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There will be no major hunting and fishing license fee increases for the 2012 fiscal year, Division of Wildlife Resources Director Jim Karpowitz said Thursday. But that could change in 2013.
A new deer hunting permit system goes into effect that will reduce the number of licenses by 13 percent and likely result in a fee increase to make up for lost revenue.
Some members of the legislative committee overseeing the DWR budget expressed concern about a change the Wildlife Board agreed to last year that will force hunters to apply for fewer permits in 29 regions instead of five and wondered if policy was favoring richer, more elite hunters at the expense of traditional family groups.
"There's not as many opportunities for the average hunter," said Rep. Roger Barrus, R-Centerville.
Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, said that 15 members of his family wanted to hunt a year ago and not one drew a permit.
"We've lost our family hunting opportunity," he said.
Karpowitz said it's a matter of trying to find a balance between the maximum quality of the hunting experience and a higher opportunity to hunt with perhaps less success. He admitted that the public was divided over the new deer hunting management strategy in which hunting permits will be reduced further.
The DWR also appeared poised to receive $750,000 in one-time money from the state Fish Hatchery Maintenance restricted account to develop a water filtration system to reopen the Kamas Fish Hatchery, a relatively new $11 million facility that raises 150,000 pounds of fish a year. The state's second largest hatchery had to be closed down in September when a large sink hole appeared in the river near the hatchery, forcing the river underground and contaminating the spring that feeds the hatchery. Whirling disease has been discovered in the river, forcing the installation of an expensive filtration system.