Investigation of WDFW Enforcement Administration

[idahohuntr]

I think this Pearson guy is just being a political hack.   

[Skillet]

Kirk Pearson is a politician, no doubt. But he has repeatedly stood up for the sportsmen of Washington, and for that he gets the benefit of the doubt from me. 

[Special T]

I think this Pearson guy is just being a political hack.   

Funny I thought we could all agree that we need more sportsmen advocates in office.

[ucwarden]

I think this Pearson guy is just being a political hack.   

Idahohuntr: You couldn't possibly be further off, in your views of Senator Pearson.  Senator Pearson has supported our efforts to rid WDFW of the corrupt, and incompetent from day one.  He is the one who invited me to address the Senate committee, regarding the corruption.  Senator Pearson is the only one who has stayed the course, and continued to try to hold WDFW accountable, and without his efforts, we would truly be dead in the water.  His efforts give us hope, that perhaps the good guys might actually win in the end.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but my opinion is 180 degrees the opposite of yours, and I believe I have a bit moreexperience in dealing with these issues than you do.

[pianoman9701]

I think this Pearson guy is just being a political hack.   

Funny I thought we could all agree that we need more sportsmen advocates in office.

Don't feed the trolls.

[Special T]

Pearson is in my neighboring district. I think he used to be mine before redistricting.

I can say ID hunter is talking out his rear end.

[idahohuntr]

I think this Pearson guy is just being a political hack.   

Idahohuntr: You couldn't possibly be further off, in your views of Senator Pearson.  Senator Pearson has supported our efforts to rid WDFW of the corrupt, and incompetent from day one.  He is the one who invited me to address the Senate committee, regarding the corruption.  Senator Pearson is the only one who has stayed the course, and continued to try to hold WDFW accountable, and without his efforts, we would truly be dead in the water.  His efforts give us hope, that perhaps the good guys might actually win in the end.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but my opinion is 180 degrees the opposite of yours, and I believe I have a bit moreexperience in dealing with these issues than you do.

He is merely playing to his political base...not necessarily doing what is right or good for fish and wildlife management in the State.  While he may be on par for trying to hold Cenci accountable - I don't agree with his assessment of WDFW budget and fee requests, and I don't support his wasteful government spending to stand up a whole new government program to address hoof rot at WSU; simply because he and/or his constituents don't understand the issue. 

While there is always room for improvement (and believe me, I could cut a lot of fat from WDFW budgets) I also reject his description of WDFW as "an agency in crisis".  Besides personal hard feelings and drama amongst enforcement personnel, what is in "crisis"?

[Bob33]

Within my sphere of influence, which includes contact with several individuals working directly with WDFW on a frequent basis, I get the sense that respect for WDFW management is at or near an all-time low and declining. Combined with a loss of revenue for a variety of reasons, I could certainly classify that as an “agency in crisis.”

[Special T]

The WDFW has had the lowest morale of all departments for some time. I remember reading an article on it several years back.

[JLS]

I think this Pearson guy is just being a political hack.   

Idahohuntr: You couldn't possibly be further off, in your views of Senator Pearson.  Senator Pearson has supported our efforts to rid WDFW of the corrupt, and incompetent from day one.  He is the one who invited me to address the Senate committee, regarding the corruption.  Senator Pearson is the only one who has stayed the course, and continued to try to hold WDFW accountable, and without his efforts, we would truly be dead in the water.  His efforts give us hope, that perhaps the good guys might actually win in the end.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but my opinion is 180 degrees the opposite of yours, and I believe I have a bit moreexperience in dealing with these issues than you do.

He is merely playing to his political base...not necessarily doing what is right or good for fish and wildlife management in the State.  While he may be on par for trying to hold Cenci accountable - I don't agree with his assessment of WDFW budget and fee requests, and I don't support his wasteful government spending to stand up a whole new government program to address hoof rot at WSU; simply because he and/or his constituents don't understand the issue. 

While there is always room for improvement (and believe me, I could cut a lot of fat from WDFW budgets) I also reject his description of WDFW as "an agency in crisis".  Besides personal hard feelings and drama amongst enforcement personnel, what is in "crisis"?

Disagree with you, completely.

[idahohuntr]

Fair enough.  I just don't equate low morale amongst some staff and moderate budget shortfalls as an agency in crisis.  Could someone connect the dots with how this "crisis" is going to significantly effect sportsmen? 

I would also argue this Pearson is as much to blame for low morale at WDFW as anyone...his politicizing hoof rot is a perfect example.     

[ipkus]

Their management philosophies have alienated their two largest user groups, hunters and recreational fisherman, for as long as I can remember.  More predators that they severely restrict hunting access to, while the game animals that people seek and  willingly will pay to access continue to decline in numbers specifically because of mis-management.  Salmon and steelhead returns continue to be managed into non-existence due to many things, including "co-management", a desire to get out of the hatchery business, and a long standing love affair with stifling recreational opportunities in order to hand over a large share of harvestable fish to a handful of gillnetters that not only make money off of ESA listed stocks, they reek havoc on non-target species like sturgeon and steelhead.

And the department's way of fixing their budget problem?  Charge more for the right to access the less x that their mismanagement provides.  That'll help recruit new generations of hunters/fisherman to fund the agency in the future.

If you can't see that this agency is indeed in crisis mode, you don't know much about what's going on within it.

[Special T]

@ipkus well said. The department is either incompetent because it no longer understands whom they are here to represent, OR they have chosen groups that are not sportsmen and dare not say so. Companies and gov entities that do a good job focusing on their core responsibilities succeed. The WDFW clearly does not focus on sportsmen because they don't view us as the reason for resistance. It could be because we don't feed the bloated staff in Olympia. I forget the exact numbers but the WDFW employs 1200 people? Half of which show up to work in Olympia....

[Bob33]

I forget the exact numbers but the WDFW employs 1200 people? Half of which show up to work in Olympia....

I would be cautious of implying that only half of WDFW’s workforce shows up in Olympia for work. For one, not all their employees work in Olympia. More importantly, I believe a solid majority of their employees do work hard but are hindered by senior and mid-level management that doesn’t understand and appreciate their base constituencies. Looking at enforcement for example, I think you would find that the vast majority of officers in the field are doing their best to serve the department and hunters well, but work in an organizational structure lead by people like Mike Cenci which is where the problems are primarily.

[HntnFsh]

Their management philosophies have alienated their two largest user groups, hunters and recreational fisherman, for as long as I can remember.  More predators that they severely restrict hunting access to, while the game animals that people seek and  willingly will pay to access continue to decline in numbers specifically because of mis-management.  Salmon and steelhead returns continue to be managed into non-existence due to many things, including "co-management", a desire to get out of the hatchery business, and a long standing love affair with stifling recreational opportunities in order to hand over a large share of harvestable fish to a handful of gillnetters that not only make money off of ESA listed stocks, they reek havoc on non-target species like sturgeon and steelhead.
And the department's way of fixing their budget problem?  Charge more for the right to access the less x that their mismanagement provides.  That'll help recruit new generations of hunters/fisherman to fund the agency in the future.

If you can't see that this agency is indeed in crisis mode, you don't know much about what's going on within it.

Thank you. You beat me to it! And I'm sure there is more that can be added!