DIF&W’s budget cuts damaging

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A week and a half ago, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife fired a pre-emptive strike and announced proposed cuts that would pare more than $5 million from its departmental budget.

In effect, the move amounted to the department lopping off its own hand in hopes that the governor won’t ask for the entire arm … or more.

That may end up happening after all; the DIF&W’s budget proposal will not become official until the legislature accepts it, and the proposed cuts may change as economic conditions change.

Unfortunately, many lump the DIF&W and its tasks into the “recreation” category, and during times of economic trouble, the term “recreation” tends to be translated as “nonessential.”

Even more unfortunately, some sportsmen tend to think of the DIF&W as a bullying big brother of sorts. As a result, many of the people you’d expect to oppose any action to limit the state’s fish and game governing body aren’t nearly as angry as you’d think.

Some probably think the DIF&W is getting exactly what it deserves.

Is state government too large and unwieldy? Perhaps. Do cuts have to be made? Absolutely. But make no mistake about it: These cuts will severely impact the tasks our state’s fish and game stewards are able to accomplish.

Let’s start with the warden service. Have you ever heard anyone (save the “unfortunate” poacher who ends up staring at a badge after being caught) say we have too many wardens?

Of course not. I fish a lot. Much of the time, I’m at popular fishing spots … the kind of place you assume would top a warden’s checklist. And rarely do I see a warden.

The reasons: Maine is full of fishable water. It’s not full of wardens. And our wardens have been increasingly forced to spend their time performing a number of tasks that keep them from being out in the woods, or on the waters, of the state.

Wardens are the traffic cops for ATVs and snowmobiles. They get called when a deer or moose is hit by a car. Some have told me that they get calls reporting bats in camps, squirrels in attics, and all kinds of things you wouldn’t imagine fall under their purview.

And according to the new budget, we’ll have fewer wardens soon. (That noise you just heard was the sound of a hundred die-hard poachers raising a Narragansett to the news.)

Three lieutenants, three sergeants, and two district wardens will be eliminated.

In addition, the department will make do with nine fewer employees in the wildlife division, four hatchery employees (and one hatchery), and four fisheries biologists.

Ten percent fewer trout will be stocked into Maine’s waters. Aerial surveys and temporary help for fisheries fieldwork would be reduced by 60 percent.

Oh. One more thing. Any license you buy will cost $6 more. And an any-deer application will cost you $5.

Not quantified, but just as damaging, will be the transfer of several loyal wardens, along with their families, from areas they’ve adapted to, grown to love, and call home.

The choice will be simple (for those who have enough seniority to merit a choice). Stay in town … and get another job, or remain a warden, go where we tell you … and displace someone else.

Among the other cuts and effects:

. The DIF&W will pare two positions from its Information and Education Division – the same division that recently won an international award as a model program for other states to imitate.

. The DIF&W will likely stop supporting other law enforcement agencies and activities, unless their support is directly related to fish and wildlife management or recreational vehicles.

. Aging and outdated equipment will not be replaced, and the systematic replacement of hatchery trucks will cease.

. Two wildlife biologist positions in the resource assessment section headquarters in Bangor will be eliminated. The result: The DIF&W will focus on deer, bear, moose, and game birds. According to a department press release, their “capacity to manage other mammals will be lost.”

How do you stop this, you ask? Didn’t the legislature pass a law last year designed to protect the DIF&W … and provide 18 percent of its budget from general fund money?

Yes, it did. But the DIF&W won’t be getting that money this year. Times are too tough. Money’s in short supply.

Unfortunately, it will be years before we find out exactly how devastating this round of cuts actually is.

And by then, it will be way too late to do anything about it.

Jim Nicholas called to inform me that the Maine Ice Anglers Association, which I incorrectly referred to as a new organization in Tuesday’s column, has been around since 1991.

Nicholas is the president of the group, and he ought to know.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.