For Release: IMMEDIATE Thursday, May 10, 2012

Contact: Stephen W. Litwhiler (315) 785-2252

DEC WILL DISCONTINUE SALE OF SPORTING LICENSES IN WATERTOWN STATE OFFICE BUILDING Decision Made Due to Adequate Opportunity to Purchase Licenses from Private Sector Vendors The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Law Enforcement Office in the Watertown Dulles State Office Building plans to discontinue selling sporting licenses, the agency announced today. The decision to stop selling licenses was not an easy one, DEC Regional Director Judy Drabicki said. However, this action will allow us to redeploy resources within the regional Law Enforcement office while the public can still buy sporting licenses at 38 locations in the county. Prior to making the decision to close the office to selling sporting licenses there was an evaluation of availability of alternate locations for the public to buy their hunting and fishing licenses. Plenty of alternate license sales vendors, ability to buy licenses over the phone and online means there are several ways to buy sporting licenses in the Watertown area. Few sportsmen and sportswomen have traditionally come to purchase sporting licenses at the DEC Law Enforcement Office. There are currently 7 other locations in Watertown, and 38 within Jefferson County, where licenses can be purchased. The full list of vendors can be found on the DEC website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/6101.html and follow the link below How to Purchase a Sporting License. To purchase a sporting license over the phone, please contact 1-866-933-2257. We believe the ample amount of sporting license sale locations around Jefferson County will make this transition relatively smooth, Drabicki said. Many of these locations are much nearer to individuals homes than the DEC's office in the State Office Building and they also have much longer hours of operation than our office here. The office will discontinue selling licenses on Friday, May 18. ###