Wildlife division could use some public assistance
Having resisted calls last year to increase their cost, the Ohio Division of Wildlife will begin selling 2018-19 resident hunting and fishing licenses on Thursday at the rate of $19.
Wednesday, the final day for hunting rabbit and trapping mink, muskrat, river otter and beaver, ushers in the end of the license year.
As a group, fishermen probably most need to swap an old license for new. March starts the clock on spring fishing. Hunting takes a brief hiatus until turkey season in April.
Given the state legislature’s inertia on such matters, Ohio likely would have no wildlife division, or perhaps only a stripped-down version, without license purchases.
The state’s fish and game agency was instituted decades ago as a non-partisan commission mandated to get nature’s house in order without untoward political input. Now a division of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, a return to commission status would be welcomed by some.
The landscape probably would have less wildlife without division programs funded by hunters, trappers, fishermen and some wildlife watchers who support the mission. For the most part, taxpayers aren’t tapped for wildlife expenditures.
User fees, including licenses and permits, generate much of the wildlife division’s income, with federal taxes on the sale of hunting and fishing equipment adding revenue. Federal money given to state wildlife agencies largely is determined by the number of licenses sold.
Division programs funded by the cash pool have allowed hunters to pursue once-extirpated wild turkey and whitetail deer, trappers to snare river otter and beaver, fishermen to angle for steelhead trout and saugeye, and the public to enjoy the sight of bald eagles, ospreys and peregrine falcons.
Diminished participation resulting in fewer funds would make current programs more tenuous and future projects, including public land purchases, near impossible.
License sales are necessary (though likely insufficient) to maintain a meaningful level of attention to land and water and the plants, animals and life forms that live on, in and around them.
On state and national levels, hunters, trappers and fishermen recognize the dwindling participation problem and are attempting to fix it. Maybe they won’t. Maybe, given changing societal norms, they can’t.
As numbers and money shrivel, what might that mean for the future of organized, effective, public conservation efforts?
Several paths exist for citizens who don’t hunt, fish or trap to contribute to the wildlife division’s mission. One is to purchase a hunting and/or fishing license, which brings no requirement to actually hunt, trap or fish but would help bring more federal money Ohio’s way.
Those less inclined to support killing animals but who see a need for the wildlife division’s many species- and habitatfriendly programs can also contribute to the conservation cause with the purchase of an Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp. The cost is $15, all but
$1 of which goes to the Wildlife Diversity Fund.
Stamp proceeds are spent for habitat restoration, land purchases, conservation easements, species conservation and research.
Also, taxpayers may designate on the Ohio form all or part of their 2017 refund to “Wildlife species” and/or “State nature preserves” by writing an amount in the appropriate box on Form 1040. Other ways to contribute include the purchase of a conservation or sportsmen’s license plate, writing a check to the division or making a memorial donation.
Licenses and legacy stamps may be purchased at wildohio.gov.