COLORADO SPRINGS – On January 1, 2019 Coloradans will be shelling out more money for hunting, fishing, camping, boating, and visiting state parks.
Colorado Parks & Wildlife said license fees haven’t gone up since 2005 and state park fees haven’t gone up since 2010. The agency also shared the cost of doing business has increased as inflation has caught up with them. The option came down to either cutting programs or increasing fees.
“I hunt and I fish small game,” said Stephen Meyer who has been trailing wild animals in Colorado since the 80s.
Meyer also hunts “large game, elk, antelope, deer.”
By next week, the price for these activities will have escalated. The annual fee for a fishing license will increase from $25 to $33. For big game like a moose, a license will go from $250 to $300.
Meyer said, “I can afford this and I accept it.”
Fellow hunter Tony Whalen said, “I love what they do for the state and taking care of parks…but there comes a point where everything tends to go up.”
For boaters, there will be a new $25 fee for an ANS (Aquatic Nuisance Species) stamp.
Frank McGee, area wildlife manager for Colorado Parks & Wildlife, said, “We’ve had a lot of zebra and quagga muscles coming into our state from outside of the state in the last couple of years and so making sure we intercept those before they get into our waters is very important to keeping our waters open.”
McGee said revenue from the new fees will help the agency catch up to where it used to be with funding. It will also be making some additions.
“There’s going to be an expansion of the BGAP Program which will hopefully open up some more private lands for public hunting.”
He said this is likely the last time people will see this large of an increase in fees.
For the full list of park and license fee changes CLICK HERE.
