If we might envision the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation as a huge barrel filled with everything that could be remotely considered of true importance to our outdoor world, be it air, water, land, forest, wildlife and, oh yes, people. Now imagine what has happened to that barrel since our state has basically gone broke. Once high prioritized programs were let sink farther down as budgets, personnel and the ability to implement them no longer existed or were sufficient to be effective.
To backtrack to the late 1960s and early ‘70s when the big think tank in Albany began constructing plans for a mega department that would replace what they felt was an outdated NYS Conservation Dept. primarily interested in fish, wildlife, forests and their conservation management, I now wonder if any discussed the possible dangers in trying to do that if our state fell on hard economic times. The old Conservation Dept. was so successful because it was annually funded by sportsmen and operated basically independent of those that required general tax revenue to stay afloat.
Okay, boys and girls, here we sit with this monstrous do-all environmental department that appears to be hamstrung and may be for several more years. Consider New York’s credit ranks 49th in the nation. Not a very good indicator for major financial improvements any time soon. So what in that big DEC potpourri barrel may eventually see the light of day again?
The one that I’m primarily interested to see its fate is the Div. of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources (DFWMR), headed up by a very capable lady, Pat Riexinger. The DFWMR more closely resembles the Conservation Dept. of the past in numerous ways.
For starters, the primary funding comes from sportsmen’s money via licenses and sales taxes. Its primary responsibilities are conservation management related, meaning fish, wildlife and their primary habitat in the state. Sportsmen have historically been willing to support the programs nearest their heart, meaning those involving fish and wildlife. However, in recent years, coupled with the state mandating more money from them, despite declining services, chances are the DEC will have to exhibit some good faith program performances to try and entice sportsmen back to keep the funding flowing.Enter all the new and building challenges of this nature that would be correctly headed for the DFWMR plate.
So with all the new challenges being hurled DEC’s way – natural gas drilling, worry over the Lake Ontario and Lower Hudson River fisheries problems, massive flood prevention plans, Emerald ash beetle, alien species introduction, spread of wild ferel hogs in the state, legislation to change mourning doves to migratory gamebird status, winning back the support of sportsmen and women, etc. etc. – it will be no easy task, but if things ever improve, someone in Albany had better start prioritizing a rebuilding plan …and soon. Fishing, camping, hiking boating and, soon enough, hunting seasons will arrive.