Proposal to eliminate the Heritage Fund

[fish]

The state of Arizona faces a formidable budget deficit, and options to balance the budget are becoming more limited. On January 15, the Governor’s office released a budget plan that proposes to permanently eliminate the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s voter-approved $10 million Heritage Fund and redirect all Arizona State Lottery revenue to the state’s general fund. That proposal has been sent for consideration by the Legislature.

 

Adoption of this proposal would have significant impacts not just to wildlife and outdoor recreationists, but ripple effects extending to Arizona’s land use and growth that is going to be vital for the state’s economic recovery and future well being.

 

Game and Fish is one of the few state agencies that operates as a business based on a “user pay/user benefit” model and poses no burden to the taxpayers. While the Department recognizes that the Governor and Legislature must consider all options, it is our duty and statutory responsibility to ensure that our customers — those who have supported our agency in its mission to conserve Arizona’s wildlife and provide outdoor recreation opportunities — are aware of the impacts that this loss of funding would have on them.

 

Loss of this funding would affect Arizona in many ways:

 

• Without the department representing the state’s interests as the voice of reason at the table, federal agencies and special interest groups with a penchant for litigation will have ever-increasing influence on Arizona’s wildlife, land use and water policy decisions – with the potential for increased restrictions to renewable energy, home and business development, and outdoor recreation.

 

• Without funding to obtain good biological data, it is likely more wildlife species will be federally listed and the cost to manage and mitigate for them would increase.

 

• Programs that directly affect Arizona’s sportsmen, including law enforcement, public land access, game and sportfish management, habitat enhancement and shooting ranges, would be reduced, and revenues from hunters and anglers would have to be stretched once again (as they were before the Heritage Fund came into being) to help meet the critical needs of all wildlife.

 

• The department would lose its primary funding mechanism for the recovery and conservation of the state’s most imperiled wildlife, including the bald eagle, California condor, black-footed ferret, Apache trout and Gila trout, jeopardizing the success of many species conservation programs.

 

• The state would lose some of its ability to leverage Federal monies that directly benefit rural businesses and improve watersheds, wildlife habitat and rangeland.

 

• Ranchers throughout the state would lose the benefit of clean-up programs, public land access management and range and land improvements.

 

• Urban wildlife programs that help people deal with nuisance wildlife or to appreciate backyard wildlife would be severely curtailed.

 

• The department’s ability to enhance wildlife viewing opportunities and other outdoor recreation programs would be cut back significantly.

 

• Department biologists would no longer be able to offer urban planners and developers relevant biological data to help guide them in making sustainable land use decisions that include wildlife considerations.

 

• The department’s Heritage grant program – which has awarded 640 grants totaling $12 million since the early ‘90s -- would be eradicated, which in turn would eliminate a funding source for wildlife conservation, outdoor recreation and environmental education projects that benefit local communities statewide.

 

Did you know?

 

• If the Heritage Fund were lost, Game and Fish would reduce or eliminate programs that generate $2.3 billion in total expenditures on wildlife-related recreation in Arizona.

 

• Heritage funding has contributed nearly 18,000 acres for public enjoyment, wildlife conservation and establishment of wildlife areas statewide and maintains access to over 2 million acres of land for outdoor recreation.

 

• The Department uses Heritage Fund dollars to help manage more than 800 native wildlife species.

 

• The Heritage Fund has provided environmental education programs in the schools initially through Project Wild and now through Focus Wild AZ, which is a Web-based K-12 curriculum.

 

• With the help of the Heritage Fund, a highly successful voluntary non-lead ammunition and hunter outreach program was implemented to enhance California condor conservation.

 

• With the help of the Heritage Fund, Native Apache trout have been down-listed to a threatened species and recovered to a point that allows fishing opportunities and are on the verge of becoming the first native fish in the nation to come off the endangered species list.

 

Passed in 1990 by an overwhelming 2-1 bi-partisan vote, the Heritage Fund provides essential funding for conserving Arizona’s wildlife and is one of the Department’s primary funding sources. The Heritage Fund makes a difference in communities across Arizona and benefits all citizens.

 

We are providing this information to inform and educate our constituents on what the loss of the Heritage Fund might mean to them and to Arizona.

 

[DesertBull]

These freakin people have lost their freakin minds.

[GameHauler]

These freakin people have lost their freakin minds.

 

I typed and deleted 3 different reply's

But that pretty much sums it up.

She needs to talk with Tommy Martin.

 

[.270]

the people that lost their minds were the jackasses that elected that jackass napalitano twice. she sat around doing absolutely nothing but spend money, while everyone knew this was headed this way and she didn't do a dang thing about it but bail and go to d.c. to join the head jackass. now the whole country knows what we were putting up with. there were quite a few things that could have been done while she was stilll in office but she didn't care because she was headed outta town. votes are like guns. they do nothing but good when you use em correctly and with intelligence. but a dangerous sob when every dumbass over 18 has one. use your vote wisely. this is what happens when a majority doesn't. wonder is sherrif joe is regretting campaigning for nappy yet? Lark.

[Snapshot]

I got a great idea!

 

Instead of our Federal Government bailing out rich bankers,automakers, and kissing Wall Street's butt all the time, maybe they could dipsurse that money among the 50 states.

 

Logic is a beautiful thing!

[Snapshot]

the people that lost their minds were the jackasses that elected that jackass napalitano twice. she sat around doing absolutely nothing but spend money, while everyone knew this was headed this way and she didn't do a dang thing about it but bail and go to d.c. to join the head jackass. now the whole country knows what we were putting up with. there were quite a few things that could have been done while she was stilll in office but she didn't care because she was headed outta town. votes are like guns. they do nothing but good when you use em correctly and with intelligence. but a dangerous sob when every dumbass over 18 has one. use your vote wisely. this is what happens when a majority doesn't. wonder is sherrif joe is regretting campaigning for nappy yet? Lark.

 

Totally agree!

 

That little toad Napolitano did some serious damage to this state with her incompetence.

[CouesWhitetail]

Thanks for posting that info Fish. It is a sad state of affairs. I attended a meeting on Sat where AGFD gave a presentation on the impact of the loss of this funding. Your post summarizes it pretty well. I think AGFD said it would amount to a reduction of 12-20% of the dept. It would likely result in more federal involvement in nongame species management. Some urban WMs are funded by this fund and we we would lose them which means more of the nuisance wildlife calls would get shifted to the remaining WMs. There really are a host of unwanted consequences as a result of losing this fund. The Heritage Fund has been overwhelmingly supported by voters more than once.

 

I suggest everyone contact the legislature and governor and let them know why the Heritage Fund is important to both game and nongame management in AZ. Use the bulleted info listed by Fish for your reasoning in the emails. Contact has to be made ASAP, as in a few days rather than a week.

 

 

http://www.azleg.gov/

 

 

http://www.azgovernor.gov/

 

 

Amanda

[CouesWhitetail]

Learn more Feb 2nd at public meeting or webcast.

 

 

The Heritage Fund: What its loss will mean to Arizona

 

 

Feb. 1, 2010

 

Public invited to Game and Fish presentation and webcast on Feb. 2

 

 

 

The Arizona Game and Fish Department will host a public presentation and live webcast tomorrow evening (Tuesday, Feb. 2) to discuss the potential ramifications to Arizona from a proposed elimination of the Heritage Fund.

 

In mid-January the Governor’s office released a budget plan that proposes to permanently eliminate the department’s voter-approved Heritage Fund and redirect all Arizona State Lottery revenue to the state’s general fund. That proposal has been sent for consideration by the Legislature.

 

“Adoption of this proposal could have significant impacts on Arizona’s land use and growth that will be vital for the state’s economic recovery, as well as affecting outdoor recreationists and the future well being of the state’s wildlife,” said Deputy Director Bob Broscheid. “We acknowledge the difficulties the state faces in addressing the budget situation, but we owe it to the public to inform and educate on what this could mean to them.”

 

Arizona Game and Fish is a “business-model” agency reliant wholly on non-tax dollars. It is critical that the customers who pay the bills in this “user pay, user benefit” model understand the potential statewide economic effects that could result from a permanent elimination of Heritage funding. Those effects potentially include constraints on land use that could affect our state’s economic recovery.

 

The approximately 30-minute presentation will start at 6 p.m. at the department’s Phoenix office at 5000 W. Carefree Highway (1.5 miles west of I-17). The public is invited to attend the presentation or view it live over the Internet at www.azgfd.gov/webcast.

 

The seminar, presented by Broscheid, will cover the history of the Heritage Fund, what it’s used for, how it benefits wildlife, its many success stories, and the impacts to wildlife, land access and Arizona citizens if the fund is lost.

 

After the presentation, an interactive question-and-answer session with the public will take place. Online viewers can submit questions for consideration via an e-mail link at www.azgfd.gov/webcast.

 

Passed as an initiative in 1990 by an overwhelming 2-1 bipartisan ratio of Arizona voters, the Heritage Fund provides up to $10 million each year from lottery ticket sales for the conservation and protection of the state’s wildlife and natural areas. The Arizona Game and Fish Department receives no general tax revenue and the Heritage Fund is one of the department’s primary funding sources. The Heritage Fund makes a difference in communities across Arizona and benefits all citizens.

 

 

 

[tjhunt2]

Thanks Amanda and everyone else for the information.

 

TJ

[DUG]

I'm glad this got posted. Sounds like G&F is going to take a huge hit. My son was hoping to do a paid internship this summer and now it's down the crapper. People don't realize G&F is funded mainly by license and tag sales and the Heritage fund and they get no money from the general fund. We will be writing to them to get them to stop this.

[DesertBull]

We spent how many billions on the light rail....err I mean the light FAIL?

[.270]

far be it for me to side with the azgfd. they have been poorly managed, at best, for decades. but they do have to manage "all" wildlife in Az. not just stuff that gets hunted or angled. snails, frogs, songbirds, squaw fish, chubs, sonoran pronghorn, snakes, lizards, mussels, bats, mice, rats, skunks, talkin' javelinas, etc, etc, etc. but the only guys that contribute to the fund are hunters and anglers. we don't just pay for the stuff that we can hunt and fish, we pay for the management of all animals in Az. at least with the heritage fund some of the liability was spread around to folks who may not ever contribute to wildlife conservation in the state. if they lose the heritage fund, then what hunters and anglers contribute will be the only funds the azgfd gets and it will have to be spread around to try to cover every thing that crawls, creeps, walks, swims or flys in this state. license and tag fees will increase so that hunters and anglers can again pay to take care of everything in the state. the last thing Az needs is any federal help, because they like to make everything an endangered or threatened species and shut down hunting and angling in order protect them. this ain't a good deal. as it is now, every get rich quick dreamer who buys a lottery ticket gets to contribute to Az wildlife conservation.( i buy about 5 a year when it gets real high because i need at least 40 million to do me any good) this ain't good in anyway. well, maybe if they let us have some input into who they lay off, it might make it not hurt so bad. it doesn't bother me a bit to know that a lot of what i pay every year in fees goes to manage animals that i can't shoot or catch. they're all part of the outdoors and i like to see and hear all of em. from slugs to eagles. but i also think that everyone should contribute something. with the heritage fund money, folks that would never contribute, get to. this ain't good. no, ain't good. next thing is the bastards in the capital will take the money we contribute with license and tag fees so they can use it to teach an "illegal alien" to speak english or so they can pay for housing or school lunches or some other crap for people who won't work. stuff that is paid by our other taxes now. you guys remember this crap when it comes time to vote. not just for governor. it has real consequences. and if you don't vote, get somebody to groin kick ya every day until ya do. most of the little programs you see, take the new license plate for instance, are set up to pay for the program. very little of the money actually gets to the land. if your lucky, it will pay administering the program and you get to feel good about doing it. but in actuality, not much ever gets to where they say it's going. but the heritage fund does. as soon as this new sorry excuse we have for a gov started hollerin' about no money, i knew it wouldn't be long. well, it's here. think when ya vote. and make dang sure ya do. i'll makr prediction. we're gonna see an increase in the number of auction tags soon. write it down. Lark.

[az4life]

Politicians see that $10 Million as free money. I have to wonder if it was not written in the fund that it could not be used for anything other than HF directives.

 

Top Dems today are saying "the only way out of the financial crisis is to spend our way out".

I guess it's above my intellect but it seems more like throwing water on a drowning man, or maybe more like giving a morbidly obese person a 12 course meal and 6 different kinds of dessert. Or finally giving a poser drunk leader of the house of representatives free access to a military jet and anything or anyone she wants to bring on it whenever she wants to.

Power drunk witch...

 

 

[GameHauler]

I have Emailed my representatives in both the House and Senate.

I hope everyone else does also, It only takes a minute.

 

This really upsets me.

[curmudgen]

We all need to try to stop this gutting of the Heritage Fund, which, incidentally is the creation of the voters and not the governor nor the legislature. Unfortunately, the same idiots who are have run the legislature for the last twenty some odd years are the ones who have the power to fix it. They are the ones who have cut taxes and increased spending and have brought us to the position we are seeing now. They now have us where they want us with no money to pay the bills. They now have what they consider to be good excuses to close our state parks, ruin our schools, make it impossible for any but the rich to attend state universities and, now, to try to eliminate the Heritage Fund, which they have always opposed because it was passed by the people and not by the legislature for the benefit of the lobbyists who buy them off.

Of course they say it was the recession which created the problem, but the truth is that they created the scenario for this perfect storm by their taxing and spending policies during the previous years of plenty without any planning or preparation for this famine.

I would like to kick them all out and start over, but the I expect the incumbents will have the money they need spread the lies they need to get reelected and continue to wreck our state. Jack