Fish and Wildlife Department Loses Milfoil Money

Peter Lowell of the Lakes Environmental Association.

Peter Lowell of the Lakes Environmental Association.

A hike in the milfoil sticker fee has been rejected by the Maine legislature. But that’s not the end of this particularly interesting issue. I want to credit Representative Mike Shaw for quickly answering my call to fill me in on legislative action on this bill.

The legislature found another way to expand the invasive plant eradication program by taking money from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and giving it to the Department of Environmental Protection.

LD 1626 sponsored by Rep. Mike McClellan of Raymond, would have raised the milfoil sticker fee by $7 for Mainers and by $15 for nonresidents. This fee is now incorporated into the boat registration fee and must be paid when boats are registered. The bill – opposed by the DEP and DIF&W Commissioners – got a favorable ought-to-pass endorsement from the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, but floundered once it emerged from the committee.

If you want to know more about the IFW Committee’s work on the bill, read my February 13 outdoor news blog post.

Follow the Money

The current sticker fee of $20 is divided between the agencies with the DEP getting 60 percent and DIF&W 40 percent. DIF&W will lose half of their portion of that money in the new arrangement.

The bill directs 80 percent of the fee to the DEP’s Invasive Aquatic Plant and Nuisance Species Fund. Monies going to DIF&W’s Lake and River Protection Fund were cut from 40 percent to 20 percent of the fee.

Almost all of DIF&W’s money is spent on Maine game wardens. To make up for the loss of funding for wardens, the legislature took $225,000 from DIF&W’s carrying account (essentially surplus funds), and directed it to the Warden Service’s budget.

In another move, the legislature directed at least 20 percent of the DEP’s milfoil money to eradication activities. The original goal of LD 1626 was to fund an expansion of eradication efforts.

Those who championed the increase, including Peter Lowell of the Lakes Environmental Association in Bridgton, were said to be ecstatic about the enactment of this legislation, noting that it will triple the amount of money available for eradication effort.

 

 

 

 

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.