Friends,
There could be some changes on the horizon for the management of wildlife from the CPW in the state of Colorado. The Strategic Planning process seeks to outline new funding opportunities for wildlife management and there is no secret that this will be proposed in the form of a tax - possibly from the non consumptive users and general fund. There has been a great deal of preparation on their part to get to this point as the links at the bottom of this page will show, as well as the Path Forward plan that was set in place a few years ago. Everyone who is a hunter or fisherman and those in the outdoor industry will be affected from State and local economies to Motels, restaurants, gas stations, meat processors, taxidermists, Landowners, outfitters etc... and needs to participate in the survey and this process.
There is a great deal of politics in wildlife today and have made many issues complex and divided sportsmen to where we are today. However in reality though it is a supply and demand issue and everything revolves around the supply, many local economies depend on hunting season revenues to survive and is their way of life. This 5 year season structure process should have made bigger strides and gains in obtaining those goals towards abundant wildlife but election year politics has kept it suppressed and leaned another direction.
By legislative statute title 33-1-101 it is the policy of the state of Colorado that the wildlife and their environment are to be protected, preserved, enhanced, and managed for the use, benefit, and enjoyment of the people of this state and its visitors. It is further declared to be the policy of this state that there shall be provided a comprehensive program designed to offer the greatest possible variety of wildlife-related recreational opportunity to the people of this state and its visitors and that, to carry out such program and policy, there shall be a continuous operation of planning, acquisition, and development of wildlife habitats and facilities for wildlife related opportunities.
The bottom line though is it comes back to the CPW and how they manage or mismanage wildlife and funding, there are many differences of facts and opinions within CPW that don't align with the majority of sportsmens. When populations of animals are reduced and other factors are not addressed that continue to cause the decline in wildlife populations and are struggling to recover such as mule deer, antelope and elk in some areas - then all of these other issues become passionate and emotional for sportsmen and they look to point fingers and fight among each other about who should get the opportunity to hunt.
There have been multiple reasons why these discussions become more emotional such as,
DOW going broke - went from a 60 million dollar surplus to a 12 million dollar deficit in 8 years
Wildlife Population declines
Amendments 10 and 14
Increased Depredation, Increased licenses, bears, coyotes, lions, eagles, poachers, ravens, crows, etc...
Management for opportunity
Increased Mortality - highway, CWD, EHD, fences,winter kill, lack of feeding programs, etc...
Lack of transparency/accountability of CPW programs and expenditures
Increase in residency - More hunters moving here
License Allocations - 60/40 - 65/35 soft cap
Loss of non resident Hunters -
Politics
Colorado has lost over 40,000 non resident hunters since 2000, and more than quadrupled that in new resident hunters - people moving here. It currently takes 13 residents to equal 1 non resident. With more resident hunters in the field and reduced wildlife populations there are fewer dollars coming into Dow programs and State and local economies, therefore wildlife management suffers. Non resident license fees have almost tripled since 2000 and increased again for the 2015 season with no increase in resident fees.
There is no tax money that comes to Dow for wildlife management except Pittman Robertson and Dingle Johnson Funds that can only go for habitat and research etc...- not operating money, so the Dow depends on the non resident hunter - always has. Out of the 59 million dollars that Dow receives annually in license sales - 45 million comes from the NR hunter, they pay for every program Dow has and without it would cease to exist.FY 13-14 Q3 Financial Report
.
The North American Model for Wildlife Conservation also calls for equal opportunity on public lands of which there are 23,000,000 million acres in Colorado.
Given the fact that public land belongs to all people of the United States regardless of where one lives there should be an equal opportunity for both residents and non - residents. Wildlife needs to be enhanced and managed on public lands as well as private.
SCORP
Of Colorado voters
responding to the 2012
Conservation in the West
Poll, 86 percent said that
?Even with state budget
problems, we should still
find money to protect and
maintain Colorado?s land,
water and wildlife.? 82
percent said the same about
state parks.
?Conservation in the West Poll:
Colorado College State of the
Rockies Project.
Financial Sustainability Flier
public comment form
The bottom line is that sportsmen and women have always payed for wildlife management and should continue to,
These programs and surveys are the voice for future management, please fill them out and pass it on to any and all interested and affected parties.
Thank You
There could be some changes on the horizon for the management of wildlife from the CPW in the state of Colorado. The Strategic Planning process seeks to outline new funding opportunities for wildlife management and there is no secret that this will be proposed in the form of a tax - possibly from the non consumptive users and general fund. There has been a great deal of preparation on their part to get to this point as the links at the bottom of this page will show, as well as the Path Forward plan that was set in place a few years ago. Everyone who is a hunter or fisherman and those in the outdoor industry will be affected from State and local economies to Motels, restaurants, gas stations, meat processors, taxidermists, Landowners, outfitters etc... and needs to participate in the survey and this process.
There is a great deal of politics in wildlife today and have made many issues complex and divided sportsmen to where we are today. However in reality though it is a supply and demand issue and everything revolves around the supply, many local economies depend on hunting season revenues to survive and is their way of life. This 5 year season structure process should have made bigger strides and gains in obtaining those goals towards abundant wildlife but election year politics has kept it suppressed and leaned another direction.
By legislative statute title 33-1-101 it is the policy of the state of Colorado that the wildlife and their environment are to be protected, preserved, enhanced, and managed for the use, benefit, and enjoyment of the people of this state and its visitors. It is further declared to be the policy of this state that there shall be provided a comprehensive program designed to offer the greatest possible variety of wildlife-related recreational opportunity to the people of this state and its visitors and that, to carry out such program and policy, there shall be a continuous operation of planning, acquisition, and development of wildlife habitats and facilities for wildlife related opportunities.
The bottom line though is it comes back to the CPW and how they manage or mismanage wildlife and funding, there are many differences of facts and opinions within CPW that don't align with the majority of sportsmens. When populations of animals are reduced and other factors are not addressed that continue to cause the decline in wildlife populations and are struggling to recover such as mule deer, antelope and elk in some areas - then all of these other issues become passionate and emotional for sportsmen and they look to point fingers and fight among each other about who should get the opportunity to hunt.
There have been multiple reasons why these discussions become more emotional such as,
DOW going broke - went from a 60 million dollar surplus to a 12 million dollar deficit in 8 years
Wildlife Population declines
Amendments 10 and 14
Increased Depredation, Increased licenses, bears, coyotes, lions, eagles, poachers, ravens, crows, etc...
Management for opportunity
Increased Mortality - highway, CWD, EHD, fences,winter kill, lack of feeding programs, etc...
Lack of transparency/accountability of CPW programs and expenditures
Increase in residency - More hunters moving here
License Allocations - 60/40 - 65/35 soft cap
Loss of non resident Hunters -
Politics
Colorado has lost over 40,000 non resident hunters since 2000, and more than quadrupled that in new resident hunters - people moving here. It currently takes 13 residents to equal 1 non resident. With more resident hunters in the field and reduced wildlife populations there are fewer dollars coming into Dow programs and State and local economies, therefore wildlife management suffers. Non resident license fees have almost tripled since 2000 and increased again for the 2015 season with no increase in resident fees.
There is no tax money that comes to Dow for wildlife management except Pittman Robertson and Dingle Johnson Funds that can only go for habitat and research etc...- not operating money, so the Dow depends on the non resident hunter - always has. Out of the 59 million dollars that Dow receives annually in license sales - 45 million comes from the NR hunter, they pay for every program Dow has and without it would cease to exist.FY 13-14 Q3 Financial Report
.
The North American Model for Wildlife Conservation also calls for equal opportunity on public lands of which there are 23,000,000 million acres in Colorado.
Given the fact that public land belongs to all people of the United States regardless of where one lives there should be an equal opportunity for both residents and non - residents. Wildlife needs to be enhanced and managed on public lands as well as private.
SCORP
Of Colorado voters
responding to the 2012
Conservation in the West
Poll, 86 percent said that
?Even with state budget
problems, we should still
find money to protect and
maintain Colorado?s land,
water and wildlife.? 82
percent said the same about
state parks.
?Conservation in the West Poll:
Colorado College State of the
Rockies Project.
Financial Sustainability Flier
public comment form
The bottom line is that sportsmen and women have always payed for wildlife management and should continue to,
These programs and surveys are the voice for future management, please fill them out and pass it on to any and all interested and affected parties.
Thank You
