AUGUSTA – Some members of the Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee are tired of asking licensed hunters and fishermen to pay more in annual fees to cover state budget shortfalls.

Gov. John Baldacci’s biennial budget calls for fee increases totaling $3.50 by 2011 on hunting, fishing and trapping licenses to help close a projected shortfall of more than $800 million.

But three separate proposals for increasing revenue for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife by other means received public hearings before a legislative committee on Tuesday.

One, sponsored by Rep. Tom Saviello, U-Wilton, would mandate the department’s commissioner to charge anyone rescued by the Maine Warden Service for the costs incurred, unless they had purchased a $20 “Maine Rescue Card” or a hunting, fishing or trapping license.

Another, sponsored by Rep. Jane Eberle, D-South Portland, would impose a $19 annual fee for canoers and kayakers not already possessing a hunting, fishing or trapping license.

And Sen. David Trahan, R-Lincoln, proposed a resolve calling for the commissioner to create a new division within the department to house programs that don’t directly apply to fee-paying sportsmen, and fund them through the general fund.

“It is not my intent to cut any of these programs,” he said. “(It’s) to sort through all of the programs and identify those that serve sportsmen, wildlife and habitat protection.”

All three sponsors are members of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee.

George Smith, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, said sportsmen are not willing to pay more.

“We would welcome any new public revenue; all we get off the appropriations table are crumbs,” he said. “Maybe there won’t be game wardens on the Saco River next summer, maybe it will be the Wild West out there, maybe then they will want to contribute.”

Saviello said his suggestion is similar to laws in Colorado and New Hampshire.

“It’s like a AAA card for the woods,” he said, while gesturing with an actual AAA card before the committee. “It needs some work. But it’s outside the box.”

Gregg Sanborn, deputy chief of the Maine Warden Service, testified on behalf of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife against the bill, though he said it was well intentioned.

“We do need to identify resources to better fund our activities,” he said. “The possibility that a parent would choose to not report their child missing for fear that they would be charged is unacceptable.”

Sanborn said the warden service executed 481 search and rescue operations in 2008, most for children or elderly citizens.

Though hunting and fishing licensing fees are constitutionally dedicated to the department, due to a 1982 citizen referendum that passed overwhelmingly, it still relies on general fund money to supplement its budget and is therefore susceptible to budget cuts.

Saviello said he wishes to make the department financially independent and release it from “the governor’s whims.”

“The governor’s got a tough job, I don’t blame him at all,” he said during an interview on Monday. “More and more bird watchers and hikers are using things we as hunters and fishermen pay for. If someone wants to be out in the woods, they should pay.”

Several people testified against Eberle’s bill, though they expressed support for the cause.

“Please leave something free for the people of Maine,” said Walter Zaccadelli of Augusta. “What will be next, a license to go for a walk? What is Maine coming to?”

The bills will be scheduled for work sessions in the coming weeks.

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