Bob and others interested:
        Hunters and trappers remove items of value from the landscape, using
means that require oversight, registration, enforcement, and many
additional costs. The system seems to be working all right, but it has
to cost far more than accommodating wildlife observers, hikers, etc. in
the same habitats. The costs are very different.
        Many of us gladly pay more for local park levies than we used to, even
though we do not exhaust the resource, but a much larger proportion of
more or less wild public lands are paid for by hunter/trapper licenses,
fees on resource extraction industries and ranchers, etc., all of whom
presumably feel they are getting their money's worth. But you have to
wonder if wildlife observers need to chip in as much, since they do not
diminish the resource or profit from it, and if they do not demand
spotless bathroom facilities, rangers, and interpretive programs they
don't impose many demands on other resources. And sure, anyone who
collects and removes animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc., on public
land should pay for licenses as well, including scientists.
        One thing I feel sure of is that shaming wildlife observers to pay for
their access via duck stamps is not going to work. It would be like
asking people to pay for a license to use the public library; some would
gladly do so, but the library would suffer because their numbers would
be too small. What we do is tax the entire public for libraries (and
police, and firemen, even if we're lucky enough not to use them), and we
should do the same for wild lands.
        Wild country--even farmland--is rapidly morphing into suburbs,
industrial sites, highways, etc. Saving more habitats means asking
everyone to pay up, even people who don't care or understand. The more
contributors, the less the cost per individual. Our public economy works
by asking everyone--even those who don't care or agree--to chip in a
little in so a lot can be accomplished. A number of Midwestern states,
nearly all of them red ones, have come up with small dedicated sales
taxes, 1/8-3/8%, for this purpose. The leader, Missouri, started this in
1976, and has collected over 1.5 *billion* dollars for conservation,
with voters regularly supporting renewals of the tax; Iowa, Minnesota,
and Arkansas have had similar results. This way, habitats for
butterflies, shorebirds, herps, and native plants could be part of the
picture, not just hunting and trapping. You can't call this idea
impossible: it's been done!
Bill Whan
Columbus


On 9/14/2011 1:48 PM, Barrett,Robert P wrote:
> The bird-watching community is probably larger than the hunting
> community, if you count all who buy seed&  suet to feed wild birds,
> beyond the fanatics like us who keep lists of species.  Some birders
> buy fancy equipment, but I think hunters pay more for guns, ammo,
> camo gear, blinds, boats, and dogs.  Hunting license fees represent a
> significant and visible payoff to the government that birders do not
> appear to contribute. However... many birders and other fans of
> nature buy duck stamps with no intention of hunting, to help provide
> funding for the federal wildlife refuge system.  This can give the
> mistaken impression that duck hunters are more numerous than they
> are, and sway land management decisions. Maybe most of the list
> subscribers would pay extra for a license to "bird stalk", but how
> many thousands more would?  And just what would that accomplish,
> beyond what nonprofit advocacy organizations (Audubon, Sierra Club,
> etc.) are already doing?  I'm not sure. I have many thoughts on this
> subject, but no clear answers.  Yet. As a scientist, I'm still
> stumbling after a testable hypothesis....
>
> Dr. Bob Barrett Geology and Environmental Sciences and World
> Civilizations: Latin America at University of Akron

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]