Hi, I want to ask two questions about wildlife funding in Minnesota.
Before you read on -- responses, should you choose to make them -- are to be off net, to me directly, please. This is a subject some might find debatable, and this network is not the place for that debate. Thanks. I am working on an article for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The subject is the source of funds for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Most of the money it receives comes from hunters and fishermen. Yet, almost all of its work impacts non-game species as well, including birds. How would you react if birders and other non-consumptive users of wild lands in Minnesota were asked to pay a share of funding needs comparable to that contributed by hunters and fishermen? (Hunters and fishermen pay license fees and, in some cases, purchase stamps for particular hunting privileges. Hunters and fishermen also pay a federal tax on certain items of equipment, a tax at least some of which is returned to the state of purchase for ) If you feel you contribute already, how do you contribute to wildlife funding in Minnesota? The birder side of this discussion is important. I will appreciate your participation. I will not quote you directly unless I have your permission to do so. Jim Williams Wayzata