I hesitate to beat the same drum … again … but please forgive one more rant on the state’s budget mess, and its possible ramifications.

Last week a determined bunch of Maine sportsmen and women headed to Augusta and told the legislature’s appropriations committee exactly what it thought about proposed cuts to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s budget.

Legislators (hopefully) heard them.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of other folks out there who should be concerned … and aren’t.

Many believe that the DIF&W serves only those of us who hunt and fish. Many also think that it’s perfectly acceptable that hunters and fishermen foot the entire DIF&W bill, via their license fees.

The basic argument: You’re the ones using our resources … you’re the ones who should pay for the privilege.

I, and many like me, willingly pay for plenty of privileges.

Unlike some, every time I belly up to the counter at the town office and pay for one license or another, I think the same thing: What a great deal.

I think of the hundreds of hours of enjoyment a simple $20 license purchase will afford me … of all the friends I’ll make in the field … of all the meals I’ll eat in front of my tent, under a starlit sky. When I put it in that context, I figure I’m getting off pretty cheap.

Here’s the problem: In today’s lingo, I am considered a “consumptive” user of our resources. I can (though I rarely do) keep a fish, cook it up, and gobble it down. I can (though I haven’t, yet) shoot a deer, or a bear, or a rabbit, and put some meat in my freezer.

I pay for those privileges. Willingly.

But there are plenty of others who enjoy the resources … and pay nothing. Some people call them “non-consumptive” users.

They’re the folks paddling their canoes across a placid pond, hiking on a wilderness trail, or sitting on the edge of a bog, waiting for the chance to take a photo of a monster moose.

They’re all of us, at one time or another. We’re the taxpayers of Maine. And unless we choose to buy a permit or license, we pay the DIF&W nothing.

Sounds fair, you say. The non-payers are “non-consumptive,” you say.

Not so fast.

The DIF&W aids all of us. If the hiker or paddler gets lost or swamped, the Warden Service will help them.

And if the moose-watcher wants to know where the massive critters like to hang out, it may well be a DIF&W employee who tells them exactly where to go … and hands them a map.

Of course, they won’t pay a thing for the privilege (DIF&W can charge people for rescue services, but rarely does) … and many will treat whatever help or advice they get as a God-given right.

Consider: The trout they love to watch – the ones that leap from the water during each evening hatch, and which their young children can catch, for free, every day of the summer – were likely put in that pond by DIF&W employees, and raised in a state hatchery.

Again, they pay nothing.

And consider this: Each year, thousands of us head to the town office … reach for our wallets … and pay for a license.

Each year, thousands of us have probably figured we’re getting a pretty good deal, not really thinking about all the people who benefit from the fees we pay.

Not any more.

We’re all non-consumptive users, at times. And at other times, often when we least expect it, most of us may need all the help the DIF&W can offer.

It’s time for the entire state to step forward and help protect the resources that all of us get to enjoy.

Many of us get our fishing fix by hopping into the truck, driving an hour or more, then trudging through the woods to a favorite spot.

Others – like farmers who have a small pond on their property – can walk across their front yard.

For those who typically stock their own pond with fish, an important note: The Knox-Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District’s annual trout stocking sale is under way.

Under the program, pond owners can acquire disease-free, certified rainbow trout at a reasonable price, with the added convenience of a pickup location close to their pond.

The trout are supplied by Sea Run Holdings in Freeport, and this year’s trout range from four to seven inches.

According to the Knox-Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District, the necessary free permits from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for a one-year or five-year period. The DIF&W requires a map pinpointing the pond’s location, and the permit application is included in the order form provided by the Knox-Lincoln SWCD.

Orders for trout will be taken until April 30, and delivery for Lincoln County will be on May 5. Knox County’s delivery date is May 6.

For more information. Call Mary Tiel at 273-2005, extension 101.

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