SUMMARY

The $140.9 million in revenue included $69.8 million (49.5 percent) from fees for hunting and fishing licenses and stamps, and $37.9 million (26.9 percent) from federal revenue received primarily under the Pittman-Robertson Act and the Dingell-Johnson Act. 

2023 Wisconsin Act 19, the 2023-2025 Biennial Budget Act, increased certain nonresident hunting and fishing license fees and made a one-time transfer of $25.0 million from the Forestry Account to the Fish and Wildlife Account in FY 2023-24. Excluding the $25.0 million transfer, Fish and Wildlife Account revenue was $115.9 million in FY 2023-24. Before the Act 19 increases for certain hunting and fishing license fees, most fees were last increased by 2005 Wisconsin Act 25, the 2005-2007 Biennial Budget Act.

The $126.2 million in expenditures included $92.9 million in expenditures supported by state revenue (73.6 percent) and $33.3 million in expenditures supported by federal revenue primarily from the Pittman-Robertson Act and the Dingell-Johnson Act. In FY 2023-24, DNR spent $24.9 million (26.8 percent) of Fish and Wildlife Account expenditures supported by state revenue for fisheries management, $18.5 million (19.9 percent) for law enforcement, and $16.3 million (17.5 percent) for wildlife management.

Within the Conservation Fund, some expenditures are funded by more than one account and are shared with other accounts such as the Forestry Account and the Parks Account. Such shared expenditures include those for certain activities pertaining to customer service, law enforcement, facilities and property management, debt service, and other activities. Shared expenditures also include $9.6 million (10.3 percent) of DNR’s department and division level administrative costs, which are limited by statute to 16.0 percent of annual Fish and Wildlife Account expenditures. Activities supported solely by the Fish and Wildlife Account, which were not shared expenditures, totaled $48.0 million (51.7 percent).

Although DNR documented the methodology it used to allocate shared expenditures to each account in the Conservation Fund for FY 2023-24, DNR did not establish any written policies for the process by which it makes changes to its methodology, and we recommend that it do so.

In the financial report DNR provided to us, we found that DNR did not allocate all expenditures and revenues for the Fish and Wildlife Account in FY 2023-24 in accordance with its allocation methodology. As a result, the financial report understated expenditures allocated to the Fish and Wildlife Account by $5.1 million and also understated Fish and Wildlife Account revenues by $5.1 million for FY 2023-24. We recommend that DNR ensure that it consistently follows its allocation methodology and conduct an appropriate review to ensure that it has done so.

To determine the extent to which expenditures benefited hunters, anglers, or other users, we classified Fish and Wildlife Account expenditures supported by state revenue in FY 2023-24 by type of activity. We also determined that $36.7 million (39.5 percent) was spent for activities that benefited hunters, anglers, and other users. In addition, we determined that $0.3 million (0.3 percent) was spent for activities that did not directly benefit hunters and anglers.

As noted, Wisconsin Statutes limit DNR to spending no more than 16.0 percent of Fish and Wildlife Account expenditures on department and division level administrative costs in a fiscal year. In its February 2024 biennial report to the Legislature, DNR reported that it spent 14.1 percent of Fish and Wildlife Account expenditures on administrative costs. However, we found that DNR included $5.2 million of expenditures that should have been excluded because they were neither department or division level administrative costs, and DNR excluded $960,900 in division level administrative costs that should have been included. We recommend that DNR consistently report its administrative expenditures in its biennial report using the statutory administrative cost definition.

To improve the transparency of its expenditure of Fish and Wildlife Account funds, DNR could choose to provide additional information in its biennial report beyond that which is required by statute, and we recommend that DNR do so.

To do so, we conducted three file reviews, including:

• a review of 130 non-staffing expenditures totaling $9.3 million that were supported by $6.2 million in Fish and Wildlife Account funds, which showed the expenditures appeared to have been made by DNR in compliance with the purposes outlined by the associated appropriations and appeared appropriately related to DNR’s responsibilities in managing the fish and wildlife resources of the State;
• a review of 105 individual DNR staff who charged time to activities supported, at least in part, by Fish and Wildlife Account funds, which showed that 104 of the 105 individual staff charged time to activities that appeared consistent with the duties specified by their position descriptions; and
• a review of 123 conservation wardens who charged time to certain Fish and Wildlife Account supported activities, worked at least 1,000 hours, and charged a majority of their time to activities other than training. We determined that 16 of the 123 conservation wardens we reviewed charged certain amounts of time at frequencies that were substantially higher than other wardens. We recommend that DNR establish written policies and specify when DNR is to provide training on submitting and approving timesheets.

Of the $26.0 million in Pittman-Robertson Act funds DNR expended in FY 2023-24, DNR spent $6.8 million on habitat and species management (26.2 percent), $5.9 million on wildlife land management (22.7 percent), and $4.6 million on research and monitoring (17.7 percent).

Of the $11.1 million in Dingell-Johnson Act funds DNR expended in FY 2023-24, DNR spent $5.3 million on surveys and monitoring (47.7 percent), $1.7 million on boat access activities (15.3 percent), and $1.6 million on fish research (14.4 percent).

Federal regulations specify 22 types of activities that may be supported by Pittman-Robertson Act funds and 16 types of activities that may be supported by Dingell-Johnson Act funds. We reviewed available information for 230 non-staffing expenditures totaling $5.1 million DNR made for projects supported, in part, by the funds from each Act. Our review found that DNR appeared to have complied with federal regulations and spent all $5.1 million for eligible activities specified in federal regulations.

We also reviewed timesheet data for 50 individual DNR staff who charged time to activities supported by Pittman-Robertson Act or Dingell-Johnson Act funds in FY 2023-24. We found that the 50 individual staff charged time to activities that appeared consistent with the duties specified by their position descriptions and that staff did not appear to have charged time for ineligible activities specified by federal regulations.

Please see the complete list of our recommendations on our website. We also include one issue for legislative consideration.