Game & Fish Budget Needs Perplexing

Hunters and anglers alone can’t keep supporting the bulk of Wyoming’s wildlife management, according to Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials, and the state legislature apparently agrees. The department had sought increases in the costs of hunting and fishing licenses to help cover the department’s expenses.  Teton County Representative Keith Gingery explains that contributing to the drain on the department’s budget is an increase in responsibilities beyond their traditional wildlife concerns. Gingery says, “We need to look at some other options rather than Game and Fish Always being funded by hunting and fishing licenses.”  Gingery says this is especially true since Game and Fish is doing so many things that are non-game related – and the legislature tries to fund those activities as much as possible in other ways, but none-the-less, those things happen.  Three separate bills were proposed for this session of the legislature, but two died in committee and one was killed on first reading in the House.  Gingery says one solution might be to establish a separate Department of Natural Resources to look after habitat resources and other non-game issues, freeing up the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and its budget to manage wildlife.