PINEDALE - The time is right and the money available for Wyoming lawmakers to establish a permanent trust fund to benefit wildlife, Gov. Dave Freudenthal says.

Freudenthal presented a draft bill for his proposed "Wyoming Wildlife, Recreation and Conservation Permanent Account Act" to the Legislature's Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Interim Committee during a meeting here Monday.

The governor said he is aiming for an initial endowment of $50 million to $75 million to launch a wildlife trust fund that would benefit both terrestrial and aquatic wildlife in the state. The permanent account would be administered by a seven-member "citizens board" that would be appointed by the governor, subject to Senate confirmation.

Freudenthal urged lawmakers to take advantage of surplus revenues and favorable energy revenue forecasts and establish the trust fund during February's legislative session, rather than waiting until the 2006 budget session.

Freudenthal advocated the trust fund as a way to take some of the funding burden off of the state's hunters and anglers, who now pay for the majority of wildlife-related programs and habitat management. He said the continued reliance on sportsmen's license fees and limited grants from the federal government is inadequate to maintain Wyoming's unique wildlife and environmental heritage.

"This is a remarkable opportunity… We've always had the time and the talent, but not the dollars, and now we have the dollars," the governor said. "If we fail on this, I think we're making a big mistake."

"I know this is a difficult issue … but I encourage you set aside old fights" and support the concept, Freudenthal told committee members. "Let's make it a fundamental policy … that the state is willing to continue to make an investment in wildlife and habitat over the next decade."

"Think about this not in terms of the next two or three years of politics … but in two or three generations out," Freudenthal said. "If we haven't got any money, then we can't get anything done."

The bill would establish a permanent account, according to the proposal. Only the earnings from the investment of the corpus would be spent, presumably on wildlife and habitat-related projects.

Freudenthal stressed the trust fund is not intended to be used in the operating budget of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department or any other state agency. The fund would also be treated separately from assistance for towns and cities for energy development impacts.

"This does not intend to supplant current funding. That's not what this is for," he said. "A budget supplement does not help my son take my grandson hunting (years from now). I see us using this as a way to preserve habitat for wildlife in the state."

Freudenthal suggested the seven-member board charged with administering the fund consist of two Wyoming Game and Fish Commission members, two people from the Wyoming Board of Agriculture and three board members representing wildlife conservation, sportsmen's interests and the tourism industry.

Except for the initial appointees, board members would serve staggered, three-year terms.

Freudenthal is proposing to use from $50 million to $75 million in state coal-lease bonus money to begin the initial corpus, with about $10 million of that amount to be available for immediate use.

If coal-lease funds aren't available, the governor suggested a $20 million range for the corpus, with $5 million or so available immediately.

"That way, we make a long-term commitment to the fund, but also recognize that there are things we have to do immediately," he said.

Interest from the permanent account would be disbursed for the improvement and maintenance of existing terrestrial and aquatic habitat; for the conservation, maintenance, protection and development of native nongame wildlife resources; or participation in water storage projects for wildlife and instream flow.

"This is not a new concept - it was promoted by a great number of senators (in the 1980s) - and it's important for me to say at the outset that this is not my idea," Freudenthal said. "This is truly an idea from Wyoming's political legacy."

Freudenthal pitched the idea of a permanent wildlife trust fund earlier this year during a conservation congress in Pinedale in March.

The governor told a crowd of some 300 residents, conservationists, ranchers and others then that he favored taking one penny from every million cubic feet of natural gas produced in Wyoming and placing it in a state fund to help mitigate habitat and wildlife impacts from oil and gas development in areas such as the Upper Green River Basin in western Wyoming.

Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@trib.com.