Obviously nervous – even apprehensive and testy – Ohio Department
of Natural Resources assistant director Gary Obermiller told a group of outdoors
journalists May 6th that he “wasn’t even sure he should come.”
That uncertainty arrived while addressing attendees of the
Outdoor Writers of Ohio’s annual conference, held in Summit County’s Hudson.
Obermiller’s remarks were delivered during a presentation at
the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s District Three (Northeast Ohio) Office in
nearby Akron. They came on the heels of a recent vocal cacophony delivered by various
sportsmen and conservation groups, former Wildlife Division officials and others,
all of whom are requesting Departmental backing for increases to resident
fishing and hunting license fees.
The Natural Resources Department all ready has stated that
it backs increases in non-resident license fees, particularly for non-resident
deer hunters.
However, a gap in agreement for raises for residents hunters
and anglers exists between the Natural Resources Department and at least 32 state and
national sportsmen and conservation groups. And that gap is both a wide and a
very deep chasm, too.
Obermiller attempted to defuse the difference though at
times he seemed to stir the caldron even further; in one instance lambasting six
of the Wildlife Division’s immediate past living chiefs for publically supporting
resident license fee increases.
In effect, Obermiller said, the now-retired slate of former
Wildlife Division chiefs lacked in championing via their joint communiqué the
fee increase proposal since license sales not only stagnated during their
respective watches, but declined.
“Sometimes by double digits,” Obermiller said, who then
hastily added “(But) I’m not blaming them.”
Obermiller also says that a culture unique to the Wildlife
Division exists and is one that has not always been helpful – an oft-times
stated position in the media and by bystanders who regularly observe the
agency.
Yet that culture seems to have soured, say some within the
Wildlife Division who are fearful of expressing themselves publically.
“The Division of Wildlife has always operated at a distance
(from the Natural Resources Department) more than any other division,”
Obermiller said, adding that both the Natural Resources Department and the
Wildlife Division have “always had morale problems.”
As for the nearly three dozen groups now supporting
increases to resident angler and hunter license fees, Obermiller dismissed
their joint assembly on the issue out of hand. He even questioned whether the
various groups – including Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation,
the Columbus-based Sportsman’s Alliance and others – had polled their
membership regarding resident license fee increases or whether the decision
came just from the groups’ “leadership.”
“And what about the sportsmen who don’t belong to these
groups; do they agree or disagree with a license fee increase?” Obermiller rhetorically
asked. “I don’t know.”
When pressed that such a stand is similar to the tactic
employed by various anti-Second Amendment organizations against the National
Rifle Association and other pro-gun lobbying efforts, Obermiller angrily denied
such an analogy.
“Any (license fee increase) should be a last resort,”
Obermiller said also. “Just to say you’re operating on 2003 dollars is not
enough.”
Asked, however, just how many organized groups have
publically stated their support for the Natural Resources Department’s
position, Obermiller said it is not the agency’s “job go out and garner
support.”
Along those lines Obermiller seemed to have ignited the
spark that has generated the Natural Resources Department’s main thrust against
resident hunting and fishing license fee increases.
It is the Department’s position, said Obermiller, that not
only did the fee increase proponents catch the agency’s off guard as to the request
for the hikes but that they failed to explain in any detail exactly where the
additional revenue would be spent.
Similarly Obermiller said he is unsure of exactly how many
commissioned officers the Wildlife Division is lacking – including officers
assigned to counties, and whether the agency even needs money for additional
land acquisition.
“I don’t have a good handle on that,” Obermiller said.
To illustrate the Department’s unwavering support for the
Wildlife Division, Obermiller also not only reiterated but emphasized that the
Natural Resources Department has absolutely no intent nor desire to create a
unified law enforcement command that would enfold the Wildlife Division’s
commissioned officers with Park rangers, Forestry agents, and Watercraft
officers.
“I can’t make it any clearer: ‘We are not going down that
road,’” Obermiller said.
And the Department has championed the goal of the Wildlife
Division to seek ownership of at least some of the AEP land in southeast Ohio –
an extremely popular public hunting and fishing area owned by a private mineral
extraction company who is poised to sell off thousands of acres of land.
“We have no interest
in the Wildlife Division struggling or failing,” Obermiller said. “To think
otherwise is ridiculous. I can’t recall any time when Wildlife didn’t come to
us that we haven’t helped.”
Besides, said Obermiller, perhaps a non-resident fee
increase might prove ample in solving any fiscal problems that the Wildlife
Division may be encountering now or may encounter in the short or long term.
However, the future of the Wildlife Division’s District One
(Central Ohio) office does remain on the table Obermiller says.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
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