Fishing and hunting license fees in Iowa are spent directly on habitat improvement and stocking, at least that’s the way it was a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, they receive no additional money from the general fund, so it has to be a self-sustaining operation. I believe that the salaries of DNR officials do come out of tax money, though.
There was a big stink here last year about budget cuts in the DNR. Unfortunately, the DNR is subject to the same problems as any other organization – the tendancy to create jobs at the high-levels while keeping low-level (enforcement) jobs steady. Just look at schools – my high school had 6 vice-principles and 5 guidance counselors, even though I’m not sure what they did. Then when it’s time to get budget cuts, everyone scrambles to keep their job and those without political sway and power are left holding the bag. Usually those are the people doing all the work.
Iowa’s solution was interesting. Instead of cutting, they stopped cutting. Mowing and trimming was stopped in parts of parks statewide. It’s a nice way to generate public outrage while leaving the DNR’s power structure top-heavy.
The other unfortunate thing is that they are an executive function, so you can’t lobby your representative to make changes. The only thing you can do is editorialize in the local rags (if you dare), and possibly write letters to the higher-ups in the DNR trying to convince them that they are the one whose job should be cut.
