With the announced trimming of the Department of Environmental Conservation by 200-plus positions, many people are wondering how the agency assigned to manage and protect our natural environment and resources thereof can effectively function. Between attrition and dual-rolling of responsibilities, the agency has been operating on a bare bones format for the last several years, so I suspect we of the grass roots level won’t notice much of a change.
For those of us that deal with the department on a fairly regular basis, what we have noted is a rather steady erosion of service, whether they pertain to garnering data or information, or physical on-site response to potential violations of the law, the time lag between notification and response has progressively grown longer. Now, like many communications we are involved in, much of it is done electronically, and even then, it may be a while before any action is taken.
Now the flipside to this is that, due to the extended responsibilities that fall under the DEC’s charge, those of environmental importance have gradually taken dominance while those of fish, wildlife and marine resources. And with the current natural gas mining rush, environmental protection has increasingly been high-lighted in Albany as drilling operations guidelines are developed. Once done and implemented, these will require supervision and inspections …and that will take manpower, something the DEC is increasingly short of these days.
Make no mistake, our state is financially strapped, and the outlook doesn’t appear very rosy. So when it comes time to start slashing at the various state agency and program budgets, you can bet that environmental needs will garner the most support and funding. That’s all well and good, but it will probably require the old “rob Peter to pay Paul” manipulating of available and anticipated income funds by the Depart of Budget. While funds from the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) will help, it’s doubtful they’ll be sufficient. So funding and personnel from other sources will be looked at. One of those will be the Div. of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources (FWMR).
For those not aware, the FWMR is, in essence, the heart of what was once the old NYS Conservation Department of the pre 1970 era. Restructured, it became a portion of the newly created NYSDEC in 1971. Primarily funded by sportsmen license and permits monies, related fines and special sales taxes on outdoor gear and equipment, the dedicated money these generated is what has made up the Conservation Fund, where many FWMR operations look to for annual budget funding. Unfortunately, the Fund is no longer large enough to fully support all the FWMR operations. It has run in the red for several years now.
Three years ago, in an effort to salvage critical funding for the FWMR division, the responsibility for funding the DEC’s Law Enforcement Division was transferred to the General Fund. But even that has struggled to maintain adequate money to keep the division operating at capacity. Since the responsibilities of the DEC’s law enforcement personnel are so expansive – including environmental as well as fish and wildlife laws– Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) duties have been stretched to the limit.
Prior to attrition (including recent early retirement incentives) the DEC’s annual budget was approximately $1 billion and employed 3,378 people. Both these have since shrunk, reflected the state’s economic woes.
In her 2010 report, Pat Riexinger, Director of the FWMR Div.said: “As you are undoubtedly aware, the state continues to face an unprecedented fiscal crisis, and consequently all state agencies have been required to reduce spending for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2010. The Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources, along with every other DEC Division, must share in shouldering these spending reductions. I know that these will be especially difficult and troubling as they come on the heels of the sporting license fee increases that were enacted last year, but we simply have no choice. We have received many questions about what the impact of the fiscal crisis will be on our programs, and I wanted to take this opportunity to address some of these questions. (Note: Gordon Batcheller has recently been appointed Chief of the Bureau of Wildlife for the DEC. An avid sportsman, I don’t envy Batcheller’s challenges)
The major impacts we will face will be for state-funded “non-personal service” (NPS), the operational money that pays for things such as travel, vehicle mileage, equipment, contracts, meetings, and supplies. The money available to the Division from both the General Fund and the Conservation Fund (including all its sub-accounts such as the Habitat Stamp, Return a Gift to Wildlife, and Marine Account) was reduced as part of the agency’s overall effort to address the fiscal crisis. Reductions in spending in the 2010-11 fiscal year budget are in addition to the spending reductions we experienced last fiscal year. The primary impact on our programs as we move forward will be as a result of these NPS cuts.”
When the DEC proposed a new mandatory salt water fishing license, the outcry from applicable downstate anglers and politicians was sufficiently large to cause that to be rescinded. So the FWMR can forget about seeing many added funds from that source. And following the spike in sporting license income two years ago?largely due to fee increases and a run on lifetime licenses?I can’t realistically foresee those funds increasing sufficiently to restore FWMR deficits as they now exist. And sales of the voluntary habitat/access $5 stamp have been disappointing, barely generating $30,000 annually, which drastically limits implementation of any major program effort.
So realistically, the DEC will probably continue to function, especially on major environmental fronts, but don’t expect too much from the rest of department’s responsibilities and services.