Readers weighed in at bangordailynews.com on ClickBack questions posed in a Tuesday editorial column. Some of the comments follow; all comments can be seen on the newspaper’s Web site. To participate, look for the new questions on Tuesday, then visit the Web site and click through the ClickBack icon.

Should you need a permit to hike and kayak, just as hunters and fishermen have to pay?

There are few things people can enjoy that are free. Why don’t we just build walls around our beautiful state and charge people just for entering? It’s all too much. Areas that allow hiking should ask for donations. It’s a lot nicer than saying give me your money!

– Christine of Perry

Maine’s fish and wildlife resources generate over $1.3 billion in economic activity annually. More than $800 million is spent by wildlife watchers. By comparison, Maine spends pennies on its fish and wildlife resources, most of that coming from license fees from consumptive users. Maine’s fish and wildlife resources belong to all of us, and all of us should pay, whether or not we use this resource. As an aside, of the hundreds of millions of dollars taken in each year in tourism, virtually nothing is spent by this state to maintain clean water at our public bathing beaches. Perhaps the most equitable method of funding would be through a guaranteed percentage of the sales tax for a finite period, say 10 years.

– John G.

I find it really interesting that the state of Maine and the U.S. government are simultaneously trying to find new dollars to fund bank bailouts, basic community services and public recreational access. One day the focus is on cigarette tax increases, the next day on cutting critical human service needs and now a tax on kayaking and hiking on public property. The time would be better spent in finding ways to reduce corporate welfare payments (to companies making record profits; i.e. ExxonMobil), ending billion-dollar oil wars and refusing to rescue irresponsible financial institutions.

– Sher

Sher’s comments are right on.

This government is all about making the rich richer and the rest of us paying the tab.

– hathorshrine

Should moose permits be increased?

The latest Maine moose assessment says that the animal’s population has doubled in the past decade while the moose browse has declined by 25 percent to 75 percent and parasites are now killing moose in significant numbers. The scientists say the herd should never be greater than 60 percent of its carrying capacity, which it now may be.

– Vaughn Anthony

Sounds like another cockamamie idea from the outdoors extremists. More moose are dying so their answer is to kill more moose. They invent “facts” based on nothing, then they preach them as if they were gospel. Moose are dying and moose numbers are dropping across the southern portions of their range from Minnesota to Nova Scotia, likely due to warmer and shorter winters. The solution isn’t to kill more moose. Perhaps the only thing that we can do is to decrease the number of moose killed by hunters to try to offset the growing number of moose killed by disease and parasites.

– John G.

I don’t know where Mr. Anthony is getting his figures on moose numbers but according to [the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife] the state does not know the number of moose in Maine. This has been one of the major problems with moose management. One known factor is that winter ticks are negatively affecting young moose and causing significant deaths. This is not caused by population density [but by the] increase in temperatures in the fall.

Until a scientific census can be held and a more accurate accounting of the population is known, I believe that the moose hunt permits should be decreased.

– Janice

What do the Olympics mean for world affairs?

Olympic Games are NOT about politics!

The Olympic Games were established to transcend politics, war and all the ugliness associated with global diplomacy. Though I feel China has crossed the line with regard to treatment of Tibet, there is no way that should interfere with the events of the Olympics. I could care less about what George W. Bush or any other world leader does during the Olympics. What I want to see is swimmer Michael Phelps do some serious damage in his event, because we haven’t heard from him since the last Olympic Games. Let the Games begin!

– tenzing

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