As the Executive Director of the Maine Professional Guides Association I attend a lot of meetings from legislative committees to sessions on specific natural resource topics. Of course I have opinions and frequently give them on a variety of topics. I was quoted again today on George Smiths blog speaking about the sad state of affairs when the biologist responsible for Maine’s deer herd has to apply for grants to get the equipment he needs to do his job.
In this case nine hundred dollars was needed. To put it in perspective; businesses around the state and the department rely on the deer herd for their economic survival. To think all of that is at risk for want of under a thousand dollars of budget calls into question the priorities and judgement of the folks making budget decisions. Seems to me to be a total lack of perspective and an unfortunate mix up of priorities.
We were all convinced that the general public saw value in fish and wildlife and would want to insure adequate funding. That has turned out to be very wrong thinking and we need to act quickly to improve the sales of hunting and fishing licenses so that our fish and wildlife resource managers are adequately funded. What do you think?
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