LANSING — Drought conditions, low water levels and a rash of disease in the white-tailed deer population did not curtail fishing and hunting as a mainstay of Michigan's 2012 economy.
More than 1.19 million fishing licenses and more than 2.39 million hunting licenses were purchased from the Department of Natural Resources between March 1 and Jan. 17, 2013. The state surpassed its license revenue from the previous year by more than $375,000.
But Sharon Schafer, the head of the DNR's Budget and Support Services Division, said the state still lags about $400,000 behind projections for the fiscal year, which began last Oct. 1.
So far, license revenues are more than $51 million, on par with the past several years. About $3.5 million goes for general state purposes, Schafer said.
The economic impact of hunting and fishing industries is not limited to license fees.
In 2011, Michigan saw an estimated $2.36 billion in hunting-related retail sales and $2.46 billion in fishing-related sales, according to the National Shooting Sport Foundation and the American Sportfishing Association.
The impact of these outdoor sports also affects other tourism-related industries, benefiting northern parts of the state.
For example, with 17 hotels in Cadillac and close to two dozen outlying hotels and motels in the surrounding area, the city benefits greatly from hunting and fishing tourism, Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau Executive Director Joy VanDrie said.
"It's quite important," VanDrie said of outdoor sports. "It supports not only the hotels — the tax base — but the restaurants and the bait-and-tackle shops. We have a lot of guides in the area. Everything from bear tracking to ice fishing, we have seasons year round."
One beneficiary of 2012's hunting and fishing seasons was Steve Knaisel, owner of Pilgrim's Village Resort in Cadillac, which consists of 16 cottages, seven motel rooms and a bait-and-tackle shop on the eastern shore of Lake Mitchell.
"There's no way to measure how important they are to us," he said of hunting and fishing.
Mark Tonello, a fisheries biologist for the DNR in Cadillac, said inland lakes, particularly along the state's west coast, still are experiencing below-average water levels because of below-average levels in Lake Michigan.
"We're still in the midst of a drought. Lake Michigan levels are at or nearing the all-time low record set in 1965," he said.
According to the Army Corp of Engineers, the average water level of lakes Michigan and Huron was 576.04 feet in mid-January, which sits about 2 feet below the long-term average and beneath the 1965 low mark of 576.1 feet.
Kyle Campbell writes for Michigan State University's Capital News Service.
Region
Rough conditions didn't deter DNR license sales
License revenues so far are on par with recent years
-
-
Traverse City schools officials prepare for bond
Traverse City Area Public Schools officials said they’ve learned from last year’s failed bond campaign and hear loud-and-clear what voters want in a 2013 capital improvement project proposal.
Continued ... -
Utility cuts trees beyond easements, property owners say
Lynn Tilson is trying to save 374 of her red pines from the chainsaw. Michigan Electric Transmission Company marked the trees for removal, beyond the 50-foot easement Tilson believes the utility has on either side of its power lines.
Continued ... -
Conservancy offers farmers a shorter-term option for land
For the last 30 summers, Dennis and Barb Dean traveled from their Alaska home to tend to their sweet and tart cherry orchards in Williamsburg.
Continued ... -
Elk Rapids now has authorized baccalaureate school
Elk Rapids Middle School is being recognized for adopting a world-renowned education style, and other local districts are prepared to follow suit, thanks in part to a $3 million Kellogg Foundation grant.
Continued ... -
BATA bus struck during three-vehicle accident
A Bay Area Transportation Agency bus was damaged in a three-vehicle collision at the intersection of Three Mile and Hammond Road.
Continued ... -
Benzie County home destroyed in fire
Benzonia Township Fire Department Chief John Hanmer said units responded to the fire on Thursday at about 11 a.m. He said no one was inside the Cook Road home and the occupants were at work.
Continued ... -
Eligibility issues cut short TC St. Francis baseball season
St. Francis High School’s baseball team’s season prematurely ended.
Continued ... -
Memorial Day-related services in Traverse City region
Memorial Day-related services in Traverse City region:
Continued ... - Thursday, May 23, 2013
-
Accused stalker faces more charges
A Grawn man who already is facing stalking charges is accused of breaking into the home of the female victim and attempting to take her dog.
Continued ... -
Victory for medical marijuana patients
Medical marijuana patients and advocates scored a victory after the state’s top court issued a decision on a long-running Grand Traverse County case.
Continued ... -
Parking lot argument chills Bardon's
Robin Bisel and Jean Cline licked ice cream cones at Bardon’s Wonder Freeze off Front Street and wondered how they’d maneuver through traffic when finished with their treats.
Continued ... -
Presidential Scholar has struggled with illness
Nicole “Niki” Tubacki doesn't remember much about her early childhood except for swinging outside in the sun.
Continued ... -
Man said to trade drugs for sex
A man arrested in Leelanau County for violating probation is accused of trading drugs for sexual favors with young women in Missaukee County.
Continued ... -
Car crashes into rocks near house
A Glen Arbor woman told deputies she fell asleep before she ran a stop sign and crashed her vehicle into a row of boulders near an Empire Township home.
Continued ... -
Local educators honored
The Outstanding Educator Award, sponsored by the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District, the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce and TBA Credit Union, is given annually to a handful of public, private and parochial educators in the Grand Traverse region.
Continued ... -
Man enters guilty plea in assault
A man accused of beating his live-in girlfriend in East Bay Township pleaded guilty to assault charges.
Continued ... -
Memorial Day-related services in Traverse City region
Memorial Day-related services and programs in the Traverse City region:
Continued ... -
Clearing the Record: 05/23/2013
Because of a clerk’s error, an incorrect address was listed in a news brief in the Sunday Record-Eagle.
Continued ... - Wednesday, May 22, 2013
-
Traverse City steps up parking enforcement
Barb Meredith recently had an expensive downtown Traverse City breakfast, but not from anything on the restaurant’s menu.
Continued ... -
Snyder, GOP lawmakers agree to budget targets
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and leaders of the GOP majority in the Legislature reached a budget agreement Tuesday for next fiscal year that doesn’t include an expansion of government health insurance for low income-adults and puts Michigan’s unexpected surplus toward funding roads and K-12 education.
Continued ... -
TCAPS contract talks continue
Traverse City Area Public Schools educators picketed outside the district’s main office building in a display of opposition to TCAPS administrators’ proposed collective bargaining contract.
Continued ... -
Panera Bread is on its way
A Panera Bread franchise likely will rise in Garfield Township despite what some planning officials consider a stale project design.
Continued ... -
Woman retraces father's steps to Indian marker trees
Dennis Downes traveled 200,000 miles over three decades, a journey to locate Indian trail tree markers around the Great Lakes, including two in Traverse City – one at the Civic Center and another at a Washington Street residence.
Continued ... -
Police looking into assault find 960 pot plants
Investigation into a domestic assault complaint led Antrim County authorities to a "sophisticated" marijuana grow operation and nearly 1,000 plants.
Continued ... -
Man gets prison for heroin possession
An Antrim County man found in possession of about 20 packets of heroin will spend at least 18 months in prison.
Continued ...
-
