Gun advocates take aim at wildlife bill By Judith Kohler
DENVER - Legislation that would spread some of the cost of taking care of Colorado wildlife to non-hunters is being fought by gun advocates who warn of interference from environmentalists and higher fees for sportsmen.
The bill would require people using state wildlife areas to buy a $5 stamp, which would generate an estimated $7 million a year to acquire and improve wildlife habitat. The annual charge would apply to hunters and anglers as well as non-hunters who don't pay any entrance fees now.
House Bill 1266 would also increase resident hunting and fishing fees for the first time in 13 years.
The higher license fees don't bother Dave Gill, vice president of the Colorado State Shooting Association. He thinks it's unfair to charge hunters for the stamp on top of their license fees.
"It's inherently discriminatory against hunters," Gill said.
He also objects to including two environmentalists on a board that will recommend how to spend the money raised from the stamp. He said the four spots for sportsmen may be split between hunters and fishermen, so environmentalists could end up with disproportionate representation.
The shooting group, which is the state association for the National Rifle Association, the Firearms Coalition of Colorado and other opponents might find the bill more palatable if hunters were exempted from having to buy the habitat stamp, Gill said. The groups are tracking who votes for the legislation, which has passed both the state Senate and House and must be reviewed to see if the sponsors accept amendments tacked onto it.
If not, a Senate-House conference committee will hash out the differences.
"We will remember how people voted in the next election cycle," Gill said.
Rep. Joe Stengel, R-Littleton, one of the bill's sponsors, said the opponents had different complaints last year, when a similar bill died, but the intent is the same: to boost membership in their groups by creating controversy.
Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, another sponsor, agreed.
"This is the biggest issue the shooting sports (groups) could find this year, which I guess is good news for their members since there haven't been any anti-gun bills like they predicted would come out of the Democratic Legislature," Isgar said.
Financing wildlife agencies is often a contentious matter because most of the money comes from hunting and fishing license fees and federal taxes on hunting and fishing gear. Sportsmen have complained about carrying the fiscal load as demand for spending on non-game items has increased.
Meanwhile, the number of hunters is dropping, which means less revenue.
"Hunting is a declining business and fishing is flat, yet you have an increasing state population," said Eddie Kochman, the state fisheries manager who retired in April 2002 after 35 years. "You're going to have to have expanded funding, alternative funding."
The environmental groups lobbying to charge non-hunters using state wildlife areas should be cheered, not held in suspicion, said Kochman, a longtime advocate of a habitat stamp.
Other Western states, including Wyoming and Montana, sell stamps to make more money for wildlife. Wyoming charges anglers and hunters $10.50 for the annual stamp on top of their licenses, but doesn't require others to buy them to use state wildlife areas.
"We're all looking to improve the health of Colorado's wildlife; it's just that we have different ways to enjoy that," said David Nickum, executive director of the state chapter of Trout Unlimited.
The $5 stamp would apply to the state's 291 wildlife areas totaling 374,422 acres. Anglers who pay $5 besides fishing licenses would have to pay another $5 if they get a hunting license. People younger than 19 and older than 64 would be exempt.
The bill includes a 75-cent surcharge to pay to educate the public about hunting.
Increases in hunting and fishing license fees would range from $5 to $10 to $100 for such animals as mountain goats and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.
Denny Behrens of Grand Junction, who said he has hunted since he was 11, co-chaired a committee that worked on the legislation for several months. He said most of the major hunting, wildlife and conservation groups participated, but the NRA declined the invitation.
"To call the bill anti-hunting is just ludicrous. There have been some amendments added that are real positive," Behrens said.
One of the amendments would require 60 percent of the revenue from the stamp to go to big-game habitat, a change opposed by Kochman but backed by Behrens. Kochman also opposed reducing the stamp's cost from $10 to $5.
"The bill's been weakened, but I would be very disappointed if it were lost. That would be tragic," Kochman said.
Areas affected A bill in the Colorado Legislature that would require all users of Colorado wildlife areas to pay $5 for a habitat stamp would affect several areas in Southwest Colorado.
In La Plata County the stamp would be required to use Perins Peak, Bodo State Wildlife Area, Haviland Lake and Pastorius Reservoir.
In Montezuma County the stamp would be required to use the Dolores River Wildlife Area and Narraguinnep, Totten, Puett and Joe Moore reservoirs.
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