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Orcutt says director of
state Fish and Wildlife should go
Rep. Ed Orcutt,
whose legislative district is home to some of Washington’s finest
fishing and hunting, says he is asking the State Fish and Wildlife
Commission to fire Jeff Koenings after seven years as director of the
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“I’ve lost faith in the director’s ability to manage this agency – the
people, the policies, and most of all, the resources,” said Orcutt,
R-Kalama. He serves on the House Natural Resources, Ecology and Parks
Committee, which considers issues related to fisheries and wildlife.
Orcutt recently viewed a
privately filmed video of malnourished elk dying within the state’s
Mount St. Helens Wildlife Area, inside the Loowit game management unit
and part of his legislative district. On Wednesday he went to the area
and saw numerous elk carcasses, even walking up to a calf elk so
emaciated it could not stand much less run away.
“Before going to the site,
a place where many people have seen elk as they drive the Spirit Lake
Highway, I asked Fish and Wildlife officials about the report of elk
dying. I was told the deaths were a natural effect – normal ‘winter
kill’ – but I’m not buying it,” Orcutt said. “The site is 1,780 acres,
and the department acknowledges it can only sustain 400 elk, but then it
admits counting 600 elk there in December 2005 – near the end of hunting
season. Their count came way too late to make adjustments to harvest
levels which could have gotten the number of elk much closer to a
sustainable population that could have made it through the winter. This
type of situation should not occur when the resource is properly
managed. The department showed little desire to do anything different.
That’s inexcusable.
“When you have 600 elk on
land that can only support 400, you don’t have 400 healthy elk and 200
dead ones. You have 200 dead with 400 still starving and susceptible to
disease, predation and death. That’s what I saw Wednesday,” Orcutt said.
“Fishing and hunting mean a lot to the economy of Southwest Washington,
and I question whether the department knows what it’s doing when it
comes to fish and wildlife management,” Orcutt explained. “The variation
in their counts and when they do them makes it impossible for them to
know how many elk there are. They seemed uninterested in collecting
appropriate data, without which it’s impossible to manage effectively. I
also have been unimpressed with Fish and Wildlife’s response on
permitting for the construction of bridges over streams or other
projects to protect resources and property. It’s difficult just getting
them to come look at a proposed project.
“I’m not the only legislator who’s seeing this agency as more of a
hindrance than a help. We need new leadership at the top to change the
attitude of this agency from top to bottom,” said Orcutt.
To top it off, Orcutt said, Fish and Wildlife worked all through the
2006 legislative session to kill legislation that would have required
them to help landowners trap and relocate nuisance beavers which
otherwise would be removed and killed. When the Legislature passed the
bill, the department’s next tactic was to lobby the governor to veto the
bill – which she did.
“They’re lobbying the governor to veto legislation while elk are dying.
That tells me they’re more interested in managing legislation than
managing wildlife,” said Orcutt.
Orcutt noted Koenings was appointed director in 1999 after management
and accounting problems within the agency came to light, with the belief
he would get the WDFW house in order.
“The year before the current director arrived, the Legislature had to
step in because of a budgeting fiasco involving the Wildlife Account,
and it told the department to come up with a new model for forecasting
Wildlife Account revenue. Here we are seven years later, and the
Legislature again had to tell the agency to come up with a new
forecasting model for the Wildlife Account,” said Orcutt.
“The governor chose to veto the requirement about revenue forecasting
when she signed the budget last week, but it’s the commission’s decision
whether the director stays or goes. I’m recommending to the commission
that it’s time for him to go.”
# # #
For more information, contact:
Brendon Wold, Public
Information Officer: (360) 786-7698
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