MassWildlife’s license fee increase approved
For the first time since 1996, MassWildlife has increased fees to hunting, freshwater fishing, and trapping licenses. These changes will go into effect beginning in the 2022 calendar year, with many increases phased in over 5 years.
Following a thorough review by MassWildlife staff and the Fisheries and Wildlife Board, and an extensive public engagement program that allowed the agency to gather feedback from hunters, anglers, and trappers, the Executive Office of Administration and Finance has approved MassWildlife’s proposed freshwater fishing and hunting license fee increases. The fishing and hunting license fee increases are the first such increases in 26 years.
The approved fee structure is designed to address MassWildlife’s current revenue shortfall, sustain the Inland Fish and Game Fund for another decade, fund core operations, and maintain MassWildlife's popular, high-quality programs and services.
An initial proposal was introduced in January 2021, and MassWildlife provided stakeholders opportunities to offer feedback through six online information sessions in February and March. Additionally, MassWildlife collected feedback from stakeholders through emails, letters, and a webform. Although many stakeholders expressed support for MassWildlife’s programs and services and an understanding of the need to raise fees after so many years, there was a strong desire to see fee increases phased in over time, and to lower the proposed increases to hunting permits and stamps.
In response, MassWildlife and the Department of Fish and Game worked with the Baker-Polito Administration to revise the original fee proposal. Recognizing that all Massachusetts residents benefit from MassWildlife’s work to conserve wildlife, protect open space, and preserve clean water and air, the Baker-Polito Administration and legislators worked to diversify MassWildlife’s funding and reduce the burden on the fee-paying sporting community by providing monies in the fiscal year 2022 budget to reimburse statutory free licenses and to partially fund MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program.
The revised list of fees reflect stakeholder input by phasing fee and stamp increases over five years, beginning in 2022. Additionally, most fee increases are lower than originally proposed. MassWildlife held three formal public hearings in June 2021 via Zoom to provide the public with opportunities to comment on the final proposal. Following those hearings, MassWildlife submitted the proposed fee increase package to the Executive Office of Administration and Finance for approval and final promulgation. Final approval of the fee increase package is expected in October 2021, after which the increases will take effect for the 2022 calendar year.
Click here for a table of fees for the next five calendar years.
Fall hunting and fishing information
Hunting information
- 2021 Massachusetts hunting season date summary
- The 2021 Pheasant Hunting Season opens October 16 through November 27. MassWildlife will stock over 40,000 pheasant and quail on public and private lands that are open to hunting this fall.
- All deer taken during the first week of shotgun season must be brought to a physical check station so that MassWildlife staff can collect biological data. Use MassWildlife's check station map to find locations that are open this fall.
Trout stocking
Nearly 28,000 rainbow trout over 14 inches, over 33,000 rainbow trout that are over 12 inches, and about 4,000 brown trout over 9 inches long will be stocked across Massachusetts this fall. These fish, coupled with the nearly 500,000 trout that were stocked in the spring, will provide for some great fall fishing! Go to Mass.gov/Trout to get stocking information that is updated daily during stocking season. Search for a specific waterbody or town using the sortable list, or explore new fishing spots with the map feature. Remember to buy your freshwater fishing license before you hit the water.
Get the most out of fall fishing—check out our best tips for targeting trout and bass this fall!
Watch for wildlife on the road this fall
Because fall is the breeding season for both moose and white-tailed deer, MassWildlife reminds motorists to be mindful of increased deer and moose activity, especially during early morning and evening hours. Moose, found in central and western parts of Massachusetts, breed in September and October. White-tailed deer breed from late October to early December.
Moose on the road are especially hazardous. The dark color and height of moose make them difficult to see in low light; moose eyes rarely shine like deer eyes because their eyes are above headlight level. In addition, long legs and heavy top bodies make moose very dangerous to motorists when struck. Observe road signs for moose and deer crossings and slow down. Do not swerve to avoid hitting a deer because it may lead to more risk and damage than hitting the deer. Moose are less likely to move from the road than deer, so stay alert and brake when you see a moose in or near the road.
Deer and moose/vehicle collisions should be reported to the Environmental Police at 1-800-632-8075. In the event of a deer/vehicle collision, the driver or passengers of the vehicle involved (MA residents only) may salvage the deer by bringing it to a MassWildlife Office to be officially tagged.
Celebrate Bat Week this October
Bat week starts October 24 and is designed to raise awareness about the need for bat conservation and to celebrate the role of bats in nature. Learn about recent efforts by MassWildlife and volunteers to give bats a boost in Massachusetts and learn how you can get involved.
Bats are often misunderstood or even feared. But these fascinating flying mammals play a critical role in our environment and many bat species are in decline. Massachusetts is home to nine species of bats, five of which are considered endangered. One of the greatest threats to bats is White-nose Syndrome, a fungal disease that has devastated populations of bats that spend their winters hibernating in caves and mines. Other threats include habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change.
Despite the threats, there are ways to help bats. Get ready to celebrate Bat Week at the end of the month by learning about what is being done and what you can do to protect the bats in your backyard!
Massachusetts bats get a helping hand from volunteers
Last year, MassWildlife launched a new effort to construct and install bat houses to raise awareness about the important role bats play in our environment and get more bat houses out on the landscape. Properly constructed and strategically placed bat houses can be an important tool in supporting bat survival. So far, MassWildlife has installed 30 bat houses on Wildlife Management Areas and private lands and more will be installed over the next year.
It can take up to two years for bats to move into a bat house, and even then, typically only about 15% of bat houses are ever occupied. Over the summer of 2021, volunteers made visits to almost all of the bat houses and found that 16% were occupied and another 26% of the locations showed potential for future occupancy. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped collect these promising results! MassWildlife hopes to continue this monitoring effort next summer.
How you can help bats
One of the best ways you can support bat conservation is to put up an artificial roost, like a bat house. Bat houses give females a safe, warm place to raise their young. Since most female bats only have one pup each year, bat populations grow very slowly. Additionally, due to habitat loss and degradation, it is becoming harder for bats to locate natural roost sites. Installing a bat house on your property can provide a safe environment for bats, while ridding your yard of pest insects, like mosquitoes, moths, and beetles. Bat houses can be purchased or you can build your own. You can find a Guide to Bat Houses on MassWildlife’s website, including plans for building a bat house, installation tips, and advice for attracting bats to your bat house.
Other ways to help:
- Educate yourself and others to help dispel myths and fears about bats. Read the Massachusetts Wildlife magazine article Bat Myths Debunked, to learn more about the fascinating and beneficial features of bats.
- Be a citizen scientist and spread the word about reporting bat colonies to MassWildlife.
- Protect habitat for bats. If you have old, dead, or dying trees on your property, leave them standing as potential roost sites for bats.
- If you must exclude or evict bats from your home, ensure the process is safe and humane by following MassWildlife’s recommendations found in the Massachusetts Homeowner's Guide to Bats.
- Reduce pesticide use to ensure there are plenty of insects for bats to feed on.
- Create a bat-friendly landscape in your backyard by adding water features, such as a pond, and night-scented flowers.
Monitoring juvenile shad on the Connecticut River
American shad are anadromous, meaning they spend most of their lives in the ocean, but return to fresh water to spawn. During these migrations, shad must travel long distances, and can often face barriers such as dams. While there has been long-term monitoring of upstream migration of adult shad through fish passage counts at major dams for decades, less is currently known about the impact of dams on juvenile shad as they travel to the ocean.
This fall, MassWildlife biologists are completing the fifth year of data collection to learn about the relationship between juvenile and adult shad numbers in the Connecticut River. This project is in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Vermont Fish and Wildlife, and New Hampshire Fish and Game. Shad populations in the Connecticut River have substantially decreased when compared to historic abundance due to a variety of factors, including climate change, overfishing, river alterations, pollution, water withdrawals, and dams. There are currently four main-stem dams on the Connecticut River (Holyoke, Turners Falls, Vernon, and Bellows Falls) which each have varying impacts on adult upstream migration, juvenile production, and eventual outmigration of juvenile shad back to the Atlantic Ocean.
Over the past 5 years, biologists have used electrofishing boats at night to temporarily immobilize and collect juvenile shad from each of the 3 major dammed sections of the Connecticut: Holyoke-Turner’s, Turner’s-Vernon, and Vernon-Bellows. These surveys, conducted during the fall, are used to calculate estimates for juvenile abundance and body condition. Several reports and presentations1,2 have been produced since the project’s inception in 2017, but overall data analysis is ongoing. Initial findings suggest that juvenile shad abundance is reduced due to poor upstream passage of migrating adult shad as well as downstream passage of both adults and juveniles. Biologists hope the results will provide perspective on how current shad production is impacted above each successive main-stem dam.
Management implications of this study could help inform improvements to both upstream and downstream fish passage. While passage rates at main-stem dams have improved somewhat in recent decades, they remain below restoration targets. Dams are clearly impacting both adult and juvenile populations, with broad population and ecological implications that are not yet fully understood. Forage fish like American shad are important prey resources for numerous freshwater predators popular with anglers, including small and largemouth bass, walleye, and channel catfish. Increasing adult and juvenile shad abundances have significant implications for anglers of not only shad themselves but also a wide array of other sportfish that depend on this important forage species.
1Juvenile American Shad Monitoring in the Connecticut River (2020)
2Juvenile American Shad Assessment in the Connecticut River (2017)
Five MassWildlife staff recognized for assisting with western wildfires
This summer, five members of MassWildlife’s prescribed fire crew joined other wildland firefighters from across Massachusetts and the Northeast to battle wildfires in Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, and California. Interagency cooperation is key to quick wildfire response and successful containment of wildfires, especially during a busy wildfire season where resources are stretched to the limit. Aaron Best and Connor Fleming of MassWildlife’s Southeast District, Chris Connors of MassWildlife’s Connecticut Valley District, Dan Bove of MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, and Ben Mazzei of MassWildlife’s Habitat Program served on three respective interagency assignments. We appreciate their willingness to serve working long hours away from family and friends. Caren Caljouw, MassWildlife’s Prescribed Fire Program Manager, reports, “This work provides a great service within the beleaguered communities affected by the fires. It’s also an opportunity for our staff to work within different fuel types, learn new skills on the fireline, and work closely with different agencies and organizations at a variety of levels. This experience helps staff build strong communication and technical skills which are directly transferrable to our prescribed fire program back home.”
As of October 4, the National Interagency Fire Center’s situation report listed a total of 46,518 wildfires across the country that have burned nearly 6 million acres. There are still 52 active large fires nationally and the west coast is on the cusp of the fall fire season. We are seeing a trend where fire seasons start sooner, end later, and are more severe. The smoke impacts from these fires have been widespread across the western U.S. and Canada and have on occasion been observed here on the east coast.
Aaron Best, Connor Fleming, and Dan Bove went on assignment in August with the Massachusetts Wildfire Crew (MAS#1)—an interagency Type 2 IA hand crew led by Mass DCR crew boss, Roy Liard and composed of individuals from Mass DCR, MassWildlife, and Massachusetts Municipal Firefighters. This 20-person crew was assigned to wildfires in Montana and Idaho and worked on three separate fires, spending 14 days on the fireline. MAS#1 worked on the Richard Spring Fire and the Pine Grove Fire in Montana and the Trestle Creek Fire in the Idaho Panhandle. They completed miles of patrol and mop-up to help bring these fires to a close, worked remote uncontained fire perimeter in rugged terrain, and coordinated with heavy equipment and helicopter bucket drops to complete objectives for wildfire containment. “It was a great experience to go out to Montana and Idaho to fight fire and learn new skills. A cooperative effort of states helping other states is what makes the U.S. a special place to live—I can't wait to offer my service again,” said Connor Fleming.
Dan Bove adds, “While the terrain and natural communities are very different from Massachusetts, we learn so much from these experiences and bring home skills to aid in our prescribed and wild fire events.”
Chris Connors was assigned in late August to a suppression module called New England Module #4 led by Tony Davis, a retired National Park Service zone fire management officer. Staff from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and state agency staff from Massachusetts and New York worked together on this 9-person crew. NE Module #4 worked in a remote region of Minnesota west of Lake Superior on the John Eck and Greenwood Fires. They conducted fuel reduction around important structures and valuable areas at risk in the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness. Then patrolled and scouted the head of the Greenwood Fire looking for and suppressing hot spots. They cut miles of saw line through boreal swamp and forest to establish a patrol trail around hot spots and the advancing fingers of the wildfire.
Chris Connors reports, “Being assigned with NE#4 gave me the opportunity to develop fireline leadership skills that can only be gained on an assignment like this working with multiple agencies at different levels of command to achieve common goals. While the terrain was challenging, we used GIS mapping tools merged with infra-red flight data to ground truth hot spots on the leading edge of the fire, establish priorities with incident command, and effectively secure sensitive areas.”
Ben Mazzei and Dan Bove returned home just a week ago with the Noreast #1 Interagency Type 2 Hand Crew having worked on the Dixie Fire in Northeastern California. The crew was led by David Crary, Jr., fire management officer with the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore. This 20-person crew was made up of staff from the National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs from Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Virginia as well as state agency staff from MassWildlife and Mass DCR. Noreast #1 worked alongside other state, federal, and municipal fire resources from around the country to help contain this year’s largest U.S. wildfire, at close to one million acres. The crew’s work included direct attack on multiple areas where the fire had escaped the fireline perimeter, setting up hose lays to move water to remote areas, and patrolling the fireline scouting for and putting out hot spots. The crew worked long days and gained great experience working as a team, implementing fire suppression techniques, practicing safety measures, and enhancing leadership and communication skills.
“Getting to assist on an interagency wildland fire crew led by NPS and composed of federal, state, and tribal partners was a unique opportunity to learn new skills from crew members with different backgrounds and work collaboratively. Not only are we getting important training and experience on the fireline, but we’re helping people in rural communities and towns , protecting areas at risk on private lands and within our national forests, parks, and other public lands. These communities are strapped for resources during an unprecedented drought,” said Ben Mazzei.
Please join us in welcoming these dedicated individuals back from their rugged assignments. We are very proud of the assistance they provided to our western neighbors and know the experience they gained will translate directly to improving MassWildlife’s prescribed fire program and working as a collaborative and cohesive team with DCR, NPS, USFWS, and our local fire management partners. Special thanks to all of our wildland fire partners, the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact (NFFPC), and the Northeast Interagency Coordination Center (NECC) for their tireless work and logistical skill in making these national mobilizations possible.
NorEast #1 crew members patrol for hotspots on Dixie Fire, California by D. Bove, MassWildlife