Hunting Down (and Fishing For) DEC License Data

Have you ever wondered why you need a license to do some of your favorite outdoor activities? Fishing and hunting, as well as other outdoor sports and recreation, require careful management to strike a balance between supply and demand. History proves that the uncontrolled taking of fish and animals can cause the demise of a species. Wildlife biologists, armed with statistical data and habitat studies, can advise the public on the best practice to carry out these activities. Licensing is an effective way of exerting studied control on these activities and, at the same time, helps fund continued data collecting and research efforts.

In New York State, the licensing responsibility is part of the Department of Environmental Conservation's function. A variety of licenses are issued by the Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources and the Division of Forest Protection. In Herkimer and Oneida Counties, nearly 65,000 DEC licenses were issued during the 2010-2011 season (licenses typically run from October 1st to September 30th of the following year). These generated nearly $1.9 million dollars in revenues !

Below are the Top 10 types of licenses issued by the DEC for Herkimer and for Oneida Counties, along with the amount of revenue each generated. To see the full list of the licenses issued in any county in NYS over the past 10 years, visit this data site at the DEC.

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

CDPs: Old Forge Data Available for the First Time

CDPs - or Census Designated Places -  are closely settled, named, unincorporated communities that generally contain a mixture of residential, commercial, and retail areas similar to those found in incorporated places of similar sizes. A full description of this definition can be found in an earlier post on this blog.

A recent request for data about the Old Forge area offers a chance to look at the demographic, social, economic and housing data from the American Communities Survey (ACS) for the new Old Forge CDP. below are links to each of the 2011 Five Year ACS Estimates for Old Forge.

Old Forge CDP Demographic Data

Old Forge CDP Social Data

Old Forge CDP Economic Data

Old Forge CDP Housing Data


To get a view of what the Old Forge CDP actually covers geographically, visit the prior blog post showing all of the region's CDP maps.

Herkimer County STOP-DWI Law Enforcement Recognition Breakfast

The Herkimer County STOP-DWI program held its 5th Annual Law Enforcement Recognition Breakfast to honor the men and women in law enforcement who daily patrol our roadways protecting us from impaired drivers. The breakfast was held at Herkimer County Community College on Tuesday, April 2nd, and attended by law enforcement agencies from across the county.

In addition to recognizing top law enforcement efforts in each department, the STOP-DWi office also took time to present its Community Service Award as well as the Ryan Parks Outstanding Enforcement Officer Memorial Award. While off-duty, Officer Parks was killed on his motorcycle by a drunk driver in 2004. A member of his family spoke to the gathering and encouraged all present to continue to be vigilante in the effort to remove impaired drivers from our roads.

Also in attendance was State Senator James Seward (51st Senate District) who also addressed the crowd and spoke about the state's efforts to continue to combat impaired driving. More than 8,000 people die every year in New York in alcohol related crashes.

A Brief History of NYS Driver's Licenses

Did you know that among workers age 16 and over in the Utica-Rome MSA (think Herkimer and Oneida Counties) nearly 90% drive or carpool to work every day ? That's nearly 120,000 people on our roads heading to work !

New York first required paper licenses back in 1903, but only for chauffeurs. It wasn't until 1918 that regular drivers also had to have an actual paper drivers license to be legal on the roadway in New York!

The New York Times has an interesting short piece showing this history with pictures and samples of how drivers licenses have changed over the last 110 years. To see how our licenses have changed, visit their article on  Evolution of Licenses. And drive safe !

Migration Flow Patterns By County Now Available!

Based on data collected during the American Community Survey from 2006 to 2010, county-to-county migration tables are now available from the U.S Census Bureau. These migration tables give added information on the paths of the 17.3 million people who moved to another county. The tables provide the current county of residence, the county of residence one year ago and the estimated number of movers between the counties. Additional tables provide the same information broken down by selected characteristics: age, sex, race or Hispanic origin.

The Census Bureau has developed its first beta version of an online mapping tool called Census Flows Mapper. It is an interactive application that allows users to select a county in the U.S. and view the outbound, inbound and net migration flows for that county. Additionally, users can choose flows based on characteristics such as age, sex, race or Hispanic origin. The application also allows users to download the data for the flow they have selected, zoom in and out on the map to an area of interest, view additional statistics of the selected county and print their map to a PDF file. 

Try out this new feature from the Census Bureau at:

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/american_community_survey_acs/cb13-52.html 

And click on the map below to see a sample of what the maps look like!