SAM Pushes Recommendations of DIF&W Assessment

by George Smith

            Two legislative bills proposed by SAM address the report and recommendations of an outside professional assessment of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.   On April 5, the legislature’s Fish and Wildlife Committee hosted public hearings on both of SAM’s bills: LD 865, Resolve To Improve I&E Services at DIF&W, and LD 1351, Resolve Directing DIF&W to Prepare an Implementation Plan for the MATT Recommendations.

            SAM used the public hearings to inform committee members about the history and findings of the DIF&W assessments, and SAM’s role in those assessments.  Here is SAM’s testimony on the two bills.

SAM’s Testimony

            Two outside professional assessments of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife have now been completed.  The idea for outside assessments came from SAM’s Fishing Initiative Committee.  Our initial legislation, sponsored in 2001 by then-Senate President Mike Michaud, called for an assessment of the fisheries division, and was not exactly embraced by the department’s leaders – this was in the previous administration.

            There was a lot of resistance to the idea within DIF&W, and some saw it as a witch hunt by SAM.   That was never our intent.  The legislature enacted Senator Michaud’s bill, authorizing an outside assessment of the fisheries division.

            I worked with DIF&W to win a $50,000 grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund to pay for the assessment, and I raised about $10,000 in matching funds for that grant, with the funds coming from SAM’s Conservation Education Fund, the Phippsburg Sportsmen’s Association, the York County Fish and Game Club, the Norway Paris Fish and Game Club, the Mt. Desert Fish and Game Club, the Rangeley Guides and Sportsmen’s Association, and the Moosehead Lake Fisheries Coalition.

            The department hired the Management Assistance Team, a service of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, an exceptional team of management professionals at the national level that work with fish and wildlife agencies all over the country.

Their assessment was very critical of the fisheries division and led to personnel and other changes.  It included 36 recommendations for improvements, many of them calling for significant changes in the division.  It was an excellent report, issued in January of 2003.

In the legislative session that began at that time, House Speaker Pat Colwell sponsored SAM’s bill directing DIF&W’s Commissioner to report in writing to the legislature’s Fish and Wildlife Committee the department’s plan to implement the assessment’s recommendations.  The bill also directed the Commissioner to report every six months to the Fish and Wildlife Committee on the department’s progress in implementing the plan and recommendations.

To his credit, incoming Commissioner Dan Martin made the implementation of those recommendations a high priority.  Our bill was enacted, with the endorsement of this committee, and the Commissioner quickly issued his plan and first report on April 14, 2003.  He has continued to issue written reports every six months, with the latest report dated October 2004.

The report lists every recommendation, assigns responsibility for the implementation of the recommendation, establishes a target date for each recommendation, and provides progressive reports on the implementation.

SAM has utilized these reports to follow the department’s progress in implementing these recommendations, allowing us and others to recognize the department’s progress and to provide input when we find that progress to be inadequate.

The reports have been very valuable in allowing for legislative and public scrutiny and input as the Commissioner’s plan is being implemented.  The process has produced important new policies and statements such as this Public Input Statement, and has helped the public to be aware of and to participate in the creation and adoption of these policies and plans.

2003 Assessment

            Based on the success of the fisheries division assessment, SAM submitted legislation in 2003, sponsored by Senator Bruce Bryant, directing the department to conduct similar assessments of its other divisions and bureaus, including the Division of Wildlife, Division of Information and Education, Bureau of Warden Services, and Bureau of Administrative Services.

            This time the department supported our bill, and the Management Assistance Team was once again hired for the project.  We had enough money left from the Heritage Grant to fund the new assessments without raising additional money.

            A nine-member review team of national experts conducted eleven focus groups, interviewed more than 100 individuals, and surveyed every DIF&W employee, producing 57 recommendations for improvements.

LD 1351

            We thank Representative Watson for sponsoring SAM’s bill that directs the department to prepare a written response to the assessment, and a plan for implementing the recommendations, with periodic reports to this committee – the same process that is being followed for the fisheries division assessment that we have found so valuable.             As you know, Commissioner Martin has organized a working group “to formulate an implementation plan for those recommendations that the group determines to be in the best interest of the Department.” 

            This working group consists of DIF&W staff members and Senator Bryant, Representatives Watson and Trahan, Skip Trask representing the Maine Professional Guides Association, Jenn Burns representing Maine Audubon Society.  I represent SAM on this working group, which has not yet met.  I commend the Commissioner for organizing the group and I look forward to tackling this important task.

            This companion legislation will allow the working group to participate in the process of creating a written response to the MATT report and recommendations, and to help the Commissioner prepare a plan for implementing the recommendations that the working group finds compelling. 

            This legislation will also provide you with a copy of that report and implementation plan, along with regular reports on the department’s progress in implementing its plan.

            We would prefer an annual report, rather than a report every two years as proposed in LD 1351.  These recommendations are too important to ignore, especially for a couple of years.  Based on the success of the legislation that required a report on the implementation of the fisheries assessment’s recommendations every six months, we trust you will agree.

LD 865

            This brings me to LD 865 which calls for the implementation of the assessment’s recommendations for the department’s Information and Education Division.  Along with this testimony I am providing the section of the assessment that deals with the I&E Division.

            We have singled out this series of findings and recommendations because we believe they may be the most important in the entire assessment.  Our future as Maine sportsmen – and our outdoor heritage – depend upon and demand an aggressive marketing and education program at the department.  We do not have that today.

            I urge you to read this entire section, but especially the sections on marketing and education.  In my interview with the Management Assistance Team, I had asked them to show us, in their final report, what a truly effective I&E Division would look like.  I think they did that.

            There was a great deal of misunderstanding within the department as to what the I&E Division should be doing – you’ll see that in this report.  But I believe we all share the view that this division and mission is vitally important and must be expanded.

            The bear referendum showed how important the department is in educating the general public about the importance of hunting and trapping.  SAM’s project to explain to nonhunters why they need hunters and hunting could be strengthened with the participation of the department.

            It was frightening to find how little the public knew about hunting – particularly in southern Maine.  And DIF&W plays a vital role in educating the public about our outdoor activities.  Right now, their public education effort is woefully inadequate, and invites continued challenges by national animal rights groups and others who prey on the public’s ignorance.

            Maine’s outdoor economy needs a Fish and Wildlife Department that understands its marketing mission, and, as the assessment recommends: “develop(s) agency-wide marketing approaches in an effort to make sure that all programs deliver the highest value to their customers.”  And of course, to attract new customers.

            Our outdoor economy is dying, and we have no plan to revive it.

            “Approximately one-third of the state fish and wildlife agencies across the country are actively engaged in either learning how or already using a marketing approach, and the number is growing,” reported the assessment.

            “Interestingly, marketing in many agencies is a tool to achieve revenue goals and conservation success,” said the report.

            I know that the implementation of the recommendations for the I&E Division will be expensive.  But we can’t afford not to do it – even if we have to find new revenue sources to get the job done.

            Whatever the answer, I hope you’ll read the assessment, and agree with us that the recommendations for the I&E Division must be a high priority.  If we can’t get it done immediately, let’s work together to find a way to get it done as quickly as possible.

            If you are willing to wait for the report and plan of the Commissioner’s working group, I ask you to carry this bill over to the 2006 session, and have it available for action at that time.