State says the outdoors are for everyone―for a price

There’s a mixed message coming from the Hochul administration. The governor’s “Get Offline, Get Outside” program is commendable but not in sync with what’s going on out in the real world.

Plus, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has just implemented rules restricting participation of its Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) and Wildlife staff in hunting and fishing mentoring programs. Add to that, a longstanding inflexible fee structure at DEC campgrounds, and it certainly appears the state does not support kids connecting to the outdoors.

A program in a Greene County school district entitled, “A Greater Sense of Place,” seeks to get kids offline and outdoors each year. It sends three busloads of middle schoolers to DECs North Lake Campground to hike, bike, and fish. In other words, connecting them to the outdoors. One thing is certain, each year no bus or volunteer vehicle participating in this wonderful program will get through the booth at North Lake without paying $50 per bus and $10 per car. Even though the program has been in place for forty years, and each year the school always pays for the buses and cars to go through, each vehicle is stopped and must provide proof of payment. Otherwise, they are turned away.

Even state employees from DEC’s Five Rivers Environmental Center in Delmar providing other environmental programs at North Lake Campground have had to cough up the $10 vehicle fee to get through.

DEC Commissioner, Amanda Lefton has said, “The environment is for everyone.” Another laudable effort to get kids and adults involved who traditionally have not been connected to nature. The lack of people meaningfully getting outdoors and connecting to our environment has been identified by author and psychologist, Richard Louve, as detrimental to our mental well- being. In his 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, he describes a potentially serious problem when kids simply don’t get outside and connect to nature.

DEC is now targeting a successful, time-tested program where organized sportsmen and women partner with state ECOs and Fish & Wildlife staff to get kids out, hunting, fishing, and trapping.

DEC just promulgated rules that clamp down on its agency’s wildlife and law enforcement staff attending and supporting youth fishing and hunting events.

Why are they trying to fix what’s not broken? Why address this now? How is it a priority over making sure the “Last Child in the Woods” is not a New York kid who used to participate in ECO supported field outdoor activities like hunting and fishing?

DEC had been enjoying a highly successful effort to get kids of all backgrounds out hunting, trapping, and fishing where ECOs and wildlife staff were integral to youth mentoring programs. It’s a key component of DEC’s R3 Program to “Recruit, Retain, and Reactivate” kids and adults to increase participation in hunting and the outdoors.

The new rules are in direct contravention to the R3 effort. How much taxpayer funding goes to R3? Why is DEC striking a blow at a successful program? How is restricting ECOs and wildlife staff in line with the governor’s and commissioner’s stated initiatives?

Full disclosure, I coordinate the Greene County Federation of Sportsmen’s annual Youth Pheasant Hunt and can attest in all the years I’ve been involved have never seen a kid at the hunt scrolling on their phone. There’s no need. They are fully immersed in the outdoor hunting program which is heavily supported by NYS ECOs.

Youth hunters at the Greene County Youth Pheasant Hunt get shooting safety instruction from volunteer DEC Sportsman Education coordinators, trained school shotgun coaches and shooting instructors, all while ECOs are actively assisting in the coordination of the youth hunt. It’s a critical component to the success of the program. It’s a DEC win they are turning into a loss by obstructing connecting kids to nature.

Gov. Hochul, your ECOs, Wildlife staff, along with New York’s organized sportsmen and women have been getting kids off screens and outdoors for the past 30 years. They have partnered with highly trained and experienced ECOs and Wildlife staff to successfully deliver on that commitment and ensuring the environment is for everyone―including kids with no hunting tradition in their family or those who are disadvantaged, or in single parent households. We are helping kids who would never have dreamed they can participate in the safe introduction to hunting, fishing, and trapping.

It’s now time to make choices on how best to move forward. Let’s choose to connect kids to the outdoors, hunting, fishing, trapping, hiking and biking for the benefit of all New Yorkers.

Happy hunting, fishing, and trapping, until next time!

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A resident of Durham, Larry is a retired captain with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

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