With most of the small game hunting getting underway yesterday, Oct. 1, the opening day in our Southern Zone, we're liable to hear the same old laments from many hunters – fewer places to hunt, poor habitat, and a scarcity of game such as grouse. This will especially be the case with many who hunt on public land such as state forests.

With the exception of several state forests where cutting and thinning of the aging trees have occurred in small areas, hunting for small game has basically become little more than a walk in the woods for most hunters, as small game species such as grouse, rabbit and, later in the season, varying hare that require low-growth cover, are something of a rarity in state forests these days.

Obviously the answer is combining forestry management with wildlife management, but that has been an uphill battle in recent years, for several reasons. Most quoted is a lack of funding and manpower in those divisions of the DEC, but another has been the general public's resistance to having any of the adult trees cut down. But there should be common ground for both sides in this, and there just may be hope for a compromise on the horizon, based on the results of recent meetings with stake-holders and the DEC.
During the recent annual conference and meetings of the NYS Conservation Council and its many member organizations, DEC commissioner Pete Grannis and Director of DEC's Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources Pat Reixinger apparently got an earful from member attendees, most of which were constructive suggestions as to how to "fix" their ailing agency and gain the support of the state's sportsmen and women as well as the general resource-using public.

Thanks to Safari Club International representative George Franke, of Norwich, who attended the meetings as an invitee, here are some of the items those in attendance discussed with the commissioner and Ms. Reixinger.

For starters, a mandatory habitat/access stamp for ALL users of the State's natural resources. Hikers, skiers, snowshoerscampers, birdwatchers, mushroom and berry pickers all should be required to have an access stamp to utilize and enjoy State-owned lands (those where no fees or permits are required). Stamp sales income would go into a dedicated fund that would be used for access and habitat improvements statewide. License-buying hunters, trappers and fishermen shouldn't be the only ones continually providing the funding to manage our open-to-everyone state-owned lands and waters.

A New York salt water fishing license is being mandated by the federal government by the year 2011, so why give them the money if we don't put our own program in place by then. Talks were to just require a current NY fishing license for all anglers, both fresh and salt water, and not split it into individual salt and fresh water licenses.

Possibly splitting out the bear tag from the big game license. A separate bear license and bear tag, and a separate fee, much like many states already do. Also possibly combining the turkey stamp theme with a new stamp (for pheasants) and calling it a "game bird stamp," thus, increasing the revenue needed to keep the pheasants stocking program and improving upland and pheasant habitat.

License adjustments were also discussed, with suggestions that an across-the-board increase was due since it's been nearly a decade since the last hike in hunting and fishing fees was enacted. It was also discussed that there should be at least a token increase for the "free and over-70" tags.

And to aid the ailing Conservation Fund, which is running close to $27M in the red, 220 jobs at the DEC have been transferred to the General Fund. This was only fair since the CF's income depends primarily on revenue from sporting licenses, but all people of the state benefit from the DEC's conservation and environmental programs and services.
There will no doubt be a fair share of resistance for almost any proposed change that would create higher fees ... for hunting, fishing or anything that involves public natural resources. But if these were fairly distributed throughout all user activities, and not just the sportsmen and women's activities who've shouldered the load for our public natural resources for decades, even the most diehard complainers would have trouble validating their complaints.

The DEC's plan to make the purchase of a $5 habitat/access stamp voluntary was a big mistake from the get-go. First was that almost no license vendors knew of its existence, or else totally ignored asking buyers if they wanted one. Also, the DEC did very little to advertise and promote it from its inception to the present. Thirty-one states already have mandatory habitat/access stamps in force, and you don't get a hunting, trapping or fishing license in these states without buying the stamp. All money generated by the stamp are placed in a dedicated fund. Even if just sportsmen and women were required to buy one in New York, it would generate an additional $5.5M annually. Now consider what it would bring in for access and habitat programs if all users of public lands were required to buy one annually.

I seriously doubt many non-sportsmen/women could find much argument in paying 48 cents a month to enjoy our state forests, especially when the quality of and access to these public lands are drastically improved. Hopefully, DEC Commissioner Grannis and the legislature will seriously consider the ideas spawned by these meetings and take steps forward, rather than backwards. We just can't afford more years of the same old tired and failing policies that have seen our public natural resources continue on a downward slide.