Wyoming Game and Fish looks for ideas on how to handle budget problems

The Game and Fish Department could see a 10-million-dollar budget shortfall by 2014, largely because it has been selling fewer hunting and fishing licenses. Licenses account for 46-percent of the agency’s income.  

Game and Fish will hold a meeting Thursday/tomorrow night in Cheyenne to discuss its fiscal future. Spokesperson Mark Konishi says the public will have a chance to weigh in on possible alternative funding sources for the future.

"One of the questions that the public needs to help us answer, it this fair, and is it financially viable anymore to rely solely on the sportsmen and sportswomen to fund wildlife management," Konishi said.

Already, the Game and Fish has frozen staff positions, and plans to cut 3 to 4-percent from its budget for the next three years. The meeting will be live streamed from the Game and Fish Website at 7 o’clock and is open to the public