The issue with HFH being proposed as a way to pay for RAMP is interesting. The way HFH was proposed was that landowners with habitat would be provided with tags to sell. RAMP provides a small payment for each hunter that accesses a property.
So how would a combination work? Landowners enrolled in RAMP would be provided tags to sell instead of the sum of the small payments?
I am going to go off in another direction for a minute, and if anyone is a farmer / rancher / large landowner, please give me some feedback.
I worry about politicians and I worry about semantics.
While I personally have yet to hear that the HFH proposal is dead and to this issue I spoke with Jim Allen and a host of others who used the words, “pulled back”, “withdrawn” and “shelved”, none would confirm to me that it was indeed dead. That was my point blank question and admittedly that was almost a year ago.
In my mind, RAMP is a bit of a toothless dog. How many new landowners that never before allowed hunting suddenly signed on board for this new pilot? So SRD has done a great job in compensating landowners to allow access for hunting when the vast majority of these same landowners already allowed free access for the same purpose in the past.
Many of the landowners who decided not to participate did so because they would relinquish control of their properties by allowing unfettered access to the same. Regardless of rules and signed waivers, landowners are still subject to a burden of potential liabilities. The money is not so great as to compel many to participate when they are effectively giving up control of who accesses their property and what might happen when these individuals are using their property.
This is why the hunter/landowner relationships are so important to the continuation of our outdoor pursuits. Most landowners want to be able to judge the character of the individuals that are granted permission to hunt their private properties. Ironically, this is something that Minister Morton seems so intent in changing under the guise of drawing new hunters to the sport. I’m not suggesting that new hunters are less respectful or suffer flaws in character, but without personal contact most landowners are not going to allow the loose access Morton appears to desire. For most of us, meeting landowners, developing relationships and getting permission to access their private property is all part of the hunting experience. Sometimes it’s bad but often it is rewarding.
I don’t think RAMP will work. Province-wide rollout costs will be astronomical even with a small percentage of landowner participation. As discussed, the average Alberta taxpayer is not going to be too sympathetic to the plight of the hunter in light of their tax dollars being used to compensate participating landowners.
Faced with these challenges, what options does Morton and Company have to advance this scheme? To me, and I’m just speculating here, they will need to proportion the costs to the consumptive users – hunters. It would appear that they have a few options. They can prorate the costs among hunters in the form of increased levy fees (tags and licenses) which I am certain will not be a popular decision with the Alberta hunting community or they can revisit a scheme that will be wildly popular with many landowners called HFH.
Again, all speculation on my part but here is the way I can see it playing out. Alberta’s hunting community is outraged that tags and license fees that once cost the average Albertan in the neighborhood of $100 are now being assessed at $300 - $600 to cover the province-wide costs of RAMP.
SRD suggests a compromise – Hunting for Habitat (but Hunting for Habitat is dead so they decide to call it Hunting for Dollars – semantics - I know I’m cynical but my experiences with politicians have often left me jaded). Hunting for Dollars is touted as the viable option to keep hunting costs reasonable as it only taxes the willing participants. Monies for these special “Minister’s Tags” with special access rights attached are paid to the Province and the Province in turn, pays the select participating landowners a healthy compensation for conservation, habitat and management initiatives.
Hunters are both angry and relieved. They are angry because the Province was successful in creating an elitist system of paid hunting and turned much of the prime private land into something of a private hunting club but they are also relieved that it won’t cost a lot more money to enjoy what is left of our pastime.
As I see it, and from what I have been told, RAMP is the thin edge of the wedge. Morton’s brass ring is Hunting for Habitat or something very similar - likely with a different name. I’m guessing that if you like RAMP you better like the whole package.
