The cost of hunting and fishing licenses in Colorado could increase by as much as 50 percent under a proposed bill aimed at bolstering Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission’s services and to address backlogged maintenance of park and waterway infrastructure.
As The Denver Post reports, House Bill 1321 could help Colorado Parks and Wildlife raise money to avoid reducing access to hunting and fishing areas, closing fish hatcheries, slashing license allotments and reducing conservation work.
Last summer, Parks and Wildlife officials toured the state and held meetings in which they expressed the need for license fee increases to ensure that the state’s hunters and anglers did not see a dramatic reduction of services.
The wildlife division has seen $40 million dollars in cuts since 2009 and with rising costs for gas, fish food and water, combined with a decline in the number of people buying licenses, the division estimates its budget would be short by $15 to 20 million by 2023.