Where did you send your F&W Proposal Letters?

[billythekidrock]

Other then the wildthing email address, where did you send your letters? Let's get as many email addresses as possible in this thread. I know some (myself included) are still working on their letters, but when it is ready I would really like to have a number of places to send it. Please do not post your letters here, just the email address of where you sent it.
Thanks.

[bobcat]

OK, just took a quick look on the WDFW site, and here are a couple that I think I will try:

The Director's Office:  director@dfw.wa.gov

The Fish & Wildlife Commission:   commission@dfw.wa.gov
 

[bobcat]

Here is a good one for comments on the bear and cougar proposals. If you look at the "Explanatory Statement" listed under the proposed bear and cougar seasons, this is the guy who wrote it.

Donny Martorello, Ph.D., Carnivore, Furbearer, and Special Species Section
Manager, Wildlife Program

With a little searching I found his email address:

donny.martorello@dfw.wa.gov

[billythekidrock]

Thanks.
I searched the other threads and only found one email address. I really thought there would be more.

PS. Donny's a dusche. Every time Steve P. moves up, D. M. moves up and changes things.

[bobcat]

PS. Donny's a dusche.

Well then let's post his email address all over and be sure he gets hundreds of emails in his inbox every day.   

I got the same automated reply back from the email I sent to the director's office as the one that I sent to the "wildthing" email address. So apparently they are somehow forwarded to wildthing anyway, so that one didn't do any good. The other two, the one I sent to Donny Martorello and the one I sent to the Commission, I haven't seen any reply from them yet. (and really don't expect to)

[billythekidrock]

I also plan to send one to the new Public Lands Commissioner.
Doubt it will do much, but hey, if this is my last chance to speak on it then everyone is going to listen.

[bobcat]

Maybe try peter.goldmark@dfw.wa.gov

I think I will try that. Maybe it will actually get to him, unlike that other one that was forwarded on to "wildthing."

[Aneoakleaf]

Thanks Bobcat, I see we have till the 22nd to send in our recommendations oops that's tomarrow

[billythekidrock]

I thought the deadline was the 20th?

[Snapshot]

Letters should be sent to the Commission all the way up to the point when they have to make their decisions on the seasons, which happens at the April meeting.

Once we see exactly what the department proposes to the Commission on March 7 we'll know what the next round of letters need to focus on.

[InsideWDFW]

Not to say that you guys are wasting your time, each letter you send is read by the proper game manager, but e-mails sent to any e-mail address, commission and director included, are forwarded to wildthing@dfw.wa.gov without being looked at by the commissioners/director.  This is done for two reasons, first by law we have to keep track of every single comment received (this includes the "You all are going to die for taking away GMU 101") and wildthing is setup for this, and second for efficiency.  When you send e-mails to to the director or commission you are sending them to an e-mail that is handled by one person (the commission office has 1.5 people outside the commissioners, and the director's office has 3).  That one person has a hundred other duties they have to do throughout the day, and unfortunately handling comment e-mails - when there is already people and a process in place to do this - is low priority.

Once wildthing receives the e-mail, a standard response is returned to you (required by law), then your comments are sent to the proper game manager.  Hence the wildthing address getting your comments to the right people quicker then sending them all willi nilly.  The game manager writes a response to common themes (for instance complaints against closure of bear hunting in August) and includes the comment/response with the packet that is sent to the commissioners for review.  We've posted the comments/response recived through Feb 9 on-line at http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/seasonsetting/index.htm#recommendations under the "Public Input Recived..." links.  These documents will be updated with comments recived Feb 10-20.

Now the bad news, the deadline was the 20th, and this is a hard deadline... meaning comments received after the 20th will not be taken into consideration.  Though to be honest the few I've seen (which a couple where obviously from here.. kinda funny) have hit on points that we've already responded too.. there not too much new stuff coming in.

Some advice for future e-mail campaigns:  There is a reason for setting aside one point of contact, usually wildthing@dfw.wa.gov.  The guys (2 of em) who handle wildthing e-mails know their stuff, and have direct access to the people you are trying to reach.  Letters written in a calm, intelligent fashion will get where you want them to faster (sometimes within minutes) then the ones calling us idiots and screaming how you don't like something.  If you don't like something - Great! - but tell us why and what your ideas are to fix it.  Comments like " u idiots suck and cant manage your junk let alon deer"  end up being passed around as jokes (the managers do see these, but as comedic relief).

Something new this year was signed petitions.. guys we were looking for comments/suggestions.  We knew that these proposals were going to piss people off.. signing your name (or going door to door having people sign who may not care one way or another) to a piece of paper with out constructive criticism is a waste of time and tells us something we already knew.  We don't look at the number of people for or against, we look at the trends of comments.  We already know that the majority of comments we will receive during any public comments period are going to be against what ever we propose.   

Do not expect a personalized response from Dave Brittell (or the director, commissioners, or Dave Ware, or whomever) just because you addressed it to them.  We received a couple thousand (2735 at last count) e-mail comments.  If the 4 game program managers took the time to respond to every comment, they'd still be just responding to e-mails and doing nothing else.  Though they will read them.

[Snapshot]

When I said go ahead and send letters I mean letters, not email. Email carries very little weight as compared to a letter. It is not a waste of time. A letter does not have to be part of the "public input process" to be effective.

The idea that a personalized letter from a citizen addressed to a public official would be disregarded is revolting and is wrong. Go ahead and write your letters; they work for you and me. Send them to Washington Fish & Game Commission, 600 Capitol Way N, Olympia, Wa 98501-1091.

[InsideWDFW]

You know what's funny about the public, they scream and yell when when we don't enforce the deadlines we publish, until they find themselves missing it, in which case it's "revolting and is wrong".  I guess the questions I have to ask is.. would you rather have a personalized response from a game manager, or see a pamphlet for 2009-2010... 'cause they can't do both.

[boneaddict]

    I mentioned that last time about the re-draw, every pissed off person that distracted one more employee just to vent. I was just waiting for the right results.  This has more purpose though.  WAY MORE PURPOSE.

[WDFW-SUX]

Yawn.....its not our fault we can't help it yada, yada, yada..........