A fisherman on a personal watercraft shows his Maryland license to a Natural Resources Police officer on patrol. Maryland DNR photo.
At Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources, we take great care to protect the state’s fish and wildlife to ensure the state’s unique opportunities are available for the next generation of hunters and anglers.
Equally important is that Maryland’s magnificent natural resources are accessible to everyone – and that extends to how we provide licenses.
In the next few months, look for the rollout of our new online licensing system, MD Outdoors. For the past couple years we have been planning to improve the experience of managing your hunting, fishing, boating, and other outdoor activities online.
To develop this long-awaited new system, the Department of Natural Resources contracted Brandt information Systems, the premier developer of outdoors-oriented online licensing systems, who have worked with agencies across the country. Along with improvements in the user experience, we will introduce the availability of hard-card fishing and hunting licenses. These useful and collectable cards will feature various images of our fish and wildlife, including at least one photo that will come from the public through our waterfowl photo contest.
MD Outdoors will continue to offer products for all outdoor activities, including boat and off-highway vehicle registration, plus we will look to expand the services that will be available in this one convenient location.
Providing this improved online system is good customer service, but also a reminder of the importance of what our licenses and fees provide in return. This money pays for the work we do including continued monitoring, research, surveys, and other technical and scientific management in the field and the laboratory. These operations are funded, largely, by you when you purchase a fishing or hunting license.
Specifically, hunting license fees go toward recruiting, educating, and certifying new hunters; acquiring and restoring wildlife habitats; maintaining and improving existing Wildlife Management Areas; providing technical assistance to landowners; and helping enforce wildlife laws and regulations for the benefit of all Marylanders.
Fishing licenses support management activities like stocking fish, managing invasive species, and improving fishing infrastructure.
Maryland is unique in that we offer such a wide variety of terrain and waters from the Appalachians to the Atlantic (with the country’s largest brackish estuary in between.)
And to access those resources, the department sponsors many opportunities for residents and their friends to learn about and participate in fishing and hunting: youth and mentored hunts; youth fishing rodeos; Becoming an Outdoors-Woman programming; managed hunts on our state parks, and many more. Our networks of state and local parks, forests, and wildlife management areas provide anglers with access to thousands of acres throughout Maryland’s most beautiful natural places.
It all begins when you buy a license – and we look forward to making that an easier experience. We’ll have more information about the new licensing system as we get closer to its formal launch later this year. I hope to see you in Maryland’s great outdoors.
Josh Kurtz is Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
