Michigan Muskie Alliance

DNR's fee hike plan stirs up a storm

Unfortunately, the blame is falling at the feet of a director, Becky Humphries, who inherited a gosh-awful mess when she took over 2 = years ago from the unlamented K.L. Cool, a political tool of former Gov. John Engler and the prime architect of the present mess.

During Cool's tenure, the last thing the governor and Legislature wanted to hear was requests for more money from the DNR, and Cool ensured they didn't, even though it was clear the agency was spiraling toward a crisis.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 60385/1058

Assigning blame isn't going to change anything now. The fact is you can't improve declining license sales by jacking the price and I doubt that you improve revenue. Under this proposal it would cost me over $300 to take my kid deer hunting in Michigan where we would get to hunt public land with a 30 to 1 doe-buck ratio. I've loved the memories I've built hunting in Michigan but they just priced me, and those I used to bring with me, out of the market.

Michigan plays catch up with fee hike

Hunting and fishing licenses sold by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources are generally 50-60% below what people pay in Minnesota and Wisconsin, two Great Lakes states that offer similar outdoors opportunities.

Michigan's big mistake was that, unlike those states, it failed to pass increases over the past decade that would have allowed the DNR to keep up with inflation, and many constituents say the new proposal is too much too fast.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 90648/1058