Groups unhappy with cuts to Wildlife grants
Another surprise move appears to have further strained the relationship between the Ohio Division of Wildlife and some of its historically supportive constituent groups.
Last year, the division and sportsmen butted heads when a coalition of groups campaigned for an increase in the cost of resident hunting and fishing licenses the division opposed.
That was followed by the effective quashing of the self-funded division’s longstanding sense of semi-independence from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources through a series of moves by ODNR director James Zehringer, including the replacement of the chief and the reassignment of numerous aides.
The recent action, detailed last month in a letter from Sean Landon, the division’s grants coordinator, cuts by at least one-third the amount of grant money annually available to local sportsmen’s groups.
“While the cuts to this program are a small fraction of the overall budget of the agency, they are a huge blow to clubs in Ohio who were promised this would never happen,” Rob Sexton, a consultant for the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, wrote in a letter to club leaders.
“Ohio’s sportsmen’s clubs are vital to conservation and hunting, fishing and trapping. They provide an army of volunteers that conduct youth education and recruitment events, women’s events, veterans’ events, shooting events, hunter education classes and much more.”
The annual competitive outlay was established when local clubs lost the ability to issue hunting and fishing licenses to the public as the wildlife division transitioned to a web-based system beginning almost a decade ago. License and permit fees amounted to an important source of income for many clubs and provided funds for programs directed at expanding their membership and community outreach.
Instead of a $750,000 baseline guarantee, the grant pool will be reduced to $500,000 for 2018-19, Landon’s letter said. In some years, money available under the Conservation Club Competitive Partnership Grant program has exceeded $1 million.
Under the revised rules, no single grant can exceed $7,500, down from $15,000. “Nonessential” items, including food and drinks, T-shirts, grills and prizes, would not be eligible for funding, though such items are typical features at youth events. Critics say cutting the grant pool seems at odds with the need to recruit at a time when the ranks of hunters and fishermen are in decline.
In response, wildlife chief Mike Miller pointed out the grant agreement has been “modified, not eliminated.”
Plans are in the works, Miller said in an email, to bolster the division’s R3 efforts — shorthand for recruitment, retention and reactivation. “The goal will be to become a center of excellence for recruitment, retention and reactivation and allow us to develop and test programming that could be replicated across the state and adopted by numerous conservation organizations,” he wrote.
R3 is a national initiative several years in the making.
A question left unanswered is whether the local clubs would be required to follow R3 models or practices in order to obtain grant money.
Miller’s email reflected confidence that the division can make headway in stopping or reversing the long-term drain in the numbers of hunters and anglers.
“The changes are expected to be used by conservation clubs to improve and enhance their efforts, not to hinder their progress in the shared goal of recruiting and retaining people that enjoy shooting sports and fishing,” he wrote.
Landon’s letter encouraged clubs to attend informational meetings about the revised grant program to be held in each wildlife district. The meeting in central Ohio is set for 6:30 p.m. Feb. 1 at District One headquarters, 1500 Dublin Road.