Monday's meeting on fee increases

[scoutdog5]

Listed below are the questions I hope to ask at the Monday ODF&W meeting at the Monarch Hotel.

This meeting covers a lot more than big game, so it is possible I will not have the opportunity to ask them all, particularly if there is a lot of discussion on fishing, landowner costs, etc. We will have to see how it goes.

I will file a report tomorrow night after the meeting. Any of you who are attending a different meeting, feel free to use any of these questions, or not.

Note: Package D would raise the largest amount of money from tag sales of the three proposals. Package A deals with increases to a wide range of licenses.

Scoutdog

Game Commission Meeting
Questions
Assumption: All of my questions assume that Package A and Package D are implemented. All of my questions apply to big game management.
1. In the spring of 2007, ODF&W did NOT conduct population trend counts on 22 of the 48 elk units in the state. If you get the additional money, will you have the funds to conduct population trend counts on all units for the next several years, and will you commit to doing so.
2. In the spring of 2007, ODF&W did NOT conduct population trend counts on 20 of 32 blacktail units, and 18/62 mule deer units. If you get this money, will you have the funds to conduct population trend counts on all units for the next several years, and will you commit to doing so?
3. Same question regarding the herd composition counts which were not done on a number of deer and elk units in December 2006, March 2007. If you get this money, will you have the funds to conduct herd composition counts on all units for the next several years, and will you commit to doing so?


1. Mule deer populations in many units are 30-40% of management objective, and less than 20% of historic populations. As far as I can determine, there are currently no funds to initiate research into this problem. If you get this money, will funds be available to implement research projects regarding mule deer fawn survival and recruitment?
2. Research done at Starkey Experimental Station clearly shows that elk will not tolerate motor vehicle travel, yet over the past 10 years, there has been very little expansion of green dot road closures, either extending existing closures for a longer period, or adding new closures. If you get this money, can we expect a strong effort on your part to respond to that research by extending existing green dot road closures for more of the year, and/or implementing new closures?
3. Research at Starkey also shows conclusively that calf recruitment and survival is greatly enhanced when mature bulls do the breeding. Colorado and Utah currently count three age classes of bulls on their composition trend counts. Oregon does not. Obviously, you can’t manage the breeding bull component of an elk herd if you don’t count the various age classes of bulls; spikes, raghorns and mature. Assuming these funds allow you to start doing composition counts on all units, are there any plans to expand the count parameters to include various age classes of bulls?

1. The proposed increases must be approved by the legislature, and historically you have gone for increases every 6-8 years. Costs, of course, go up every year. Is there any plan to ask for some type of inflation increase on an annual basis as part of this package?
2. Between 1998 and 2006, approximately 69,000 less deer tags were sold, and 36,000 less elk tags were sold, at a cost to the department of more than 2.5 million dollars per year. Given current trends in populations of deer and elk, low calf/fawn ratios,
Poor hunter recruitment, etc. isn’t it likely that the additional income raised by these proposals will be offset by lower license and tag sales within a very short time?

3. Bottom line, based on everything you know about our current situation regarding big game populations and hunting opportunities, will the approval of Package A and Package D provide the department the necessary funding to reverse the downward trend in big game populations, and eventually provide additional hunting opportunities?
4. If the answer to question 3 is no, why are we here, discussing a plan that won’t get the job done?

[Rank Amateur]

Waiting to see what the answers were.