Jeb Williams, director of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, told the committee the agency operates as a special-fund entity supported by hunting and fishing license revenue and federal excise funds and outlined recent trends in license sales, habitat-access programs and disease-management efforts.

"Our mission is to protect, conserve, enhance fish and wildlife populations and their habitat for sustained public consumptive and nonconsumptive use," Williams said in opening remarks. He emphasized that the department receives no general-fund operating dollars and relies on license revenue, federal excise funding and user fees to finance fisheries, wildlife management and enforcement.

Fisheries and license participation
Williams said the department manages about 450 lakes and highlighted continuing strong fisheries productivity in many prairie lakes. He noted roughly 37 community ponds that provide easily accessible fishing for residents of cities and towns. While fisheries productivity and opportunity are high, Williams said resident license sales do not always rise in step with fishery quality and that the department is studying social factors that affect participation.

Hunting, licenses and youth programs
The director summarized hunting-license trends: general game and hunting-license sales remain important revenue sources, deer-gun season success rates have averaged near 55 percent in recent years while archery success rates are roughly 30 to 35 percent. Williams noted the department’s youth programs and said youth deer licenses and youth recruitment efforts remain a legislative and departmental priority. He described an increase in archery participation and credited school-based programs that introduce students to archery and target skills.

Chronic wasting disease and aquatic nuisance species
Williams described the department’s CWD management approach as a combination of monitoring, targeted restrictions and increased public education. He said North Dakota remains at lower prevalence levels than some neighboring jurisdictions but has local clusters. The department has adjusted carcass-movement policies in some areas and emphasized proper disposal and taxidermy controls. On aquatic nuisance species, he said zebra mussels have been detected in some places and the department is focusing on detection, education and prevention measures; he highlighted risks from used docks and other equipment moved between lakes.

Private-land access and electronic posting
The department reported approximately 836,000 acres enrolled in private-land open-to-sportsmen (PLOTS) programs, a roughly 40,000-acre increase from the prior year. Williams described the program mix shifting from higher shares of CRP toward more working-lands acres. He also reviewed the electronic posting rollout: about 12 million acres are enrolled statewide, and 58 percent of owners who signed up included contact information so hunters can request permission or coordinate access.

Budget and reserve concerns
Williams said the department uses a combination of state license revenue and federal excise funds and that rising costs and capital demands have placed pressure on the agency’s reserve. The department maintains a reserve target of $15 million; Williams said projections show that, without adjustments, the reserve could drop below that threshold in coming years, which would require budget-section approval to continue normal operations.

Ending
Williams closed by thanking staff and volunteers and by asking lawmakers to consider the department’s continuing needs for access, habitat programs and efforts to manage long-term threats such as CWD and aquatic invasive species.