Well, yes, "They're coming after us". But, is this a bad thing?
ODFW is an agency responsible for a lot of State Lands (e.g. Sauvie Island).
Their income (not surprisingly) is going down and they must do something.
"Going after" another user of these public lands is just sensible.
As everyone knows, hunters over the last century+ have paid enough $
and generated enough interest that we have these (& Federal) lands today.
There has
been a gradual shift, starting with outlawing of 'fashion feathers' in the
early 1900's,
away from hunting and fishing and to non-consumptive uses. This includes
us.
Seems like they must go after us. So, what are their prospects?
There has been resistance in the past to generate revenue from
non-consumptive
users, particularly 'bird watchers' but also hikers, etc. Why should we pay
to
use 'our' public lands. Well, somebody has to pay and there is a lot of
competition for tax $s. So, what are ODFWs prospects?
Well, OBOL has ~1800 participants. They are already paying
directly (use fees) or indirectly (taxes) into ODFW income. But ODFW
doesn't
get much state tax money. Some birders advocate purchasing
hunting stamps. This helps their bottom line, but it is transparent to the
bean
counters. The Bird Watching 'Duck Stampers' just appear to be hunters..
But, what if they gave differently, or more? Say, 1800 people gave $10.
That would generate $18,000 for (say) ODFW. This would generate notice
but is not significant for the big picture. What if they all gave $100.
This would generate $180,000. Well, that's probably significant,
but not a make or break amount. It's probably not realistic for
1800 people to donate $1000 for $1.8 million which would indeed be
significant.
So, how many OBOLers would be willing to donate $100 (per year) to an OBOL
Looks like they have realized that the higher you raise license and tag
fees, the fewer people buy that buy them. Now they may be coming after us!
http://www.bendbulletin.com/exports/newsletters/main/3902782-151/struggling-odfw-may-target-birders-wildlife-viewers-for?utm_source=Today%27s+Top+Headlines+from+The+Bulletin&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BendBulletin+MRSS+-+Main-16-01-13#
Rich Adney
http://avianpics.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adneyvisualarts/
http://www.oregonimages.net