No proposal to double hunting and fishing license fees
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) appreciates the vigorous public discussion in recent weeks related to funding challenges faced by the agency. We know Coloradans treasure our state’s wildlife and the recreational opportunities it provides. How we continue to pay for the management of wildlife and its habitat is an important statewide conversation, and why our agency has been explaining its financial outlook in a series of recent public meetings.
Back in April, sportsmen, legislators and CPW discussed the agency’s financial outlook and how to ensure sufficient resources to manage and conserve Colorado’s wildlife in the future. Sportsmen and legislators urged CPW to increase angler and hunter awareness of CPW’s budget situation and to ask license buyers for their thoughts on how to meet future needs, either through license fee increases, additional program cuts or some combination.
During 18 public meetings held around the state since then, CPW personnel have explained the agency’s budget situation, detailed what it has done the past seven years to address shortfalls in revenue and provided a forecast of how CPW may address its programs without adjustments to its financial picture. Our forecast as presented in this series of public meetings shows the revenue necessary to both maintain the current wildlife programs and restore or add new programs requested by sportsmen would essentially require doubling the price of most hunting and fishing licenses for Colorado residents. While it’s understandable that calculation has received emphasis from the media and from stakeholders, it’s important to clarify that CPW has not proposed such an outcome — contrary to some reporting and public statements from stakeholders on this topic.
What is true is that about 80 percent of funding for CPW’s wildlife programs is derived from hunting, fishing and recreational shooting. Hunting license fees that provide most funding for CPW have not increased in 11 years, nor have they kept up with inflation, creating a deficit for our agency that continues to worsen. (It’s important to note that CPW is required by law to segregate its funding; no dollars from hunting or fishing licenses are used for parks purposes.)
A four-day lift ticket at a Colorado ski area can cost more than $400, in contrast to a five-day resident license to hunt elk, a nine-day license to hunt deer, or an annual license to fish — by statute $45, $30 and $25 respectively — making a license the least expensive part of the hunting season. That’s even as nonresident hunters make up the difference, paying fees 10 to 15 times higher than residents, a rate in keeping with competing states. But current rates for residents may be a false bargain if revenues can’t sustain the programs allowing us to enjoy Colorado’s wildlife heritage.
These budgetary facts are part of what CPW personnel have presented to the public over the past three months. CPW wants to clarify that it has not proposed a specific level of fee increase and the possibility of any legislation in 2017 is only being generally discussed and no preparations have been made on any specific bill. Ultimately, if license buyers feel that an increase in their fees is unreasonable, our future conversations will focus on how best to fulfill CPW’s responsibilities in a more constrained financial environment.
The discussion of additional ways to fund Colorado’s wildlife management is timely and welcome, but such a conversation will likely take more than a little time. This series of public meetings has created a strong foundation for ongoing public dialogue. CPW’s key message throughout this process is simply — and only — this: If agency programs are to be maintained, a license fee increase of some kind must be considered in the short term.