Panel Hikes Budget For Wildlife

An unusual coalition of moderate and conservative Republicans joined the budget committee’s Democratic minority Monday to authorize spending $344,000 more on state wildlife programs than GOP Gov. Phil Batt proposes for 1997.

On an 11-8 vote, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee added $200,000 for six wildlife biologists to help non-hunters enjoy the state’s nongame wildlife programs and $144,000 to restore the Fish and Game Department’s part-time help to levels of several years ago.

The vote came during the opening session on the 1997 state budget.

The department gets all its revenue from hunting and fishing licenses and other special fees and does not rely on increasingly tight general tax money.

So it was not clear whether the action Monday was a signal that the overwhelmingly Republican panel would stray from the GOP governor’s austere general tax spending plan when they begin dealing with it later in the week.

Republican Sen. Dean Cameron of Rupert tried to head off the spending by warning that dipping deeper into the revenues generated by sportsmen’s licenses would only result in another license increase.

But the department’s license fund will carry a balance of about $2 million through the new budget year, and analysts said that based on conservative revenue estimates, that fund will remain solvent at least until 2000. If revenue from current fees grows as expected, it probably would be even later before hunting and fishing licenses would be raised.

Supporters pointed out that the flooding in northern Idaho would significantly increase the need for more summer help to maintain access and other facilities, and that the extra $144,000 in temporary help is enough to give 15 high school or college students summer jobs.

And the nongame wildlife biologists were essentially promised by lawmakers when they created the special wildlife license plates, from which revenues go to the nongame wildlife programs.

“I guess I’m a little concerned about the precedent of doing what we said we would do,” quipped Republican Sen. Stan Hawkins of Ucon, one of three conservatives to support the extra cash.

At the same time, however, the committee’s conservative rural majority held together to divert another $50,000 in fishing and hunting license revenues to animal damage control aimed at protecting livestock.

But supporters of that diversion contended the extra control is needed on coyotes preying on deer and antelope herds and was not the first of what is typically a string of spending additions for agriculture.

The money is on top of $50,000 already contributed by the Fish and Game Department, $100,000 from the general taxpayers, $105,000 from the sheep producers and between $500,000 and $600,000 from the federal government.