The NYS Conservation Fund?consisting primarily of revenue derived from sporting licenses, fees and special sales taxes?has historically been viewed as a dedicated fund which can only be used for fish and wildlife related conservation. Currently the $50M Fund has a surplus of about $9M, much of that generated from the hunting and fishing license fee hikes of two years ago. Despite the surplus, the Fund has been frozen, meaning the loss of some programs and personnel dependant on it for revenue. But now, faced with a staggering state budget deficit, it seems the governor and legislators’ fingers are itching to dip into that money

Somewhat ironic also is that the bill to create a mandatory NYS salt water fishing license was repealed. Previously the DEC’s Marine District budget ran about $9M, most of it coming from the, you guessed it, Conservation Fund. The license repeal – obviously politically motivated by affected downstate legislators – failed to consider that there was no targeted money in the General Fund to pay for the very Marine program services the new license would help fund.