Officials with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife took part in a Region 6 virtual open house earlier this week, touching upon a number of hot-button issues, including coastal steelhead, spring bear hunting, the resignation of Fred Koontz from the state Fish and Wildlife Commission and legislative prospects for 2022.
Agency Director Kelly Susewind explained that three citizen petitions exist to reverse the decision to cancel the 2022 spring bear hunt, which was taken off the board via a 4-4 vote of commission members last month.
Koontz, a conservation biologist, was one of the members who voted against the hunt last month due to concerns over the population of black bears in the state.
In his resignation letter, Koontz said “the commission is currently stuck in a politicized quagmire.”
He joined the commission in January along with Discovery Bay resident Lorna Smith, also a no vote on the spring bear hunt. The pair’s appointments have been criticized by a number of hunting organizations who believe the commission is now unbalanced and against providing hunting opportunities.
Now Gov. Jay Inslee has two commission appointments to make, an “at-large” position and the other prexisting opening representing Eastern Washington.
Susewind mentioned the next commission meeting date of Jan. 21 as an opportunity to try and get the spring bear hunt back on the schedule.
“So if you are on the side of the coin that thinks we need to reestablish those seasons, I would encourage you to make sure you’re informed, track what’s going on and reach out to commissioners and let them know that,” Susewind said. “Commissioners put a lot of value in what we hear from the public, and so provide that to the commissioners.”
Susewind mentioned some legislative goals for the 2022 session such as making hunting and fishing more accessible.
That would include changes to align youth hunting and fishing ages to an across-the-board age of 16; provide discounts on hunting licenses after attending required hunter education courses; allow temporary licenses for bigger events such as the lowland lake fishing opener in April and providing breaks on license fees for military and college students.
Susewind said these plans aren’t huge, but they do show some attempts at outreach and building a bigger outdoors-minded population.
Increasing access to state recreation lands by ditching the fee requirement on state Discover Pass days and providing more electronic and print-from-home licensing options also are in the works.
Region 6 Director Larry Phillips answered a question about long-term coastal steelhead plans.
Phillips said the goal would be to reduce mortality and put more fish on spawning grounds in both the near and long term with much of that work of the habitat variety and centered on the troubled Chehalis River Basin.
Region 6 Fish and Wildlife Capt. Dan Chadwick introduced himself and mentioned low law enforcement numbers in the region.
“We have five sergeants and only 18 officers to cover all of Region 6,” Chadwick said.
That’s for a region with 23.7 percent of the state’s population and an area larger than many New England states combined.
A chance to be outdoors and actively doing some good to protect the state’s fish and wildlife? Sound like a good future to me.
For more information on applying, visit www.wdfw.wa.gov/about/enforcement/jobs.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
