Fish and Wildlife proposes access-area 'area license' to bolster dwindling license revenue

Jason Batchelder, commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, told the House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 13 that Vermont has strong public participation in outdoor recreation even as license sales decline and that the department is proposing a new Fish and Wildlife area license to help close a revenue gap.

"Vermont is experiencing a time of mildly declining license sales," Batchelder said, and he described demographic shifts and existing lifetime licenses as drivers of the shortfall. Under the proposal, paddlers, some wildlife watchers and other authorized users of department access areas would buy either a day pass or an annual area license; motorboat users and people who already hold a hunting or fishing license would be exempt.

The department modeled the policy after programs in roughly 14 states and proposed a soft, voluntary-feel rollout using kiosks with QR codes. Batchelder said the department projects a conservative revenue gain of up to $290,000 by 2029, with an initial rollout aimed around Memorial Day 2027. "We studied…