IGL

[BojiHawk]

Why would dwindling public access be luck. We need more public hunting and access. 

Hmmm...pushing down tact button to "lock":


Here is the deal:  People still think that they pay (somehow) a $29.95 license fee and the lake and their rights are now limited to only the Iowa DNR Regs.  Well...if that was true...we are all effed.  Ramp maintenance, the efforts of the hatcheries, the DNR, earmarked tax dollars, LID regs for new housing, and countless other things won't quite keep it going.  Like hunting here in NE, I make it no secret I'm for an increase in fees.  Kids are sidling up to PS2's and DVR's.  Fine with me...I don't have any kids.  And it isn't the kids fault...they only know what they have been taught or what they are allowed to do.  More for me...keep them at home as far as I"m concerned.  To me, this all boils down to supply and demand.  If the supply drops...and the demand drops, it's a wash.  If the supply stays the same, and the demand drops you have a surplus of supply (removing natural cycles and such).  Fish year-classes are recruited much like young anglers.  The past few years have provided some good action for kids...which is a good thing.  I know this much:  I have permanent public access to the freozen surfaces of many lakes.  I think if people feel that every trip to a lake could be their last, they will do one of 2 things:  respect it to an phenomenal degree, or "show people a lesson" by trashing it.  In any event, I'm going up at ice out to take awesome ice-out pix of the bullrushes on the SE side of anglers.  I would say a $500 a year access pass would do that place some good.  Shame that the people that would pay that don't even throw a cig butt on the ice. That's the kicker!!  All I hear in here is how no one ever throws anything on the ice.  I guess this is a haven of somekind...a collection of freaks. 

I am a freaking nut job on trash.  Bring a big motor and leave a carbon footprint...for now...I can live with that.  But everything else makes me think that lake might be better off close even if it means closed to everyone.

[jacobh73]

I'm pretty sure the DNR is funded by more then just our licence fee. I think its called taxes. I pay them just like everyone else. Sorry I cant afford lake front property, most people cant. Doesn't mean that we don't deserve lake access. I think all water ways(lakes and rivers) in the state should be Public. And can we get off the trash deal. We all think people need to pick up there trash, and of course no one is going to come on here and say they throw there trash on the ice. Also I have kids and there is nothing better then seeing your kid catch their first fish. The future of the outdoors is in the hands of our kids.

[hotrod]

Curious: What taxes go to the DNR?   

i don't know but would like to know, always have wondered how the DNR survives.  I know most of it is in fees/penalties/licenses.

[jacobh73]

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

[hotrod]

i read the info on that link...a lot of words there, however it never really said where that money was coming from.

[cdt80]

From what I read there, basically the DNR recieves a portion (it looks to be around 35% to me) from state and federal grants.  This is a much smaller number than I would have guessed.  Also of that 35% it looks to me that some of the grant money is from trust accounts generated from monies from hunting and fishing licenses.  The thing that stood out to me most was the amount of money generated by the Iowa DNR through services offered by them.  Such as manure management, underground fuel storage monitoring, pesticide applicator classes, and such.  Also it looked like licensing from snowmobiles and ATV's along with marine fuel tax contributed but only a small portion.  You are right about the fees and licenses and some tax dollars but it looks like the DNR tries to be as self sustaining as possible by charging for services where they can-like a usage fee of sorts if you want to think of it that way.  I had never really thought about where they get their money but this link pretty much spells out the 2010 revenues:   http://www.iowadnr.gov/files/annual2010.pdf
Disclaimer:  There is a lot of information there and some of it is open to interpretation.  I don't want to turn this into a DNR funding forum in any way shape or form but I did find it interesting reading. 
 

[jacobh73]

Its a blend of public funding and funding threw fees. Which we all pay for someway or another. I believe they do a good job for the most part. My main point is that we all deserve access to the lakes not just land owners. 

[esox_magnum]

How do land owners get access in the winter?? Wait most go go for the winter, nevermind..... Theres none or few private access to any of the IGL in the winter, summer thats a different story.

[esox_magnum]

The sustainable funding is a trust set up for all outdoors not just the DNR, it will take 3/8 of 1 cent next time the goverment raises taxes.

[J. Rosonke]

When looking at DNR funding you have to be specific about which bureau you are talking about, they all have different funding sources and don't feed out of one central "DNR budget"

The fisheries bureau lives on license fees and federal excise tax money on fishing equipment, those 2 make up the vast majority of their operating budget. There is some state general fund money as line items to fund specific lake restorations.

The sustainable funding ammendment, "Iowa water and land legacy", is not funded unless and until the sales tax is increased.