 for an annual resident fishing license, up from the current $19.

■ $31.20 for a resident spring or fall wild turkey permit, up from $24.

■ $38.40 for a non-resident spring or fall wild turkey permit, up from $29.12.

■ $16 for a resident or non-resident spring or fall wild turkey permit, up from $12.

■ $31.20 for a resident either-sex deer permit, up from $24.

■ $16 for a resident or non-resident either-sex deer permit, up from $12.

Prices for the hunting permit increase will go into effect Oct. 16, reported John Windau, an ODNR spokesman. The date for the increase in the cost of a fishing license was not yet available, he said.

Remaining unchanged will be the $19 cost of a resident hunting license, the $12 cost of a senior deer or wild turkey permit, the $76.96 cost of a non-resident deer permit and the $15 cost of a deer management permit.

More than two years ago, the Columbus-based Sportsmen’s Alliance produced a paper that said the division would be facing a shortfall approaching $105 million during the ensuing 10 years, mostly because the cost of license and permit fees hadn’t been increased since 2004 while the expense of managing wildlife had increased.

A solution to the projected revenue shortfall, the alliance and dozens of allied groups agreed, would be to enact what they believed was a long-overdue increase in the cost of hunting and fishing licenses and other user fees, including wild turkey and deer permits.

Jim Zehringer, the ODNR director under then-Gov. John Kasich, pursued in the legislature a limited increase in user fees while suggesting the projections of a revenue shortfall for the division were overblown.

Among the legislative results of the budget passed in 2017, Kasich’s last as governor, non-resident hunting licenses and deer permits underwent a modest increase, though remaining at a bargain price compared with other deer-hunting destination states. Other cost increases included non-resident turkey permits and non-resident annual fishing licenses, neither of which was expected to have significant revenue impact.

Apparently, the current budget will pare a bigger portion of the projected shortfall.

“The modest resident fee increases requested by sportsmen should raise an additional $40 million over the next 10 years,” said Rob Sexton, a consultant for the alliance. “Combined with the non-resident increase we were able to secure in 2017, it should raise a total of $70 million toward erasing a $105 million shortfall over the next 10 years.”

Also included in the budget is $47 million ostensibly earmarked for the purchase of additional acreage of AEP ReCreation Land in Noble County in eastern Ohio. Previous AEP land purchases under the Kasich-Zehringer leadership have become an almost 6,000-acre state park and wildlife area scheduled to grow by another 7,000 or so acres.

The additional millions could buy another 25,000 acres of AEP’s 50,000 or so remaining acres, Sexton said. The land already is being used for public hunting, fishing, hiking, kayaking, wildlife watching and other outdoor pursuits. State ownership would all but guarantee that such use will continue.