CA Governor Jerry Brown is proposing a $51,000,000 increase in the CA DFW's budget!
"The Governor's proposed FY 2018/19 budget includes a Budget Change Proposal (BCP) which would provide a critically needed $51M increase in ongoing funding for the Department of Fish and Wildlife. First and foremost, this BCP would fill a $20M operational shortfall in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund -- the Department's most important funding source. Further, among other things, the Governor's proposal specifically calls for some of the augmentation to be spent upon hunter and angler recruitment, retention and reactivation (R3), and enhanced communication with our community regarding hunting and fishing opportunities.
Although this BCP does not fully fund the Department's increasing responsibilities and unfunded statutory mandates, it is by far the single largest ongoing budget augmentation ever proposed for the Department -- and an important first step towards fully addressing their budget needs. Better yet, not a single dime of it would come out of the pockets of hunters and anglers."
The $51 million will come from general revenues, not from additional fees and taxes on sportsmen.
Which means that FINALLY, ALL Californians will be chipping in to conserve and manage CA's wildlife, not just sportsmen!
A couple of years ago he appointed two new members to the Fish and Game Commission to replace Commissioners who had retired. His overwhelming demand for the new appointees was that they base all decisions on science and only science.
With the exception of one issue, they have done just that.
Because the state is indeed on the edge of another financial collapse, last summer he required all state agencies to submit zero-based budgets rather than baseline budgets, which start with what you got last year then goes up from there.
This required all state agencies to actually take a hard look at what they were spending and then justify it.
No doubt the DFW weeded out somethings they did not need or for which they were over-paying. At the same time, it would also have showed the governor all of the things the were required by state and federal laws to do, yet had no money to do.
My guess is that those are the reasons the DFW will finally get something which at least begins to financially support all of the things the laws demand they do.
Unfunded mandates have long been a problem for state fish and wildlife departments across the country.
That’s what scares me. Remember who eliminated lion hunting? Voters, not hunters. If HSUS gets all there Hollywood chums to buy air time to eliminate hunting just like they did the last time the lion issue came to a vote we are in trouble. I would like to think this is a positive but I don’t trust Brown at all. He’s never proven he’s trustworthy. Average price of regular unleaded in the nation is $2.59, I just paid $3.54. I would rather pay double for all hunting fees if the state would guarantee hunting rights for ever.
The BUDGET has nothing to do with voting!
It has to do ONLY with FUNDING!
Yes, this could be in the "careful what you wish for" column.
They already have a major say on hunting and fishing issues, for crying out loud! And they have had since,......FOREVER!
Where the heck do you think the votes came from that banned mountain lion hunting over 25 YEARS ago?
Do you think HSUSA will become even more anti-hunting if the average Californian pays ~ ONE DOLLAR/year to support the DFW?
All the Governor's budget does is get them to help pay for what they already have a YUGE influence on.
Lord, sometimes I wonder why I've bothered to give thousands of hours of my time and tens of thousands of dollars of my money over the past two decades only to realize that many of my fellow hunters and sportsmen are just as clueless as to how wildlife is managed as are the anti-hunters.
True.
Yet what does that have to do with my post?
Please 'splain, Lucy!
How is the Governor 'funding them now' when he's not giving them a freaking DIME?????
Could you please put all of the above in English, because I don't understand a word of what you wrote.
Yes, there should be a lot more sheep tags and DFW agrees. Yet they are so lacking in any ability to get the things done they told us they'd get done that it's all unfathomable for those of us who live in the real world.
They've even admitted to it and agreed with us that the failure is all at their end, yet so far at least, nothing is still what gets done.
But, hey! That's what government does!
As for what party the Governor belongs to, I don't see that as being at all relevant. It's a broken and incompetent system, regardless of the party in charge and unfortunately, I don't see the culture changing anytime soon.
I've worked closely with the CA DFW for a very long time, Dave, and I've seen how the system beats good people down and creates a culture which makes them become afraid of taking any initiative for fear they'll get their heads cut off.
“Western Outdoor news w.wonews.com). PLACERVILLE, Calif. — In a plot as insidious as anything you’ve ever seen, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) has gone into partnership with the largest anti-hunting group in the nation, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
The DFG has been infiltrated by HSUS, which is dedicated to outlawing hunting of all types, and is even now focusing on outlawing the raising and hunting of game birds, using dogs for hunting, and even having farm animals and household pets. They are now helping to fund the DFG, are being trained at the DFG warden training school, and are even teaching classes to DFG wardens. In began simply enough with a $5,000 donation to the DFG Game Wardens to help with feeding their canine program about two years ago. That in itself was enough to raise the ire of California sportsmen and women and outdoor groups. But that was also enough for HSUS to buy their way into the DFG’s graces, and head law enforcement officer of the DFG, Nancy Foley, has now gone far beyond that in her association with HSUS. HSUS “Law Enforcement Officers” are now being trained in the California DFG Training Center in Paradise, Calif., and working under the auspices and authority of the California DFG. They are now, believe it or not, actually instructors training line officer DFG wardens! If that’s not enough, Jennifer Fearing, the California senior state director of HSUS, was elected to the CalTIP Foundation Board of Directors at their last meeting on Oct. 6, 2011. The HSUS already has a Secret Witness Program for poaching with a standard reward of $2,500. Is the DFG pleased? Apparently so: “This is the kind of support that we have needed for 30 years. Please be happy for the Wildlife Resource and the CalTIP Foundation…I am,” said Charlie Moss, chair of the CalTIP Foundation. Imagine the “Got Meat” commercials hiring a vegan for their spokesman; or the fur industry asking for the endorsement of PETA. That’s exactly the same thing as DFG accepting the nation’s largest anti-hunting organization, HSUS, as a partner. What is HSUS, exactly? First and foremost, they are not an animal “welfare” group, which is concerned about the health and well-being of animals. They are an extreme animal “rights” group, which believes that animals have equal rights to human beings. HSUS spends millions of dollars annually to economically cripple meat and dairy producers, eliminate the use of animals in biomedical research labs, phase out pet breeding, and eliminate zoos and circus animal acts. They are against anyone having pets, even fish in aquariums. They demonize hunters as crazed lunatics, and are against any hunting in any form, despite its acceptance by the vast majority of people in the United States, as long as it’s done legally and with a sound scientific and biological base. According to HSUS president Wayne Pacelle, “We will see the end of wild animals in circus acts, and we’re phasing out animals used in research. If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would.” Pacelle carefully uses the word “sport” in all his diatribes, intending to convince people that hunters are only out for “sport,” and that it has nothing to do with enjoyment, to help curb animal populations, and for the ultimate goal of putting meat on the table. According to ACTIVISTCASH.com, the budget for HSUS in 2008 was $97 million. Of that, $27.5 million was spent on fundraising, $28.0 million on campaigns, litigation and investigation, and $38 million on salaries. The remainder of their budget that year, about $5 million, was spent on travel. Zero dollars were spent on anything pertaining to the health and welfare of animals. In fact, their budget would be enough to fund every single animal shelter in the United States, and yet they don’t own or operate a single one! This is the organization that the DFG has teamed up with, and Foley thinks it’s just fine. In her own words, Foley said, “We are again very grateful to the Humane Society of the United States for their support of the wardens’ efforts to combat the increase in poaching. We look forward to continued collaboration on this issue.” And now, HSUS has actual law enforcement officers here in California, trained at the DFG Training Center at Butte College in Paradise, and some of those officers are actual instructors, teaching DFG wardens! How can someone who is hired by an animal-rights group, and believes animals have the same rights as humans, be teaching a Fish and Game enforcement officer? According to one attendee in one of the classes, the instructor showed a photo of hounds chasing a wild boar and said it was “animal cruelty”—until some in the class reminded the instructor that it was legal. What the HSUS has done here is buy the DFG and its support for a few thousand dollars. The DFG recently issued a news release that was headed, “Department of Fish and Game and the Humane Society offer Reward for Mountain Lion Poachers.” That in itself is very troubling, that the DFG is lending its name and credibility to an animal-rights, anti-hunting group. What’s worse is that HSUS is given a form of credibility by that, when they are not at all a credible organization, at least not in the eyes of sportsmen and women. Sportsmen should be afraid that there are actually HSUS law enforcement officers now in California, acting as “special investigators” under penal code section 830, and apparently under the auspices of the DFG. The DFG is a state agency responsible for the fish and wildlife of California and is funded in great part by the sale of fishing and hunting licenses to sportsmen and women in California. They, and all Californians who believe that fish and wildlife should be managed by sound scientific and biological principles, should be infuriated that such an element as HSUS, which does not believe in such principles, should be associated with a state agency such as the DFG. The partnership should end, and it should end now.”
