License Fee

[pipelayer75]

Its written but is it fact?  Who's to say that a bike trail around a lake won't propogate or enhance fishing?  Or just help management.  I don't believe it will but the purse strings might.  He said guantanamo bay would be closed in a year is it? He signed the paper is it closed yet?  Nah we'll have to postpone that one, yep thats what we'll do.  As it is written it will be done, I ain't buyin

[flyfishr]

hey j. rosonke not to step on your toes but i hunt with a few dnr state officers and they have told me themselves that most state funded trails in state parks come from fishing and hunting fees as well as habitat fees to better the experience for all in the outdoors.  hiking trails, bike trails are counted under law as paths to lakes and other parts of the parks they are in.  and the iowa dnr and park employees maintain the paths and bike trails and they are paid by funds from our fishing license and hunting licenses as well as fines some pay for breaking rules.  what it boils down to is we as fishers and hunters pay for cyclist to have nice trails to ride on and most dont pay a cent to have them.  thats why we sportsmen are up in arms on the subject. 

You are comparing apples to oranges now.  If it is in a state park it would be covered under the wildlife or fishing part (if there fishing access) of the code.  Now Five Island Lake is not a state park and should not fall under this rule as other proposed bike trails should not either.   If this has or is happening be prepared for all funding from the DNR to dry up as the federal government will take away the portion of excise tax that Iowa DNR gets from the sales of fishing and hunting products sold.

[c.r.rick]

in short to your response what the goverment lets us know and what the goverment actually does is 2 seprate things.  one of my biggest pet peeves is going to red rock lake to go fish below the dam and paying a 3 dollar fee which i have no problem doing to use the boat ramp for the day then seeing bikers and walkers using the nice paved trail and not paying to use it for the day. hows that different the same park personel maintain both right so why do the fishermen pay for both and cyclist dont?  now im a fellow cyclist and love both sports but i would gladly pay a fee to do so as i do as a fishermen.

[pipelayer75]

well I gotta go it was fun.  Seems to be time to get my $$$$$ worth and pray to get lucky.  Good luck in your fishing adventures.

[c.r.rick]

good luck pipelayer75.  hope you get your money worth lol

[J. Rosonke]

hey j. rosonke not to step on your toes but i hunt with a few dnr state officers and they have told me themselves that most state funded trails in state parks come from fishing and hunting fees as well as habitat fees to better the experience for all in the outdoors.

Give me a specific example of a trail with a F&W trust funding source.

I'll look into it.

[rpallen]

I agree with everyone.  I believe that instead of raising sportman's licences fees to pay for parks and other non wildlife uses including trails, maybe they should have a seasonal licences for parks and public areas.  And if they do raise the prices of licences, shouldn't they loosen the bag limits??  We are paying more, shouldn't we get more, including more stocking of lakes?  But what we have to remember is that the state is hurting right now, and all we can do is try to support what all of us love (the outdoors)!

[IAFISHUNT]

To increase each license before July 1 is bad!  Buy everything you can before July 1.  I believe that it is silly for Iowa"s sportspeople make up for Chester's shortfalls.  It is silly to think I can hunt and fish in a state like Kansas as nonresident and pay about the same kind of money.  It is not going to stop me but I think an increase at the first of the year and July 1 every year is uncalled for. 

[Perkeyone]

Perkey one your reg on your camper currently is for road use, not camping.  I'm talking about a little sticker on your camper like I have on my boat.  I have to license my boat trailer for the road also, hense two registration fees.
 

That's what you pay the camping fee for. The bicyclists are the ones who are not paying there way here. I also have a boat and understand the way this works. That would be like me saying you should have to pay 16 dollars a day to use the lake.

[c.r.rick]

hey j. rosonke check the comet trail in grundy county it was paid for with f&w funds a with the loop hole being so that hunters could access the hunting grounds.  but the problem is it runs from conrad iowa 16 miles to gladbrook iowa and the hunting area is in a little park called wolf creek park.  another would be a pleasant creek state recreation area near palo iowa.  i worked with the dnr there with my volunteer group called the iowa duckmen and put in 60 hours cleaning the park putting up and cleaning out wood duck houses and blue bird houses, we roofed and painted the boat rental building and the south side out houses cuz the state wouldnt grant them the funds to do it cuz they sunk all there funds for the year in new trails. another you could check but im not sure on but heard rumor of is the bike trails around red rock lake.  ive been told but sources were locals that the money from camping and beach and boat ramp fees pay for the bike trails up keep and construction.  so if this is true why dont people pay to use these trails like boaters and swimmers pay for the beaches and boat ramps?  any info you find would be nice thank you for looking in on this for all of us.

[glh150]

Two site showing fund sources for IA bike trails:

http://www.iowadot.gov/systems_planning/fedstate_rectrails_Funds_Opp.htm

http://www.jccog.org/documents/trailFundingSrc.pdf

[c.r.rick]

glh150 thank you for that info and where do you think the funds for reap come from?  licensese plates for cars and most them who buy them think the money goes to restore the land not put bike trails on it. and the land and water conservation fund is set up by the dnr who is only funded from f&w funds payed for by sportsmen as well as a few taxes collected by the sale of fishing and hunting supplys.  you dont see them getting a tax from the cyclist for buying air pumps and helmets do you? 

[rpallen]

hey j. rosonke not to step on your toes but i hunt with a few dnr state officers and they have told me themselves that most state funded trails in state parks come from fishing and hunting fees as well as habitat fees to better the experience for all in the outdoors.  hiking trails, bike trails are counted under law as paths to lakes and other parts of the parks they are in.  and the iowa dnr and park employees maintain the paths and bike trails and they are paid by funds from our fishing license and hunting licenses as well as fines some pay for breaking rules.  what it boils down to is we as fishers and hunters pay for cyclist to have nice trails to ride on and most dont pay a cent to have them.  thats why we sportsmen are up in arms on the subject. 

I fish n hunt with 3 dnr personel also and they also say that they do use licenses fees for non hunting and wildlife purposes.  It's all in how you write your grants!!!

[c.r.rick]

amen rpallen you can say what you will and twist your words to make the grant apps sound like it benefits the fishers and hunters but how does a bike path for cyclist do that?  lol now im not against bike trails just dont wanna see the funding coming from hunters and fishermen

[flyfishr]

Well lets see..................    I got it lets round the troops up and lobby the people who make the rules & regulations up and get them talked into implementing a program that forces the bike riders to buy a licence to be able to ride on any of the bike trails in the state of Iowa.   Kind of like the state park vehicle permit that we had to have stuck in the lower corner of the windshields many moons ago.   

[c.r.rick]

flyfishr you might be on to something there cuz you have to register boats, cars, 4 wheelers, mopeds, snomobiles and motorcyles, even paddle boats so why not a bicycle?  the fees from people registering them and any fines for not registering them can pay for bike trails.  in minnesota snow mobiles that ride on the bike trails have to buy a permit to do so but cyclist dont pay to ride them and down here your not even allowed to ride snowmobiles up and down bike trails.  maybe they should let sledders use them in the winter and pay a permit fee and that would help funding.

[Mr.Seaguar]

I emailed the DNR about the Sustainable funding bill. I asked, if that passes will we still have to pay for resident fishing and hunting licenses? Because then we have to pay twice. I also told them I am done paying to hunt in Iowa. Costs go up and opportunities go down. I can go to other states and get much better opportunities for a small amount more. Dont tell me that hunting should not be about the money, as it sure as heck is about the money to the DNR. Fishing, well I already got my $19 worth there.

[J. Rosonke]

where do you think the funds for reap come from?

REAP is state general fund money (and a small amount from the license plates) not hunting/fishing license money. REAP is funded by the Legislature each session within a pot of money they call the environment first fund which is "gambling money" (taxes paid by casinos ect.) The Legislature however gets to decide each year how much money if any gets poured into that pot and what it gets spent on. (once the money is in REAP there is a formula that determines how it is divided up into all the things REAP does)

http://www.iowadnr.gov/reap/index.html

I emailed the DNR about the Sustainable funding bill. I asked, if that passes will we still have to pay for resident fishing and hunting licenses?

lets get 1 thing clear right out of the gate the sustainable funding ammendment is NOT the DNR's bill or something the legislature thought up when it created the study committee 3 or 4 years ago. Sustainable funding has been a major goal of many sportsmen's groups in the state since at least 1998 and the major reason for the Iowa Conservation Alliance's organization. ICA is basically a lobbying organization made up of many of the state's sportsmen's organizations like Pheasants Forever, DU, N W T F, WAI ect even B.A.S.S., Muskies Inc, and TU have been members of ICA at one time or another.

It also DOES NOT raise taxes, all it does is guarantee that if the sales tax is raised natural resources and outdoor recreation gets a slice of the pie instead of being the first thing cut anytime legislators feel like it.  

Missouri has had this type of funding since the 70's and Minnesota just passed it last fall.

[J. Rosonke]

Costs go up

Right, costs go up for the DNR too, if you read my first post on this thread I said the actuall license fee stayed the same. (and the legislature has to change that fee anyway DNR can't do it) The writing fee went up so it would actually cover the expense of the electronic licensing system (run by a company out of Tennessee IIRC).

comet trail in grundy county

The first thing I see is that it looks like most of comet trail predates the constitutional ammendment. Also, just to clear up a potential confusion, county conservation money is NOT license money and CCB's are not DNR. (also, IDNR parks bureau does not have access to the fish and wildlife trust fund. I will keep looking.

In 2007, the Tama County Conservation Board acquired the railroad right of way from Gladbrook to AA Avenue (with a slight detour), and named it the Wolf Creek Trail.

Re: the wolf creek trail:

Federal Highway funds were used to finance construction of the
trail.

 http://www.tamacounty.org/consMINS/2009/MINS1109.pdf

ETA: according to the GCCB:

The Comet Trail was acquired using county funds, the development was done using a
combination of county funds and a state Recreation Tourism & Leisure grant
program that was relatively short-lived.

[rpallen]

flyfishr you might be on to something there cuz you have to register boats, cars, 4 wheelers, mopeds, snomobiles and motorcyles, even paddle boats so why not a bicycle?  the fees from people registering them and any fines for not registering them can pay for bike trails.  in minnesota snow mobiles that ride on the bike trails have to buy a permit to do so but cyclist dont pay to ride them and down here your not even allowed to ride snowmobiles up and down bike trails.  maybe they should let sledders use them in the winter and pay a permit fee and that would help funding.

I've worked for the County and the State and have suggested that bikers have to register their bike before they can use these trails.  I know that they passed this comment up the ladder who knows if they will ever pass it.  I also asked about the snowmobiles in the winter on the trails, they are afraid of the trail cracking, scratches, and other possible problems.

Rob

[Oldbear]

I don't mind paying the fee increase.  Everyone has stated there point so move on.  Talking among ourselves  will get nowhere without talking to your legislator.

[toothfish]

After reading all the posts on this subject I think we all can agree on one thing whether we are pro bicyclist or non-bike trail tax funding advocates ...

Bicyclist SHOULD pay for use , construction ,  maintenance through a fee collected from the actual users of the bike trails.

"talking to your legislator."  .... I agree.

 

[glh150]

On a second question, who pays the most for a residential fishing license?  Just kind of a curiousity question.

This should rid you of that curiosity bug.

2010 Resident (1) freshwater sport license fee per state.
Most/all states require trout stamps and additional license for coastal/tidal waters.

Alabama             12.00
Alaska            24.00
Arizona            23.50      Nevada      29.00
Arkansas            10.50           New Hampshire   35.00
California            41.50         New Jersey      22.50
Colorado            26.00      New Mexico   25.00
Connecticut            40.00      New York      29.00
Delaware            10.00      North Carolina   15.00
Florida            17.00      North Dakota   10.00
Georgia              9.00      Ohio         19.00
Hawaii              5.00      Oklahoma      25.00
Idaho               27.50      Oregon      33.00
Illinois            13.00      Pennsylvania   27.50
Indiana            17.00      Rhode Island   18.00
Iowa               17.50      South Carolina   10.00
Kansas            20.50      South Dakota   25.00
Kentucky            20.00           Tennessee      28.00
Louisiana              9.50         (includes hunting)
Maine               25.00      Texas         30.00
Maryland            20.50      Utah         26.00
Massachusetts         27.50      Vermont      20.00
Michigan            15.00      Virginia      18.00
Minnesota            17.00      Washington      24.00
Mississippi            32.00      West Virginia   19.00
Missouri            12.00      Wisconsin      20.00
Montana            18.00      Wyoming      24.00
Nebraska            28.50

[Hard Ice]

So what does a out of state cost ?

[herb]

Iowa non-resident=41.50

[DoubleBurg]

Thanks GLH150!!! 

[Hard Ice]

Thanks herb.. How long does your license last then ?

[herb]

Jan. 10th of the following year. But you can buy the new one starting Dec.15th.

[Hard Ice]

Thanks herb !

[CrappieBuster]

The IA dnr prolly looked at the cost of living increase over the past few years and was like heck lets raise EVERY license in Iowa.  Decrease the amount of stocked fish and conservation programs and everyone will come out ahead.  Wonder how many licenses are issued state wide?  This should be an extra 5 million dollars in the pockets of the dnr.