What say you??? Invasive Species or greed??

[Chuck S]

Here in Wyoming we are being nickle and dimed to death with the latest being a required invasive species decal on any boat longer than 10 ft or so.
That means my sit on top kayak, my Pontoon boat and my car topper Gheenoe all have to have the decal. were they a foot or two shorter they wouldn't but in it's infinite wisdom Wyoming Fish and Game saw fit to write it this way???? They charge an extra five bucks if you even use an electric motor and they do have to be registered if you use that motor. I wouldn't mind if we really had a problem or possible problem with invasive species but to date that's not the case. For one thing, here in Wyoming our reservoirs are just that and since the irrigators own the water they fluctate wildly much more than the twelve feet or so the Zebra and Quagga Muscles need for survival as I understand it. This is a several times annually thing and effectively kills much of our warm water fishing (spawning requirements and flow) as well as some cold water species also. Besides that here in this state we likely have dozen or more wade fishermen using felt soled waders to every boater so again I have to conclude that this state is greedy, ignorant or both!

In the not too distant past just the Fed Govt required registration if you used your boat on any water under their jurisdiction such as tidewaters, navigable rivers, national Rec areas, etc. Then it slowly started spreading as states saw an opportunity to soak willing sportsmen and women. I checked into it 15 years ago or so, with the U S Coast Guard, which was the office of primary responsibility originally for the regulation and they laughed when I told them I'd been ticketed by an overzealous County Sheriff on the Tillamook for running a small Jon Boat using the smallest of electric motors. The Coast Guard officer in charge pointed out that the reg was originally written for motorized craft such as those big ships, etc that use Elec thrusters, etc.

The original state regs requiring boat registration were fairly reasonable and were designed to add a bit of extra money to be used for boat ramps, wake damaged shorelines and docks, enforcement and other big boat use problems, but most certainly not for car toppers, poontoon boats, canoes, etc. This latest nonsense is strictly greed and building a bigger bureaucracy.

I do not mind at all when my sportsman dollars are being used appropriately but this latest rash of nonsense, in my mind, has me steamed! What say you is this a good or bad trend and what might be done about it? I have talked about this and the apparent problems with these regulations as high as the second in charge here with Wyoming Fish & Game to no avail. Any suggestions?

[idlerick]

What's really silly, Chuck, is the way the different states interpret the "invasive threat" differently. In Colorado, they don't sell a sticker, but trailered boats have to be inspected entering and leaving every reservoir, every time. So if your pontoon is in the bed, or your canoe on the roof, breeze right past. But if you've towed it there on a trailer, you have to wait in line for the inspection. For the life of me, I can't imagine how a $5 sticker (or whatever they cost) could keep the mussels off the boat. But, then, paying some retired doofus (like me) $6 an hour to inspect boats for mussels too small for the naked eye doesn't seem much better.
I agree that forcing rec boaters to register and label their boats is taking a valid idea and abusing it for the sake of revenue. Especially if that rec boat is a canoe, pontoon, kayak, etc. But at least the money (in Colo) goes to the Parks and Wildlife guys for access and ramps. Who gets it up there in Windyland?

[Joel D. Popham]

I would pay for the decal if I was confident that the $$$ was going to preventing invasive species.

[Kerry Stratton]

Ha! A few weeks ago I went on a picture taking expedition with my neighbor. We needed 4 or 5 permits and maybe more to access the areas we visited. One called a Discovery Pass, some sort of trail use permit and a SnoPark permit. There could have been more like a parking permit and I think we needed some sort of National Forest access permit too. Jeez, we were only taking pictures. The goverment is charging us up the nose to use our own land. What the hell?

[Daniel J]

Really, the LAST State of the Union I would have thought would do something that annoyingly "fee-ing"

[Chuck S]

"I would pay for the decal if I was confident that the $$$ was going to preventing invasive species." That says it all for sure. Here as in many places now we are stuck with a bureaucracy that has lost touch with providing a service for dollars collected and that goes for both the Invasive Species Stickers and Registering Car Toppers, etc!!!

[Mike Thomas]

Ha! A few weeks ago I went on a picture taking expedition with my neighbor. We needed 4 or 5 permits and maybe more to access the areas we visited. One called a Discovery Pass, some sort of trail use permit and a SnoPark permit. There could have been more like a parking permit and I think we needed some sort of National Forest access permit too. Jeez, we were only taking pictures. The goverment is charging us up the nose to use our own land. What the hell?

This is on public land? Man I thought the States was the land of the free! I cant believe you guys let them get away with locking up public land and demanding fees and permits to access your own land. I could see a parking permit being fair but anything else is robbery.
All the best.
Mike

[Kerry Stratton]

Mike,

Our goverments are broke. The first things to get cut in the budgets are parks and public lands. To keep the parks and public lands open they resort to permits and user fees. I don't mind paying a fee if it helps keep roads, trails, campgrounds and such open for public use but I do wish they could condense all the permits down to 1 or 2 instead of 5 or 6.

[Gigmaster]

Here in Ga., I pay over $60.00 for a Sportsmans License that is supposed to cover all hunting and fishing permits, except Duck Stamps. But to use it, I also have to pay every time I park my car at the local lake ($5.00 and up), or pay just to enter a Corps of Engineers lake, because they are gated. I costs me well over $200.00 per year just to fish, not counting the cost of equipment and gas. I have been complaining about this for years, and all I get from other people is "well, it keeps up the forest". It does not keep up anything. Wild Wilderness did a story on the RAT (Recreational Access Tax) a few years ago, and they discovered that all the fees do is pay the salaries of the people who collect the fees (and the rest finds its way into someones pocket...).

Something needs to be done about this. Our elected officials need to fix this, or get booted out of office. They are the ones who created this abominiation.

And, it's not just the money. In fact, it's not the money at all. Growing up, I could always tell myself that when times were hard, and you had little money, a poor person could still have a little solace in the fact that they could still hunt and fish. That's what America was all about, instead of the outdoors being the sole privilege of the upper classes, like in Europe. That is no longer true. These fees disenfranchise people of limited financial means. I don't mind buying a license, but paying a fee on top of it completely ruins the experience for me. I am a combat vet (USMC 1969-1975), and now, I find myself staying home more and more often because I get depressed when I go fishing, seeing the 'Fee Area' signs, and thinking to myself, "surely this is not what what I went into combat for....".

Sorry for the long post, but this is my 'Hot Button'. My only one, in fact....

This is on public land? Man I thought the States was the land of the free! I cant believe you guys let them get away with locking up public land and demanding fees and permits to access your own land. I could see a parking permit being fair but anything else is robbery.
All the best.
Mike