CHENANGO COUNTY – It is slightly mind-blowing to consider that one of the most important pieces of federal legislation involving the conservation of wildlife, is now over 80 years old. In 1937, Congress based the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act – or commonly referred to as the Pittman-Robertson Act, which is named after the two Congressmen that sponsored the bill.
This act placed an 11-percent excise tax on sporting arms and ammunition that would later be reimbursed by the Secretary of the Interior to each state’s Wildlife Management Agency – the Department of Environmental Conservation in New York – paying up to 75-percent of the cost of approved wildlife focused projects. Those projects could include land acquisition, habitat improvement, wildlife research, wildlife surveys, developing access facilities for public use, and hunter education programs.
This tax is collected at the manufacturer before any of the items are sent to market. This means that the tax is included in the price of said firearms and ammunition when purchased by the consumer.
33 years after the bill was first set, Congress added provisions to the law, one adding a 10-percent excise tax placed on pistols and revolvers. And just two years later, in 1972, the Pittman-Robertson Act was further amended to include an 11-percent excise tax on bows, arrows, and other archery parts and accessories.
The bill was amended in 1984 to finally include crossbow arrows in the archery excise tax.
The money collected is deposited into the Wildlife Restoration Trust Fund and is made available to each state the year following their collection. Year after year, $8 million is dedicated for use in the Enhanced Hunter Education programs offered, which include the construction and maintenance of public target ranges. An additional $3 million is set aside for projects that require multiple states’ cooperation.
One half of the money collected from handguns is set aside for Basic Hunter Education programs while the remaining money is split into two equal amounts. The first half is divided among the states in a ratio that matches the state’s amount of land compared to the total amount of land in the country. The second half is then divided up among the states in a ratio based on the number of individual paid hunting licenses sold in each state compared to the total nationwide.
In order for a state to be eligible to receive money from the Wildlife Restoration Trust Fund, the state legislature must have passed legislation that distinctly specifies any money collected from hunting licenses sold in the state can only be used by the wildlife management agency of the state.
The Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act was another piece of legislation was passed in 1950. The bill was modeled after the Pittman-Robertson Act but placed excise taxes on fishing equipment. Over the years, the act has been amended multiple times to include: a three-percent excise tax on electric trolling motors and fish finders and to have a portion of motorboat and small motor fuel tax revenues placed into the Sport Fish Restoration Account.
Similar to to the Pittman-Robertson Act provisions, states must have state legislation passed that specifies the money collected from fishing licenses can only be used by the state’s fishery management agency.
Projects that qualify to receive money from the Sport Fish Restoration Account include the acquisition and improvement of sport fish habitat, stocking of fish, research of fishery resource problems, surveys of sport fish populations, and the acquisition and development of access facilities for public use.
Of the money collected, annually distributions are made to the Multistate Conservation Grant Program, the Sport Fish and Boating Partnership Council, as well as the Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific, and Great Lakes Fisheries Commissions. 57-percent of the money remaining following the above distributions, is appropriated to the states based on license sales as a portion of the national total.
The Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act and the Boating Safety programs – administered by the U.S. Coast Guard – each receive 18.5-percent of the remaining funds. The Clean Vessel Act, Boating Infrastructure, and the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation each receive two-percent.
 Why is this important to people that hunt and fish?
Knowing that a portion of the money they are spending on hunting and fishing items is going directly back to the conservation of fish and wildlife may make their decision to make purchases somewhat easier. It also shines an important light that each states’ natural resource agency directly relies on license sales to be eligible for federal funding.
In the year that New York went away from a saltwater fishing license to a no-fee registration, the NYSDEC received over $1 million less in federal funding due to the loss of sold licenses. The federal match averages to about $2 of federal money for every $1 of license sales.
Many state agencies already operate with a staff that is stretched thin with the current budget they have. Giving them less money would surely be problematic for the fish and wildlife of the state.