Maine’s former governor, John Baldacci, liked trying to solve problems by creating task forces. In fact, during his tenure, task forces were almost as commonplace in Augusta as state workers. For a politician, a task force is irresistible. First, it’s a clever way to put the problem-solving burden on the shoulders of others. Secondly, the task force buys time. By nature, task forces can only meet so many times a year, and meetings can only go on for so long. They drag on, sometimes to the point that, the public often loses sight of what the problem was in the first place.

At the time, Gov. Baldacci’s Fish and Wildlife Commissioner, Roland “Danny” Martin, also tried to emulate the governor by creating task forces at every juncture. For example, the deer/coyote problem has been subjected to exhaustive study by at least three different task forces. Yet, the problem really has not been solved. Maine’s deer herd has not recovered, and coyotes are still doing all they can to keep the deer numbers down.

Now we have a new governor, Paul LePage, and a new Fish and Wildlife Commissioner, Chandler Woodcock. Up to now, there has been reason for sportsmen to be guardedly optimistic. LePage has been supportive of sportsmen’s issues and Commissioner Woodcock has shown himself to be an informed and an intelligent leader determined to tackle DIF&W problems head on.

Of course, the real test comes when the honeymoon period runs its course. We are now six months into the new state administration. While the governor has produced some solid accomplishments in other non-sportsmen areas, a couple of recent developments at DIF&W have a deja-vu-all-over-again look that is hauntingly familiar, if not unsettling.

Commissioner Woodcock recently named members to a new Deer Predation Advisory Group. To his credit, the commisioner picked some top-notch people but, golly, we have already been down this path, haven’t we? Not once, but three times!

According to a recent DIF&W press release, “A task force has been formed to examine the decline in the number of non-resident hunters in Maine. This group will examine the decline in non-resident hunters over a five-year period. Granted, this may be the first task force in recent times to study this problem, but does it really require study?

A few years ago, DIF&W policymakers were scratching their collective heads trying to figure out the reason behind the precipitous decline in moose lottery participants. This was the year after Commissioner Martin and his staff decided to discontinue the mailing of moose lottery applications as a way of saving postage costs. There was some kind of a survey or study initiated to get to the bottom of that puzzler.

Hmmm. A task force to examine the decline is the number of non-resident hunters. Do you suppose that it has anything to do with Maine’s declining deer numbers?

Following the announcement of the Deer Predation Advisory Group and the Task Fore to Study the Decline of Non-Resident Hunters, Commissioner Woodcock said, “The steps we have taken the first few months of the new administration are very exciting to me. They will not necessarily solve all our issues, but there is much more attention being devoted now to these problem areas which are so important to the people of Maine and to our economic future.”

It is still early in the game. We must be patient, I suppose. But those of us who watch government closely tend to get cynical. There is so much makework and repetitive effort, year after year. Forming committees and task forces to conduct studies is easy. Implementation of study recommendations — taking meaningful action — is always the real challenge. The ultimate irony is that many of the same good people who are serving on Commissioner Woodcock’s study groups are the same people who served on similar study groups of the former DIF&W commissioner.

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, WQVM-FM 101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His email address is [email protected] and his new book is “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook.”