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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder’s 2013-14 budget proposes double-digit hikes to Michigan’s hunting and fishing license fees as part of a plan to hire more conservation officers and improve the state’s habitat for fish and game.
If approved by the Legislature, the license fee increases would be the first since 1997, according to Department of Natural Resources officials.
• PDF: Hunting & Fishing License Fee Proposal
Keith Creagh, the DNR director, said the state’s natural resources, including parks, and lakes and trails, are so important to Michigan’s tourism industry that he sees the investments proposed in today’s budget as key to the state’s long-term recovery from the recent decade-long recession.
“Michigan doesn’t need to take a back seat to anybody on world-class resources,” Creagh said Wednesday.
WATCH LIVE: Gov. Snyder presents 2013-14 budget
Part of the plan involves increasing the annual amount raised from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses by 38%, from $48.2 million to $66.6 million. But much of the impact of the higher fees would be felt more by non-residents than by residents.
Highlights of the DNR budget include:
• Introduction of a base hunting license fee of $10 for Michigan residents and $150 for non-residents. It would cover small game such as squirrels and rabbits, plus migratory birds and water fowl; but licenses for deer, elk, turkey, moose and other game would have to be purchased in addition to the base fee.
• The cost of a deer tag — for a buck or a doe — would increase to $20 from $15, for residents and non-residents.
• Fishing licenses would be simplified as the department moves away from a system based on fish species to a one-priced license for all species. The cost of a one-day fishing license would increase to $15 from $7. But a season-long fishing license for all species would drop in price to $25 from $28 for residents, while increasing to $75 from $42 for non-residents. Currently, residents can buy a restricted fishing license, which is good for only certain fish species, for $15. Discounts would continue or be enhanced for seniors and veterans.
• Plans to spend $21.5 million or more dredging harbors around the Great Lakes, with $11.5 million in general fund money coming from a supplemental appropriation for the 2013 fiscal year and the balance coming from the Michigan State Waterways Fund.
• The number of conservation officers would increase by 24%, to 214 from 173.
Creagh said the department has support for the increases from groups representing outdoors enthusiasts, based on the department’s promises to use the money primarily to improve wildlife habitat, outreach and public safety.
Close to $2 million would be paid in grants to stakeholders to increase fisheries habitat in inland lakes and streams, and close to $1 million would increase the rearing and stocking of fish by fish hatcheries.
The amount of the DNR budget coming from the state’s main checking account, the general fund, would increase from $17.6 million this year to $24.6 million in 2014. |
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Location: Badgerland | Typical bureuacrats.... Aleady have the money spent on what they assume the increase will bring. I tell you as a nonresident purchaser for 30 years, a 45% increse is a bit of a wtf ??? It won't deter me from buying but what about people who are planning trips on a budget ? People who are going to choose which Great Lakes state to take a family vacation in ? or people who previously were on the fence about whether it was worth the old fee ? I will definitely be practicing a little less C&R at that increase. "Creagh said the department has support for the increases from groups representing outdoors enthusiasts, based on the department’s promises to use the money primarily to improve wildlife habitat, outreach and public safety." THIS is the part we can't bank on.
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