Bite the Bullet

[bearnoob]

Time to pony up a little extra dough for licenses. My local lakes are only getting surveyed every 6 years for lakefinder due to funding shortfalls affecting staff and equipment. DNR gets no money from the state general fund. We only have until the end of March to get the bill out of committee. Please contact your local representative.

[bearnoob]

I really expected to get some response even if it was a lot of flack. Just a quick update:

The DNR bill on the floor currently contains no language to increase license fees and cuts DNR's budget further. If you live in Greater Minnesota I would urge you to contact your representatives and speak to them about the license fee increase and putting that language back into a final bill.

Lakefinder fish surveys help drive tourism dollars by helping everybody scout new water (I use it all the time on my local lakes). The people in St Paul cutting the budget and underfunding stocking efforts are the same people who will come for a photo op and complain about how the fisheries aren't what they used to be.

FYI I speak for myself and no organization. I am not a politician and I do not work for DNR. I do think our licenses are a bargain (have you seen the price of a Vikings ticket or even popcorn  at the movies lately?) and that great fishing is worth paying for. I would personally support smaller yearly increases tied to cost of living or another index so we don't have to fight over this every 6 years.