Fish & Wildlife commissioner proposes $20 "area license" for paddlers at agency access points

Jason Batchelder, commissioner of Fish and Wildlife, outlined a proposed "area license" that would require stand‑up paddlers and other non‑angler users who do not already hold a hunting or fishing license or motorboat registration to pay for use of the agency’s fishing access areas.

"It's essentially . . . a license to use our fishing access areas for paddling and almost nothing else," Batchelder told the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee during a committee meeting on April 15. He said the department would aim for an annual price near $20, plus short‑term passes, and would use QR‑coded kiosks at access points to facilitate purchases.

Batchelder said the department’s rationale is fiscal: Fish and Wildlife owns and maintains roughly 205 fishing access points statewide that cost money to mow, repair kiosks and parking, and otherwise manage. The commissioner gave a conservative revenue projection of about $50,000 in the first year and said the department’s conservative multi‑year estimate could reach roughly $290,000.

Committee members pressed for operational and equity details. Members asked whether the area license would apply at state parks or cover parking; Batchelder said the license would not duplicate state park fees and would apply only at Fish and Wildlife access sites and that the pass would generally cover parking at those access points. He also confirmed that traditional fishing licenses (for anglers) and motorboat registrations would exempt a user from the new area license.

Batchelder said the department would include exemptions for certain groups, citing veterans and Indigenous first‑nation communities as examples. He acknowledged the political sensitivity of charging for outdoor access and said the department would pursue a passive enforcement rollout, relying on wardens to ask users about an area license and initially issue warnings rather than fines.

The commissioner also flagged a pending legislative action: he told the committee that language in a miscellaneous tax bill (H933) would, as drafted, remove the commissioner’s authority to set these fees. Several members responded that they prefer a compromise of delaying action this year so the commissioner can return next year with more data and a fuller proposal. One member urged the department to gather better visitor counts and use greeter data to show where and how many users would be affected.

Next steps: committee members signaled they want more detail and data before any policy or fee change is adopted and suggested the commissioner return with a fuller proposal next year; the transcript shows no formal vote on the area license during this meeting.