Consequences for JFC Inaction Again
July 31, 2024
Consequences for JFC Inaction Again
By Senator Jeff Smith
When a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? How about when the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) removes an agency’s funding request before it even sees the light of day?
That’s exactly what happened last year when the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requested a $5 increase to Inland Waters Trout Stamp (IWTS) at the request of angling groups, in addition to another $234,000 needed to fully operate fish hatchery operations. The Governor listened – he included it in his version of the budget. Legislative Republicans didn’t include it in theirs. It wasn’t discussed, it was rejected outright for no reason except that it came from the Governor.
There are scores of examples just like this that never see the light of day. Political decisions by Republicans on JFC to leave out vital requests from agencies like these have downstream consequences that are playing out as I write this. Especially in this case when fisheries now lack the money needed to transport the fish they have already raised this year. Now we are hearing from anglers in western Wisconsin that this year’s crop of fingerlings may not be able to get to the streams they were intended to end up in.
As a result of JFC removing the DNR’s request to increase the Inland Waters Trout Stamp (IWTS) from $10 to $15, sportsmen are missing out on an estimated $800,000 annually. That money would have gone directly to supporting habitat restoration work needed for streams, and more specifically, for the end goal of sustainably stocking fish. After all, it would make no sense to breed fish if there is no place to put them where they can thrive and reproduce on their own.
The last time there was an increase to the Trout Stamp was in 2006, and since then inflation has risen approximately 55%. So what was intended to be $10 from each stamp 18 years ago is now less than half of the money going to stream restoration. Trout Unlimited and their members are the ones asking for this increase because they understand what’s at stake.
The DNR’s Bureau of Fisheries management is tasked with the very time intensive and expensive work of rearing trout and getting them into specially designated waterways to ensure their survival. Citing structural deficits to their funding in the 2023-2025 Biennial Budget, they are now forced to pause their trout and salmon production this year. Although the $5 increase in trout stamp offered by the Governor at the request of anglers wouldn’t go directly to fish rearing, it would however alleviate an already strained budget.
Without this vital work being done - from start to finish - the future of our trout fishing heritage will suffer in Wisconsin due to politics at its worst.
In talking with folks who care deeply about what it means to pass on our sporting heritage, our state government needs to do more to ensure these opportunities exist for the next generation.
Next year when we start the entire budget process again in February, the Inland Waters Trout Stamp fee increase needs to be requested yet again, in addition to allowing the money raised from it to go directly to tireless work of trout stocking. Now that we see the true ramifications playing out from chronically underfunding state agency programs like this, I hope everyone keeps a keen eye on the Joint Finance Committee. After all, no one hears the tree fall in the woods unless someone is listening for it.