Colorado Parks and Wildlife is having trouble paying its bills.
They've already had to eliminate more than 50 jobs, and $40 million from the budget since 2009. Without that money, CPW says it will have to close access to some state lands, shut down hatcheries and limit hunting licenses.
They're hoping to solve the problem by doubling the cost of in-state hunting and fishing licenses. Those fees haven't increased since 2005.
There have been public meetings throughout the month with sportsmen. The idea was to explain the reasoning behind the potential fee increase.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife Spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill says they've had some mixed reviews.
"Understandably, we have some folks who have said to us, 'My wife, we go and see a play at the Buell and it costs me $200. So yeah, double your fees. Do whatever you need to do. Go ahead and do it.' And we have some folks that are, you know, some long-term hunters, their whole family hunts, and they say, 'This is really going to put a cramp in our fall recreation, how we feed our family, and we don't appreciate anyone suggesting that you should double fees,'" Jennifer Churchill with CPW told 9NEWS.
Fees are based on various factors like species, method of take and season.
Despite the proposed increase, the agency says Colorado residents are still the biggest concern, and the state is trying to make fair compromises to keep it that way.
"We are trying to make sure that are residents get priority because we live here," Churcill said. "(Residents) want that privilege. They want to have that priority. We're having this conversation about the way we could work on licenses."
Churchill said an idea about limiting resident licenses and providing more non-resident licenses has come up. Non-residents pay about 10 times more than residents do in fees, and therefore more out-of-state money would go toward upkeep. According to Churchill, most sportsmen don't want to limit resident licenses, and the state wants to make sure residents are the people who keep coming back to hunt.
There are two more public meetings. One is on Tuesday night in Fort Collins. The other one is on Wednesday in Evergreen.
If you can't make it to one of the meetings, there's an online survey you can take too.
After they get public comment, CPW is hoping a legislator will take the baton, and bring the fee increase suggestions to the legislature.
