Syracuse.com - Crisis averted: $18 million in federal funds for fish and wildlife purposes will be coming N.Y.'s way

[HuntingNY-News]

The money will be coming our way thanks largely to the Conservation Fund Advisory Board and other outdoor advocates across the state who first raised this issue.

It looks like $18 million in federal money that was scheduled to come to the state this year for fish and wildlife management and habitat restoration is safe for now.

Outdoor advocates, such as members of the state’s Conservation Fund Advisory Board, have been howling for the past year that wording in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2011-12 budget wiped away the state’s eligibility for the federal money.

They were referring to a section that appeared to give the state authority to dip into the state’s Conservation Fund to cover expenses other than for fish and wildlife management. Their fear was that Cuomo’s proposed 2012-13 spending plan was going to continue with the same language.

Cuomo’s folks insisted early on there was nothing to the sportsmen’s concerns. However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service disagreed, saying the state’s own laws prohibit that sort of budget shuffling. The Conservation Fund is supported largely by sportsmen’s license fees for hunting, fishing and trapping, and its use is restricted by state law to fish and wildlife management.

The reason the federal funding wasn’t terminated last year was that it was committed before last year’s state budget was passed. That wouldn’t have been the case for the coming year if nothing was changed, federal officials said.

After a high-ranking official from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notified the state that the money would not be coming unless things were changed, a revision to the 2012-13 spending plan was drafted. It specifically stated that budget transfers “that would result in the loss of eligibility for federal benefits or federal funds” would not be allowed.

The federal money comes from federal excise taxes paid by sportsmen on such things as the purchase of firearms and ammunition, fishing equipment, small boats and motors, etc. It’s the result of longstanding federal legislation, namely the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration and the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Acts.

The requirements of the two federal laws are that the money that the state takes in from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses must be used in accordance with state law to manage fish and wildlife.

Following the rewording of the state’s proposed 2012-13 budget document, a Feb. 22 letter written by John F. Organ, chief of the Division of Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, noted that the revised wording was “minimally sufficient to allow New York state to maintain eligibility to participate in the federal programs.”

I know this sounds like a lot of bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, but the bottom line is $18 million in federal money that the state was counting on to protect and enhance New York’s fish, wildlife and habitat was in danger of being withheld. Now it’s not.

In addition, thanks largely to the Conservation Fund Advisory Board and other outdoor advocates across the state who first raised this issue, the money will now be coming our way.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog