The management of Colorado's wildlife, and the funding for that management, must change dramatically if healthy, diverse populations of wildlife are to survive into the 21st century. The Executive Task Force on the Future of Wildlife, predicted in their 1987 report, WILDLIFE 21, that changing lifestyles and expanding urban development will continue to have serious effects upon wildlife and Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) funding sources:
- Wildlife habitat will continue to disappear as Colorado's human population grows and development spreads.
- Revenue from purchases of hunting licenses will decline as the population becomes increasingly urban.
- Recreational demands for fishing will increase.
- Expenses required to meet proposed wildlife management goals will far exceed present funding sources.
- Funding for wildlife must come from all people who enjoy wildlife.
So What is the DOW Doing?
The most pressing goal set forth in WILDLIFE 21 was to find alternative funding sources that would enable the Division to fulfill it's mission. Perry Olson, Director of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, recently discussed what has been accomplished since the 1987 Task Force report.
"Wildlife management in Colorado is almost entirely user-funded," explains Olson. "WILDLIFE 21 showed that we must broaden our constituency. Public needs are changing. We're seeing a shift from hunting and fishing to wildlife watching activities. We must seek other funding sources that give people who don't hunt or fish the opportunity to help protect our wildlife. Otherwise, wildlife, and the very quality of life in this state, are threatened."
Over the past three years, the Division has experienced varying success in the accomplishment of the goals set forth in WILDLIFE 21:
- A state foundation for wildlife has been established through the Colorado Wildlife Heritage Foundation.
- A proposal enabling the Wildlife Commission, rather than the legislature, to adjust license fees to keep up with inflation had been defeated thus far in the legislature.
- An excise tax on outdoor recreational equipment was proposed, but was not approved by the Legislature.
- Future funding for the Watchable Wildlife and Nongame and Endangered Wildlife programs is being discussed within the Colorado Department of Natural Resources as part of a broader effort to seek long-term, permanent funding for wildlife, trails, and open space.
- As a pilot project testing potential revenue, two videos on hunting were produced by the Division and generated over $15,000.
- The Nongame Income Tax Check-off was reauthorized in 1987, but is slated to sunset again in 1990. The Division is working for survival of this important revenue source. (see Threatened and Endangered: Nongame Income Tax Check-off in this issue).
If you have any innovative ideas to substantially increase funding for Nongame and Endangered Wildlife and Watchable Wildlife programs, please write to us.
Next: Winter Adaptations
(The information contained in these issues of Colorado's Wildlife Company was accurate at the time of original publication. Situations and circumstances described, staff positions, contact information, and dates of some events may have changed in the interim. Present knowledge and understanding of biological and behavioral facts and information may also be different, now, than presented here.)