The summit of Mount Kearsarge on a warm Sunday afternoon in mid-August. (Dana Wormald | New Hampshire Bulletin)
On the surface, it is easy to agree that New Hampshire’s Fish and Game Department needs more funding. Yet, securing additional public funding remains unlikely as long as the majority of state residents – who neither hunt nor fish – are asked to subsidize a small minority. Hunters make up just 3.2 percent of New Hampshire’s population, anglers about 10 percent, and trappers fewer than 600 individuals.
Over the last two decades, legislative efforts to address the department’s funding shortfalls have repeatedly failed.
In 2007, an audit commissioned by the Legislature identified funding strategies, none of which were implemented. Similarly, a 2018 Senate commission proposed solutions that went unadopted. Proposals from these two efforts included: general funding for search and rescue; increasing the rooms and meals tax by one-eighth of 1 percent to be dedicated to the department; requiring decals for nonmotorized recreational boats; increasing matching general funds for nongame species; charging fees for launching boats at public launches; and increasing distribution to the department from the general fund.
All these proposals were deemed inexpedient to legislate from the outset; the only one that even made into a bill, in 2018, was a proposal that a portion of rental fees for nonmotorized boats be deposited in the search-and-rescue fund. The bill was voted inexpedient to legislate.
Most recently, in 2024, a Senate committee reviewed past proposals from these two efforts and did not have any specific recommendations, although an increase in funding from the general fund was the default solution discussed.
This lack of progress persists despite clear evidence of broad public interest in wildlife.
A recent survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with the cooperation of Fish and Game, found that New Hampshire residents who engage in nonconsumptive wildlife activities – like viewing and photography – outnumber hunters and anglers 4 to 1. These “wildlife watchers” account for 62 percent of the $5.2 billion spent on wildlife-related recreation in New Hampshire and provide approximately 60 percent of the department’s funding, either directly through state and federal taxes or from the general fund.
In my opinion, contributing to the disconnect between broad public interest and the lack of adequate funding is the fact that New Hampshire Fish and Game commissioners are, by law, exclusively hunters and anglers. This excludes over 85 percent of residents from representation in decision-making about the state’s wildlife, a resource held in public trust for all. Legislative attempts to broaden commission representation – recommended in a 2008 audit and proposed in multiple bills since – have been blocked.
Without a more inclusive commission that reflects the interests of all New Hampshire residents, there is little incentive for the majority – wildlife watchers, conservationists, and other stakeholders – to support increased public funding.
“Taxation” without representation has never been a winning strategy. It is time for the Legislature to align the department’s leadership with the values and contributions of all New Hampshire residents, not just the few who hunt and fish.