License-fee increases a big help
OUTDOORS | Long-overdue changes will benefit Illinois hunters, wildlife
On Monday night, I caught up with John Buhnerkempe.
Though I enjoy talking with the sharp but understated chief of the division of wildlife resources for Illinois, I should've been talking to somebody with a smaller title, say upland game program manager.
I simply had questions about the opening of hunting for cock pheasant, bobwhite quail, gray partridge and rabbit in Illinois on Saturday.
But Illinois has no upland game program manager, not since John Cole retired his three decades of institutional knowledge last year. Just like Illinois hasn't had a turkey biologist since Jerry Garver retired with his three decades of institutional knowledge nearly seven years ago.
Help is finally coming.
On Friday, both houses of the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 1846. Gov. Quinn is expected to sign it. SB1846 raises some fees, notably for hunting and fishing.
Those changes are long overdue. I'm proud that hunters and fishermen, over the years, have willingly paid their way, even requested such fees as habitat stamps.
Resident fishing licenses would increase by $2 to $14.50, resident hunting licenses by $5 to $12, resident deer permits by $10 to $25, sportsman combination licenses by $7.50 to $25 and state waterfowl stamps by $5 to $15. Nonresident licenses also would increase.
Some of those increases should've been higher and happened years ago.
The other part of raising fees --park-use fees (a broader group not as eager to foot outdoor bills) --may be done through administrative rule changes. Director Marc Miller said the Illinois Department of Natural Resources is studying carefully how or if to institute user fees at state parks. That's a separate issue, despite ranters trying to connect them.
Considering that the license-fee increases should bring in several million dollars, I asked which would be first on Buhnerkempe's wish list: turkey biologist or upland game program manager?
And he said, ''Upland is foremost in my mind.''
His reasoning is habitat projects, such as state acres for wildlife enhancement, need a point person at the state level and somebody to coordinate with conservation groups -- Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, Quail Unlimited and smaller local clubs -- that ''put those [habitat] programs on the ground.''
''But every time I lose a body, it has an impact,'' Buhnerkempe said. ''In the short term, [Cole's retirement] probably [will not have] much impact. In the long term, you have to think about habitat as a long-term investment. ... I have nobody in leadership in the agricultural/grassland arena to lead the charge on those efforts.''
And we need the efforts in Illinois, once one of the great destinations for upland hunting. Now we're mired in a downward spiral, though Buhnerkempe said, ''We don't expect the season to be all that different than last year. Look for good habitat, and you will probably find birds.''
But the recap of the 2008-09 seasons and prospects for this one are not good.
奥 An estimated 29,016 hunters (down 19.3 percent from 2007-08) harvested 103,399 pheasants last season. The good news was daily harvest per hunter [.73 pheasants] was up 25.9 percent. The bad news is May call counts were down 37 percent from the five-year average.
• An estimated 21,962 hunters (down 10.8 percent) harvested 151,170 quail (down 19.9) in '08-09. Call counts were virtually the same as last year.
• An estimated 40,077 hunters (down 18.3 percent) harvested 154,216 rabbits (down 36.7 percent) in '08-09. The June-July road-kill index (best counting method) decreased 19.5 percent in southern Illinois but increased 35 percent in northern Illinois.
奥 As to gray partridge, if somebody shoots a wild one, not a hunting-preserve escapee, please e-mail me at outdoordb@sbcglobal.net. Some friends are trying to document wild ones.
Fishing historian/world-renowned collector Dan Basore headlines the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance meeting at the Bolingbrook Bass Pro at 6 p.m. Saturday. He will report on his interview with the man who caught a 10-pound-plus smallmouth bass. ... The Chicago Park District and the Grant Park Advisory Council and Conservancy will hold a public Northerly Island design workshop from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday at Spertus Institute, 610 S. Michigan.
May I suggest the Ricketts clan reach out to Mars Inc., just to keep the Wrigley name in family. Imagine the Cubs' home park as Mars Field. Savor that awhile; it'll come to you.