Can Idaho F&G land fee hikes in a recession?

Hunting a big buck could cost you more bucks next fall, and the price of a salmon or steelhead permit could jump like a fish up a waterfall.

While other state agencies are trimming their budgets because of lean state revenues, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is swimming against the tide by seeking a $6.9 million increase in hunting and fishing fees.

But unlike other agencies, Fish and Game receives no state general funds, and it has not had a fee increase since 2005.

Fish and Game Commission Chairman Cameron Wheeler of Ririe, who is a former state representative, said Monday the timing will make the fee hike a difficult sell in the Legislature.

“I don’t think there’s any question it’s going to be tough, due to the economy,” Wheeler said.

The proposal was crafted last summer in a committee that included legislators.

“A lot of this was put together before the economy collapsed,” Wheeler said. “I was committed that, once we formed a strategy, we would stick with it.”

The proposed increase would fund Fish and Game for several years. If the department postpones the proposal for a year or if it fails in the Statehouse, it would be at least summer 2010 before the agency could get additional revenue. By then the agency would have to trim its programs, but Fish and Game officials said they haven’t decided what would get cut.

In the past decade, the Idaho Legislature has approved two fee increases for Fish and Game, in 2000 and 2005, both of which were less than what Fish and Game sought. In 2005, legislators trimmed a proposed 14 percent increase to 10 percent.

Fish and Game manages all the state’s wildlife, from bluebirds to bull elk, and currently operates on a $76 million annual budget with about 528 full- time employees.

It is seeking a 20 percent overall fee increase this year, but doing it differently than in the past. The agency has historically sought equal, across-the-board increases for licenses and tags.

This time, the department wants to raise the cost of basic licenses by a smaller percentage than for “premium” hunting and fishing opportunities like controlled hunts. The agency is proposing an 80/20 split in revenues from the increase, with the larger share paying for existing programs.

The 20 percent, or about $1.8 million, would be earmarked for such specific things as:

Additional hatchery trout production.

More family fishing waters.

Improving wildlife habitat.

Stocking more pheasants at wildlife management areas.

Buying more public access for hunting and fishing on private lands.

Sportsmen’s groups from around the state have largely supported the fee increase, according to Mark Bell, president of the Idaho Sportsmen’s Caucus Advisory Council, which represents 28 groups from fly fishermen to trappers.

“We had a majority vote of support,” Bell said. “We don’t want to see a continuing deterioration of (F&G’s) programs. We don’t see the logic in that.”

But not all sportsmen agree.

Dick Orcutt of Mountain Home retired from Fish and Game as a regional wildlife manager after 41 years with the agency.

He said the agency has lost touch with the average sportsman, and its priorities are not in line with those hunters and anglers who could be paying more for licenses and tags.

He cited fewer pheasants stocked at WMAs, discontinuing turkey feeding in the Weiser area and declining mule deer herds as examples of where the agency has ignored concerns of hunters.

Orcutt said he rarely sees Fish and Game personnel in the field talking to sportsmen. “That’s where you find out what the pulse of the sportsman is,” he said.

When Fish and Game got its 2005 fee increase, officials estimated the additional revenues would last about two years. Legislators also asked F&G officials to seek smaller but more frequent fee hikes.

F&G proposed a 12 percent fee increase in 2006, but withdrew the request at the request of Gov. Butch Otter before the legislative session started.

Fish and Game Deputy Director Virgil Moore said the agency has $3 million in its rainy-day fund that could carry it through 2009 without cutting programs.

He said if the fee increase fails, Fish and Game would not use all of its reserves this year.

“We would start taking some cost-saving measures,” he said. “We wouldn’t take our rainy-day fund down to zero.”

At the earliest, Fish and Game would see additional revenue in July, so hunters and anglers could buy a 2009 license for 2008 prices.