I may be mistaken, but I believe it was former ® Gov. Pataki who put the conservation/DEC $$$ from a dedicated fund into the general fund, & we all know how that improved things . Now we have a (D) gov. raising conservation fees that will more than likely go into the general fund to pay for RenSquare & other pork projects.
I'm registered (I), vote accordingly, & wouldn't complain (at least too loudly ) if additional fees were dedicated to conservation/wildlife projects. I doubt we'll ever see that again in NYS, which ever political party is in power.