In early February, during the annual meeting of the New England Outdoor Writers Association (NEOWA) in Worcester, Massachusetts, the respective Fish and Wildlife Commissioners from all over New England talked about their operations and then took questions from the writers. Conspicuous by his absence was Maine’s Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Roland “Danny” Martin. In fact, Maine was the ONLY New England state not represented at the NEOWA gathering. Most of the other states provided a number of spokesmen from their Fish and Wildlife Departments.

During the presentations, it was evident that all of the other states’ fish and wildlife operations seem to be faring much better than Maine’s.

Wayne McCullum, director of Fish and Wildlife for Massachusetts, said that for the first time in many years, his department was alloted more operating money than it asked for. Wayne LaRoche, McCullum’s counterpart in Vermont, told the New England outdoor writers that “revenues are good, licenses sales are up, and Vermont had a record turkey harvest.” He also noted that Vermont’s new antler- restriction policy was resulting in an increased deer herd and bigger bucks.

In neighboring New Hampshire spokeswoman Jane Vachon said that her state had just enjoyed the largest deer harvest in 40 years. Her state is also experiencing an increase in both hunting and fishing license sales.

Connecticut’s Fish and Wildlife boss, Ed Parker, told writers that his state was about to pass a Sunday hunting law as a way to control his state’s “uncontrolled” deer densities. Parker’s state has also seen a doubling of fishing license sales. “Our budget is OK,” said Parker.

Rhode Island is struggling with loss of wildlife habitat and departmental personnel. The Fish and Wildlife budget is OK.

What about Maine? How does its Fish and Wildlife operation stack up against its sister states when it comes to money, people, and programs? Are license sales up or down? How will the budget crunch affect Fish and Wildlife programs? Since neither the Commissioner nor his representative showed up for the NEOWA conference, the outdoor writers of New England had no chance to ask questions or learn about the status of Maine’s Fish and Wildlife operation.

For Maine’s Fish and Wildlife Department, it has not been a year worthy of superlatives. The state’s chief warden was forced to resign after being summonsed by Marine Wardens. A Maine female warden has brought a civil harassment suit against her supervisor.

In the spring, a legislative act forced the Fish and Wildlife Department to stop equivocating on coyote predation of wintering deer and do something. Adding insult to injury, Governor Baldacci is seeking to swallow up the Fish and Wildlife Department by consolidating it with two other resource agencies (As a gubernatorial nominee he told the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine that as governor he would never do this). And, of course, there are money problems. Serious money problems. If past is prologue the governor will try to balance his budget on the backs of Maine’s Fish and Wildlife programs.

Maybe Commissioner Martin blew off the NEOWA writers and the SAM Congress earlier in the year as a way to avoid facing the music, or maybe the governor took away his travel budget. It is true that bad news breaks first and overwhelms the good. Bad news aside, though, there are a lot of dedicated, hard-working career folks who work for Commissioner Martin – including District Game Wardens – and surely they accomplished some good things, things worth crowing about.

But unless Maine’s Fish and Wildlife leader communicates with the sportsmen whose license fees pay his salary, it will be difficult for the good work of his people to be seen above the gathering storm clouds.

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected].