COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The state Natural Resources Department has merged two wildlife sections in a move to better manage agency lands and resources under tighter budget constraints, says deputy director Billy McTeer.

No agency positions will be lost through joining the Wildlife Management and Wildlife Diversity sections, said McTeer, deputy director of the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division. "It will allow us to be more efficient in how we use the resources we have," he said Thursday.

The Wildlife Diversity Section concentrated on managing nongame and endangered species. The Wildlife Management Section concentrated on game species.

Agency director John Frampton says the merger "promotes a holistic approach to resource management." He said the reworked division will be more responsive to the wildlife needs.

The agency has been under the same pressure to save money because of tight state budgets as other departments in state government. McTeer says 35 positions in his division, responsible for managing 180,000 acres of land owned by the agency, have gone unfilled because of the budget crunch. He said there's no plans fill those vacancies anytime soon.

Last month, Gov. Mark Sanford's budget called for South Carolina Wildlife magazine to become self-sufficient. The magazine would need to generate about $410,000 a year to cover the cost of its 10 employees, DNR spokesman Mike Willis said.

There is good news. Although he didn't have exact numbers, McTeer says revenue from hunting licenses has increased a bit from the previous year. License revenue is the division's prime source of funding for land management.

McTeer said while some at Natural Resources have talked with the agency's board and state lawmakers about user fees for hikers, campers and others on DNR lands, that's not an area the agency will pursue for now.

"You've got to be careful," he said. "You want people to visit the lands, but you don't want to price them out."

The consolidated Wildlife Section will concentrate work in two primary areas: research and survey and management of DNR properties. The research and survey section is comprised of 10 separate statewide projects including white-tailed deer, wild turkey, shorebirds, reptiles and amphibians and waterfowl.

In addition to agency owned land, the new section will responsible for more than 1 million acres in the wildlife management area program. Land management responsibilities will be handled by four regional coordinators.