By Justin D. Anderson
CHARLESTON — A decline in hunting and fishing license sales has left a $1.8 million budget hole for the state Division of Natural Resources.
Gov. Joe Manchin is recommending lawmakers backfill the deficit. The gap affects the wildlife resources, law enforcement and real estate sections of the division, which run on an $18 million budget.
Thirty-four conservation officer positions will be cut if the supplemental funds aren’t approved, the division says.
Hoy Murphy, DNR spokesman, said this is the first time the division has had to make this kind of request.
He said the division over the next year would be figuring out if the trend can be reversed.
“That’s a pretty good chunk of money,” Murphy said. “In order to keep our programs operating at the point that people have come to expect, the governor has proposed giving us that one-time supplemental.”
The law enforcement section needs the money to bring it up to the status quo $10.4 million budget, according to the division.
Other parts of the wildlife resources section could see funding problems in the future if the license sales continue to decline. Meanwhile, the section has been cutting costs in training and travel, buying less new equipment, reducing mileage driven and eliminating vacant posts.
A look at available records shows a decline in the number of state residents and non-residents buying hunting and fishing licenses between 1997 and 2006.
Over those years, the state has seen a 17 percent decrease in the number of resident hunters and 10 percent fewer resident anglers.
Residents made 303,325 license transactions in 1997 and 237,045 in 2006. Non-resident license sales had been on the decline until 2006, when sales increased to a 10-year high of 95,229.
Overall, revenue from the sales of hunting and fishing licenses have declined 26 percent since 1997, leaving the DNR with about $1.5 million less spending power.
A combined hunting, fishing and trapping license for a state resident costs $33. Non-residents pay $110 for a hunting and trapping license and $35 for a fishing license.
Lifetime license sales started strong in 1999 with 6,670 sold for $1.5 million, according to the DNR’s 2000 annual report.
Those sales dipped to between 1,025 and 1,731 between 2000 and 2004, showing a marked decrease in revenues for those years.
There was a slight increase in 2005, when 2,093 people bought lifetime licenses, bringing in $627,096.
A lifetime license to hunt, fish and trap costs $760 for adults and $380 for children.
In addition to the license revenue, the DNR also receives a portion of a federal tax levied on the sales of hunting and fishing equipment, Murphy said.
“Nationally, there is a trend in most states that the number of licenses being sold is down,” Murphy said.
The division will look at what’s causing the decline and possible ways to try to stabilize the license revenues, Murphy said.
Factors that may be affecting the revenues could include a growth in the number of hunters who are either 65 years or older and younger than 15 years, Murphy said. These groups don’t have to buy hunting licenses.
West Virginia has the third highest percentage of residents 65 and older in the nation, according to the national Census figures. The state also has the fourth highest participation rate of residents in hunting and fishing.
People who hunt on their own property also don’t need licenses, Murphy said.
The division is also speculating that gasoline prices might be keeping non-residents from driving into West Virginia to hunt and fish, Murphy said.
“It could be something cultural, for that matter,” he said. “If you skip a generation of hunting, you probably lost that family.
“We may have to do a little more promotion along that line, too.”
