AUGUSTA – Ten years ago, state fish-and-wildlife officials realized that if something wasn’t done to get youth interested in traditional hunting, fishing and conservation activities, several Maine fish and wildlife programs could become extinct.

Ninety percent of funding for Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s fish and wildlife programs comes from sales of hunting and fishing licenses.

Now, a decade later and despite the creation of several hunting, fishing and conservation programs, and an extremely successful but lone youth hunting and fishing club in Old Town, concern continues to mount.

“We are extremely worried. It’s a concern nationwide,” department spokesman Mark Latti said recently by phone in Augusta. “Seeing a loss of traditions like hunting and fishing is certainly disappointing.”

The same concerns were experienced nationwide during the 1990s, which saw a downturn in fishing and hunting among age groups particularly important to those activities, U.S. Fish and Wildlife economist Jerry Leonard stated in February in his report, the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation from 1990 to 2005.

During the past five years, the decline stabilized nationwide. However, in Maine in 2003, sales of resident junior hunting licenses began nosediving, dropping from a high of 17,578 to 15,920 in 2005. Numbers for 2006 are not yet available.

Sales of nonresident junior fishing licenses also declined in the same period, from 5,456 in 1999 to 4,628 in 2005. Maine doesn’t have a resident junior fishing license and, there’s no way to track youth angling because Maine children ages 15 and under can fish without a license, while nonresidents under 12 years of age can do the same.

To counter the decline, the department launched its Hooked on Fishing Not Drugs program in 1997. It attracts and educates an estimated 1,000 children annually, Emily Jones, department youth education coordinator, said.

“Every year, the program is being well received, so, either the problem (of declining youth recruitment) is growing and we’re just staying in touch with it, or we’re making a big difference,” she said.

The department also sponsors seven free Youth Field Days where children, parents and families can experience traditional outdoors activities.

Additionally, the department recently conducted an archery pilot program in 12 schools, including in Rangeley, Bethel, and Dixfield. It’s not entirely focused on bowhunting, but rather, Olympic-style archery.

“This has taken off like crazy. We’ve had an unbelievable amount of requests from other schools, so by the end of this month, we’ll be training more teachers,” Jones said.

Hunting and fishing clubs across the state also offer youth-oriented programs, but there is only one club geared specifically for children – the Maine Youth Fish and Game Association in Old Town. It hosts an annual youth summer camp at its lodge and at Pickerel Pond.

“I wish we had more like it,” Jones said.

Although Latti said Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap was the man behind it, Dunlap shared credit with certified Hooked on Fishing instructors – including himself – who brainstormed the concept in January 2001 through a series of meetings with with sporting groups statewide. The dream was realized a year later through volunteers and donations.

“There is such a vacuum for these types of things here that people will rush in to help any way they can. It doesn’t involve GameBoys or TV, it’s heavily used and, kids always come first,” Dunlap said.