The Ohio Department
of Natural Resources has pulled the plug on any increases to hunting and
fishing license fees for residents.
Non-residents are a different
matter as the Natural Resources Department is now seeking to clarify its
clarification.
And the Ohio General Assembly's
House side of things has inserted language in HB 49 that would increase the
cost of a non-resident deer permit from the present $24 (same as for Ohio
residents) to $250.
Meanwhile, the same proposal
would boast the cost of a non-resident turkey tag - either spring or fall -
from the existing $24 to $75.
Last year the
Wildlife Division issued 51,268 either-sex deer tags to non-residents and 3,205
antlerless-only deer tags to non-residents.
Also, the Wildlife Division
issued 3,975 spring turkey tags to non-residents and another 1,118 fall turkey
tags to non-residents.
The budget bill license fee
amendment proposal's chief sponsor is Representative Johnathan Dever, R-Madeira.
For now Deaver’s proposal meets with the
Natural Resources Department’s approval.
“(The) ODNR has supported adjusted fees on
non-resident participants in the past and supports the effort once again, as
this change would align Ohio’s fees more closely with the non-resident fee
structures of other states,” said Matt Eiselstein, the agency’s designated
spokesman on the subject of any potential license fee increase to either
residents or non-residents.
The Columbus-based Sportsman’s Alliance says
while it appreciates the fee increase proposal for non-resident hunters it
doesn’t go far enough to plugging the Wildlife Division’s emerging fiscal leaks.
(At the tag of this blog is the
official position on the subject by Natural Resources Director James Zehringer.)
Even so, some critics are arguing
that the Department pulled the rug out from under the Wildlife Division in
general and Ray Petering in particular. That belief is focused on the chief
being on the record as stating that his agency is “…doing 2017 programs on 2004
money.”
And putting the
brakes on the Wildlife Division and its employees officially backing any
license fee increase was what the Natural Resources Department said in a short,
terse e-mail note to this writer and one other reporter. That short missive
reads:
“At this time, the
Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife does not support a
license fee increase on Ohio’s hunters and anglers. While we appreciate the
support of our sportsmen, we are seeking efficiencies and savings within the
Department that will result in a higher level of service, without raising
license fees.”
The Departmental
communiqué bears the sender as being Petering but includes the notation that
any further contact be directed to Natural Resources agency spokesman Matt
Eiselstein.
For
his part Eiselstein notes that his agency is “always seeking opportunities to better
utilize our resources, and that does include understanding the value of our
landholdings.”
That
exploration of knowing the value of Department-owned lands and structures
includes the Wildlife Division’s District One Headquarters complex in Columbus.
In a further
statement to the “Ohio Outdoor News,” Eiselstein says the Natural Resources
Department has had an appraisal of D-1 performed but does mention any actual
goal of channeling the work of the 24-person staff there to Fountain Square.
“(The)
ODNR conducts between 30 to 50 official appraisals annually, and these figures
do not include the dozens of property valuations conducted by staff each year,”
Eiselstein said.
“The position of the
department is that we need to look at fiscally responsible ways to achieve our
goals before we ask Ohio’s sportsmen and women to pay more for hunting and
fishing opportunities,” Eiselstein said.
Those efforts have included
fact-finding in regard to office space and property values, including D-1, says
Eiselstein said in a second electronically sent memo on the subject.
“The appraisal is an initial step
in determining the value of an asset. Any discussion at this point regarding
plans for the property beyond determining and examining its value would be
premature, as no course of action has been determined,” Eiselstein said.
Still, reports are suggesting
that the Wildlife Division will move D-1 to Fountain Square with the
expectation that it will pay the Department an annual rental fee of up to
$500,000.
However, in a third
round of notations the Natural Resources Department is now pulling back from
its back-stepping in regards to whether to increase non-resident fishing and
hunting license fees.
Eislstein noted to
this writer in an April 25th electronic exchange that his statement of no fee
increases was a reference to "Ohio's sportsmen and women..."
"Non-resident fees are being
considered separately, and this does not have to be a both or neither
scenario," Eislstein said in his latest electronic posting.
All of
this twisting and turning on the increasingly complex matter follows
on the heels of the April 14th “Ohio Outdoor News” story “Ohio
groups push on for license hike.”
In that article its author and publication editor Mike
Moore pointed out how the Columbus-based Sportsmen’s Alliance had teamed with approximately
two dozen other Ohio-related or -based sportsmen and conservation groups in
backing license fee increases for hunters and anglers.
This fee jump was
especially aimed at non-resident deer hunters. The ad hoc assembly pointed out
that Ohio charges the least expensive non-resident deer-hunting fee package of
“…any quality white-tailed deer hunting state in the country…” citing a figure
of $149 while the average for such states is $393.
In
the “Ohio Outdoor News” article, Petering is quoted as illustrating the
importance of periodic license fee augmentation when he referenced the 2017 and
2004 comparison with “…that’s easy for the average person to wrap their head
around.”
“You’re
not keeping pace with inflation let alone everything else,” Petering is quoted
as saying.
Petering
further said that such fee increases are of the kind typically and often
supported by those who pay the bills: Ohio’s hunters and anglers.
“They
basically said ‘we want these types of agencies to exist and we’ll pay money for
it,’” Petering also said in the article, continuing, “This is in keeping with a
long-term tradition and legacy here.”
Yet -
in effect - those comments by Petering need to be taken more broadly since the
chief never actually said the Wildlife Division has ever pushed “for more
money,” Eiselstein says too.
Consequently,
Eiselstein says he doesn’t
believe that Petering’s comments “or any subsequent statements indicate a
reversal of our position.”
Even so, backing the
idea of license fee increases – and thus supporting Petering’s former-proposal
endorsement – were all six of the current members comprising the eight-member
Ohio Wildlife Council.
The
two other Wildlife Council members saw their terms expire at the end of March,
and at the time of this writing neither person had either been reappointed nor
replacements named.
The
six document signees penned a letter to Ohio Governor John Kasich, Natural
Resources Director James Zehringer and members of the Ohio General Assembly
that buttresses their collective appeal for license fee increases.
“We have grown increasingly
concerned about the ability of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources /
Division of Wildlife to fulfill its mission to the satisfaction of the citizens
of Ohio,” the memorandum reads.
“While other government agencies
are able to absorb cost increases by seeking additional revenue from the
general tax payer coffers, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources / Ohio Division
of Wildlife is funded by user fees that have not been adjusted since
2003, the longest stretch in the agency’s history.”
As such, the signers
said the state’s hunters and anglers are taking note of the several counties
“where wildlife officers are no longer present because the agency lacks the
funds to hold a cadet class to replace retiring officers.”
Similarly, the document’s
six signing members state, “Wildlife production areas are more often unmanaged
prior to key hunting seasons” while “fish stocking programs have decreased over
this same period.”
In concluding their
declaration of support for license fee increases the six Wildlife Council
members stated “For these reasons, the Ohio Wildlife Council is calling on you
Governor Kasich and the Ohio General Assembly to support these very modest
increases that would be paid entirely by those who use these Resources.”
Neither are others buying
into what they believe is an attempt by the Natural Resources Department to
reign in Petering’s once strong support for license fee increases of all kinds.
Sportsman’s Alliance CEO
and President Evan Heisinkveld said his – and 29 other outdoors and
conservation organizations “appreciate the House Finance Committee's decision
to include Representative Dever's non-resident fee increase in the budget bill.”
“It is a major step in the
right direction,” said Evan Heusinkveld. “However, we believe that a modest
increase in resident fees is also necessary to address the funding crisis of
the Division of Wildlife. Ohio's sportsmen and women are asking for this
increase in their own user fees because they understand the nexus between
conservation programs and hunting license fees.”
Since the need for additional
funding is “abundantly clear,” Hesusinkveld also says, the turn-about only
“makes the Department’s position not only confusing, given its past support,
but unsatisfactory as well.”
Thus, while fiscal responsibility
and efficiency are vital, “serving the paying public and quality is even more important,”
Heusinkveld said as well.
“Governor Kasich spoke of his support
for a fee increase on non-residents in 2014 at a sportsmen’s reception
at the Governor’s mansion while Natural Resources Department Director
Zehringer testified in support of a non-resident fee increase before the
legislature in 2015,” Heusinkveld said.
And efforts at being fiscally
responsible and equally fiscally fair are what helped motivate Ohio Wildlife
Council member/secretary Thomas A. Vorisek of Gahanna to back the fee increase
concept and plant his name to the group’s declaration of support.
“Yes, I am disappointed and confused,”
Vorisek said in a telephone interview about the Department-ordered 180-degree
turn-about. “Is it really too much to ask that we have a wildlife officer in
every county?”
Vorisek then highlighted how one of the
main thrusts of the fee increase idea was directed at the 40,000 or so
non-resident deer hunters, who are enjoying a sweet bargain and who also have
in many instances leased land that shuts out Ohio resident hunters.
Asked then if he were concerned that
his “disappointment” over the Natural Resources Department’s inverted stance
regarding a unified license fee proposal will cost him reappointment to the
Wildlife Council, Vorisek quickly responded “no.”
His appointment to the Council expires
January 2018.
“I’m never concerned about the consequences
of doing the right thing,” Vorisek said.
The following is the April 25th unedited
statement made by Ohio Natural Resources Director James Zehringer regarding
proposed license fee increases:
“Ohioans who
enjoy hunting, fishing and trapping face a difficult challenge: how to manage
our resources and preserve our heritage in a period of declining participation.
We share a commitment to conserve and improve the state’s fish and wildlife
resources in a sustainable way, even as fewer Ohioans choose to hunt, fish and
trap every year. Ohio sportsmen and women share a common goal and common
values. The challenge is how best to achieve our shared goals.
“As Director
of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), and as a lifelong
conservationist, I share these commitments and concerns. I fully support
the statutory role given to ODNR’s Division of Wildlife, but we must also
balance competing demands and priorities to set a course that succeeds long
term.
“When
discussing hunting and fishing license fees, it would be easy to maximize
revenue and raise rates based on what the market will bear in the short
term. But declining participation rates, and the sustainability of the
model, must be part of the conversation.
- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
