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The New Warden Stamp - Budget Woes Come Home to Roost!

by Mike McKenzie and John Beuttler

December 23, 2009 -- In October of this year, Governor Schwarzenegger signed legislation intending to provide our state’s hard-pressed game wardens with some relief.  AB 1442 mandated a number of provisions regarding the Department of Fish and Game’s activities including a new law that permits the Department to offer a stamp to generate funds to ‘support Game Wardens.’ Sales of the $5 stamp will start in 2010. Purchase of the stamp  is not required to go hunting or fishing, but rather is a voluntary donation.
 
The department’s wardens face life threatening situations at salary and benefit levels far less than the state’s other law enforcement personnel. Given the decline in the number of wardens over the past twenty years, this new stamp sounds like a positive step in a long overdue direction.
 
However, when one tracks the agency’s recent fiscal history, the longstanding under funding of the California’s Department of Fish and Game becomes obvious. The stamp provision is at best a band-aid, and at worst, a ploy to foist a “feel good” idea on to the shoulders of California’s hunting and fishing community. At the same time the Governor’s Administration continues the fiscal emasculation of a department that has become a “Paper Tiger”.
 
The agency has suffered some $40 million dollars of staggering budget cuts during Governor Schwarzenegger’s administration. Many of the DFG’s mandates to protect the public’s fish and wildlife resources  simply cannot be carried out due to insufficient funds. The chronic under funding of the agency has failed to allow the public’s fishery resources to be managed at sustainable population levels. If you follow the money, it becomes clear why our salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, striped bass, and other fisheries have declined to historic lows while the habitat they need has been sacrificed to fuel private business and our state’s population growth. 
 
The warden force is now so small and under funded it cannot provide the necessary level of deterrent to properly protect the fish and wildlife resources from illegal harvest. The state has lost many hundreds of million dollars worth these valuable public owned resources to poachers who profit at the public’s expense.
 
We have nothing but admiration for the dedication and sacrifices that our Game Wardens make on a daily basis. They are some of the most at risk law enforcement officers in this State, yet our Governor and Legislature will not provide them the same pay and benefits as other enforcement officers in the State. Of greater concern is the fact that the Governor has not budgeted funding to increase the number of wardens to provide the workforce necessary to get the job done!
 
Our objections to this $5 voluntary stamp stems from the fact that IT WILL NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM caused by the failure of the state to provide the necessary funding to properly run the agency’s enforcement division. Because the public owns fish and wildlife life, the public should play a major role in funding the enforcement of the laws that protect this valuable natural resource heritage.
 
The people of California must make a decision soon on whether or not they want free flowing waters populated with fish and wild lands populated with the wildlife. These valuable resources have been a historic part of our inheritance from previous generations but they are disappearing all too rapidly! Your support of CSPA with tax deductible donations will enable our continued engagement of those who make the legislative decisions regarding the Department of Fish & Game!