Outdoors and Hunting – Sportswomen You Ought to Know SeriesMAC Outdoorswith Mia Anstine -- Encouraging everyone to get outside, hunt, fish, shoot, and savor all life has to offer.

In a recent interview with Gabriella Hoffman, for her ‘Sportswomen You Ought to Know Series’, she asks about my road to the outdoors and hunting, my favorite hunting trip to date, the Field & Stream cover, and more.

I pass on the hunting tradition, locavore idea, and outdoor experience for a variety of reasons. One big reason is to share a connection with nature. Additionally, there is a lot of public land out there, which is incredible if you take the time to explore. Many of us take the areas and the pursuits for granted. Did you know that public lands are being sold off? have you been out there to explore? Where do you think the future of hunting is headed? Will you, or do you speak up? Let me know in the comments then read below to learn how you can get involved.

Here is information about our local Colorado Parks and Wildlife public meeting. I hope to see you there.

Meeting scheduled for southwest communities to discuss future of hunting, fishing, outdoor recreation in Colorado

DURANGO, Colo. – Colorado Parks and Wildlife is facing long-term budget issues that will affect how the state’s parks and wildlife are managed in the future. To present the issues, CPW will hold a public meeting to discuss the “Future of Hunting, Fishing and Outdoor Recreation in Colorado” for Southwest Region residents, 6 p.m., Sept. 25.

The meeting will be held by teleconference to allow residents of the far-flung Southwest Region to participate. At the meeting, CPW officials will explain the agency’s current challenges, present some ideas for fixing the budget problems, and provide an opportunity for the public to participate in developing solutions.

Residents can attend the meeting at any of the Southwest Region’s four wildlife service centers:

Durango, region headquarters, 415 Turner Drive in the Bodo Park
Gunnison, wildlife office, 300 W. New York Ave.
San Luis Valley, Monte Vista wildlife office, 0722 Road 1 East
Montrose, wildlife office, 2300 S. Townsend Ave. (U.S. Highway 550)

Besides discussing budget issues, CPW staff will give an update on regional hunting, fishing and parks activities in a roundtable format.CPW is managed as an “enterprise agency”, which means it does not receive any general sales tax dollars from Colorado taxpayers. The majority of the agency’s revenue comes from parks users and from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. The agency also receives grants from Great Outdoors Colorado, and federal excise taxes levied on the sale of hunting and fishing equipment.

CPW has not raised resident hunting and fishing licenses since 2005.

A bill to address the budget issues was submitted to the 2017 Colorado General Assembly. The bill passed with bi-partisan support in the House of Representatives. However, the bill did not reach the Senate floor when it failed to pass out of committee by a vote of 3-2.

The agency will be looking at funding ideas in 2018, as well as ways that it can continue to provide sustainable wildlife populations, world-class outdoor recreation and stewardship programs. Those details will be explained at the Sept. 25 meeting.

“Colorado hunters, anglers, state parks users and recreation users care deeply about outdoor resources in the state, and CPW works to maintain and improve those resources from our prairies to our peaks,” said Patt Dorsey, manager for CPW’s Southwest Region. “We want to continue to provide customer service and recreational opportunities, and we need to think seriously about how we do that with an increasing population and a shrinking budget.”

Funds for the wildlife section of the agency and the park section of the agency are, by law, kept completely separate. There is no comingling of revenues or expenditures.

“Coloradans are lucky to live in a state with a diversity of recreation opportunities and wildlife resources and they’ve always been willing to pay for those privileges,” Dorsey said. “CPW is reaching out to Colorado residents to bridge the gap between the present and the future.”

Those unable to attend the meeting can view an on-line presentation which details CPW’s financial challenges and a preliminary proposal for increasing hunting and fishing licenses at:
http://cpw.state.co.us/aboutus/Pages/Future-Conservation-Recreation.aspx.

After watching the presentation, the public is urged to provide comments in an on-line survey at: https://www.research.net/r/CPW-Future.

For more information about the meeting, contact Joe Lewandowski, Southwest Region public information officer at joe.lewandowski@state.co.us.

CPW is an enterprise agency, relying primarily on license sales, state parks fees and registration fees to support its operations, including: 41 state parks and more than 350 wildlife areas covering approximately 900,000 acres, management of fishing and hunting, wildlife watching, camping, motorized and non-motorized trails, boating and outdoor education. CPW’s work contributes approximately $6 billion in total economic impact annually throughout Colorado.

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