GAME DEPARTMENT TAKES FUNDING NEEDS TO ITS FRIENDS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 10, 1993                   TAG: 9301140042
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Medium
GAME DEPARTMENT TAKES FUNDING NEEDS TO ITS FRIENDS
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is appealing to its constituents - the hunters, fishermen and boaters of Virginia - in its efforts to obtain additional funding through action of the General Assembly.
In a letter scheduled to be mailed to outdoor organizations across the state beginning this week, board members say: "Your contact will be essential to encourage the General Assembly to provide the needed funds."
The mailing will contain background information showing that "In 1990-91, Virginia had only about $4 per resident available for conservation programs," which placed it among the two lowest of the 16 Southeastern states.
So far, no lawmaker has stepped forward to introduce legislation the department believes is needed to provide funding to update its facilities and abate the downsizing of its staff and programs.
But board members did get one bit of good news last week. A management study of the department, conducted by the Auditor of Public Accounts at the request of the 1992 General Assembly, was favorable to the point of being complimentary.
The study said the department is meeting its mandated objectives. Where criticism was applied, often it was directly linked to the lack of money.
"I think we came out very, very good," said Leon McFillen, of Arlington, the board chairman. "The report is going to be an absolute reinforcement of the organization's need for funding and how this agency has been held back for the lack of it."
The management study report is scheduled to be presented to General Assembly members Thursday.
"There is nothing negative in it," said Leon Turner, board member from Fincastle. "They are saying we are doing the job we are supposed to do."
The board has stated that a minimum of $10 million per year in new funds is required to prevent further degradation of the agency's natural resources programs and public services. It has recommended two money sources:
Reroute the 2 percent watercraft titling income, which is collected on the transfer of a boat title at the time of sale.
Reroute 30 percent of the state sales tax generated through retail sales of outdoor equipment purchased by hunters, anglers and naturalists.
Neither action would require that outdoorsmen pay additional funds; however, both would tap money that now goes to the General Fund, and at a time when legislators are hard pressed to find revenue for teacher raises, jails, colleges and other needs.
"I have yet to hear a negative reaction," Laurence Jahn said of the game department's request for funding. A board member from Vienna, Jahn did say some legislators are raising the question of whether this is a good time for the department to go after new funding.
"There is no perfect time," he said.
One of the points brought out in the management study was the fact that the department's boating program operates in the red, and is subsidized by hunting and fishing fees. Boaters pay $18 every three years to register a craft less than 16 feet. That fee would have to be boosted to $56 if it were to cover costs of the program.
The study suggested that the department might want to join its boat registration and titling efforts with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Some of the department's harshes critics are those who work for it, the study revealed. Seventy-five percent of the employees interviewed thought that staffing was inadequate and nearly 40 percent thought that management was top heavy. Game wardens appear to lack a clear understanding of what their role is in habitat and species management, the study said.
While management is not top heavy in the study's opinion, it said that perception is adding to employee discontent.
Drawing the most opposition from board members and the staff was the study's recommendation to consolidate the department's game and fish divisions.
"Management of fish and wildlife no longer focuses on singular species, but rather the management of all species and their habitat in a given area," the study said.
The proposal to combine the fish and wildlife divisions brought a sharp response from Larry Hart, the department's deputy director.
"We do not agree with this," he said. "We feel that the wildlife and fish divisions need to maintain their identify."
Wildlife and fish programs are the department's major revenue makers, and both have developed their own constituents, Hart said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB