Hunting and license fees will be raised

The increases will raise $10 million in the next two years.

PETER PRENGAMAN, The Associated Press

July 24, 2003

SALEM — Hunters and fishermen will have to pay more in license fees under a bill the Oregon Legislature finished work on Wednesday.

After passing 25-2 in the Senate, House Bill 2260 now goes to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who is expected to sign it.

Beginning in January, daily fishing licenses will increase by $5. Hunting tags will climb $5 to $107, depending on the game animal and whether they are purchased by a state resident or nonresident.

The increases will raise about $10 million in the next two years, which will pay for biologists and game wardens at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Without the money, the department estimates it would need to cut as many as 69 positions.

Sen. Ken Messerle, a Coos Bay Republican who sponsored the measure, said hunters and fishermen around the state saw the need for the fee increases.

“Two hundred people attended a committee hearing on it and only two objected,” to the increases, Messerle said.

Sen. Lenn Hannon, R-Ashland, said the increases gouged people who enjoy the outdoor activities.

“If you keep jacking up the price pretty soon you won’t be able to go hunting,” Hannon said.

Hunting, fishing and guiding groups lent support to the increases after hearing the state budget crisis could force the layoffs, and lead to the closure of state run hatcheries.

Earlier this month, the measure passed the House, 54-3.

Some legislators and environmental groups complained that the overall wildlife agency budget, where fee collections go, planned to spend $7 million on a new fish research center at the Fall Creek hatchery in the coastal range west of Corvallis.

Opponents were not able to stop the fee increases, or the wildlife agency budget, which was approved by the Legislature in early July.