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What's this access/depredation fee? |
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January 14, 2018 |
By Roger Phillips
IDFG Public Information Specialist
Why do I have to pay an extra $5 for my license?
It’s a question that will commonly be asked when
hunters, anglers and trappers buy their 2018
licenses, so here’s a quick refresher.
The “Access/Depredation fee” is a new, one-time
annual fee that applies to everyone – residents
and nonresidents alike – when they buy their
first annual license of the year. Resident
adults pay $5, nonresident adults pay $10, and
people such as juniors and seniors who are
eligible for discounted licenses also get a
discounted fee.
The Access/Depredation fee is in addition to
your annual license, but only applies to the
first annual license you buy each year and is
valid through the end of the calendar year. So
if you buy a hunting license in 2018 and later
buy a trapping license during 2018, you won’t be
charged for the fee again. But in 2019, you will
be charged again when you buy your first annual
2019 license.
Similarly, if your first license purchase in
2018 is a trapping license, which runs from July
1 through June 30 of the next year, the
Access/Depredation fee that is purchased at the
same time is valid from date of purchase through
December 31 of that year; even though the
trapping license expires in the middle of 2019.
So what’s it for?
As the name implies, the money pays for
sportsman access to private lands and across
private lands to public lands, and it will be
used for Fish and Game programs to acquire
sportsmen’s access through lease or easement,
such as the
Access Yes! program.
The depredation part of the fee goes to
compensate landowners when wildlife damages
their property, typically for agriculture lands
and crops. This is also a long-standing program,
but the fee provides more money to fund it.
Money will also be used to prevent wildlife
damage to crops and improve wildlife habitat in
an effort to keep animals away from private
land.
Here’s how the estimated $2 million raised
annually from the Access/Depredation fee will be
spent as money in the account builds:
• The first $500,000 adds to funding that compensate landowners for crop
damages caused by big game animals, up to $2.5
million annually based on available cash
balance.
• The next $500,000 adds money to prevent crop damage from big game
herds.
• The remaining $1 million will be spent to improve access to private
land from willing landowners for hunting,
fishing and trapping. |
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