An Open Dialogue With WDFW Wolf Plan Consultant Francine Madden

[huntnphool]

The WAG itself, also has very few or no teeth. They discuss what's going on from their viewpoints and the Wildlife Commission and the Director are the ones who actually make the decisions. Their decisions may or may not be influenced by the WAG. IMHO, this is a very expensive dog and pony show that masks the fact that decisions have been, are being, and will be made with little consideration of her moderations or the joint efforts of the people on the WAG...except for those of the animal rights people, that is. Our government is crystal clear about their goals.

Sorry about being the wet dog stinking up the room, but it became very clear, very early on in the wolf plan process that blowing smoke up everyone's butt was the status quo and remains so today.

 The WAG may have been put together with good intentions, however there are major issues with it as well!

 Well done on the dialogue Anderson, I'll be paying attention to see how this goes too.

[jackelope]

Getting a hunter on the WAG could be good. It wouldn't hurt, certainly.

And incidentally, I think it's great that you wrote her. Thanks for being proactive for our wildlife. That's huge.

I responded to this but maybe you missed it. Are you saying there aren't currently hunters on the WAG?
@pianoman9701

[pianoman9701]

The WAG is window dressing and does nothing to change/correct the faulted and outrageous wolf plan. None of the powers that be give a crap about what goes on in those meetings. We're spending millions of conservation dollars on it so the animal rights wackos can say everything's done fairly, when everyone involved knows differently. Other than the outrageous wolf plan itself, the WAG and its costs are perhaps the biggest waste of WDFW funds in the department's history.

[pianoman9701]

Getting a hunter on the WAG could be good. It wouldn't hurt, certainly.

And incidentally, I think it's great that you wrote her. Thanks for being proactive for our wildlife. That's huge.

I responded to this but maybe you missed it. Are you saying there aren't currently hunters on the WAG?
@pianoman9701

No. More hunters might be better. Although, I don't believe the WAG is good for anything.

[huntnphool]

 Ribka pretty much nailed it IMO. At this point in the game, like all of us, her focus is to pay the bills. She secured her gig and now needs to justify her pay check, which is what she can now prove by providing WDFW Andersons email.

 

[idahohuntr]

The issue is not this facilitator.  It's the WDFW spending this kind of money on such a low priority issue. 

I'd be happy if they hired some part time intern to "manage" wolves and wolf issues in this state.  All the resources going into an animal we will never be able to hunt is just absurd when there are so many more pressing things to be spending time and money on. 

Better yet - let another agency or group deal with wolves...keep WDFW completely out of it.  Let WDFW focus on things they can actually manage - like habitat, regulations, hunting access etc. 

[elkchaser54]

The hatred and vitriol towards a women none of us have met is the reason our voices don't get any where and we get responses that have no action behind them.  I'd urge you to reach out to hunting organizations and let them know that Washington has a Wolf advisory group that has zero representation by any hunting groups . See if they are willing to reach out, maybe a larger group like RMEF has a bigger pull then an individual reaching out. I'd also like to commend the original poster, I think you did a very good job explaining your position and voicing your opinion in a calm well spoken manner. So thank you for doing so !

[andersonjk4]

Don't get me wrong, when I emailed her and got several nice responses I had no illusions that I had just made huge headway in getting our hunting voice heard and that everything was going to fall into place for us.  Far from it.  I agree that the responses I got very well could be (very likely are) a bunch of smoke from someone who is paid to deescalate.  My main reason for posting this was to show fellow hunters that a simple action, like sending a simple email, could get a response.  I may be getting a bunch of smoke blown at me, but she has read multiple emails from me now.  Whether she takes any of it to heart or not.  I was still able to get my message in front of her and it was a positive message that represented hunting and hunters in a good light.  She has now seen that at least one hunter isn't a club carrying neanderthal who cares enough about wildlife to take some little action.  She may not have any influence in the current wolf planning process, and it may be way too late for any meaningful change in the wolf plan anyway, but I would bet she has at least a little influence within her community/organization.  And from what is represented on her organizations website that is a community who is at best hunting neutral and many of them are most likely anti-hunting and can't be swayed from that.  But any sort of positive light we can shed on hunting to those who are neutral is a huge win.  We can ill afford to keep loosing those in the middle if we want to keep our hunting privileges in tact (look at what just happened in BC). 

I am not trying to portray myself as a great conservationist or perfect representative for hunting.  In fact, until recently I have done very little besides buying my hunting license/tags to help conservation or hunting.  But recently I have decided it is time to put the rubber to the road and start taking some actual actions.  I was very surprised by the response I got to the email I sent to Ms Madden.  I sent the email with very little expectation that I would even get a response or that she would read it.  Moral of the story is, if we all took a little bit of time to make some small effort toward the betterment of hunting we could potentially get somewhere, but if no actions are taken, that is a sure way to guarantee we will go nowhere.       

[Rainier10]

The hatred and vitriol towards a women none of us have met is the reason our voices don't get any where and we get responses that have no action behind them.  I'd urge you to reach out to hunting organizations and let them know that Washington has a Wolf advisory group that has zero representation by any hunting groups . See if they are willing to reach out, maybe a larger group like RMEF has a bigger pull then an individual reaching out. I'd also like to commend the original poster, I think you did a very good job explaining your position and voicing your opinion in a calm well spoken manner. So thank you for doing so !

I am pretty sure this has been addressed and is not true.

@jackelope

[pianoman9701]

The hatred and vitriol towards a women none of us have met is the reason our voices don't get any where and we get responses that have no action behind them.  I'd urge you to reach out to hunting organizations and let them know that Washington has a Wolf advisory group that has zero representation by any hunting groups . See if they are willing to reach out, maybe a larger group like RMEF has a bigger pull then an individual reaching out. I'd also like to commend the original poster, I think you did a very good job explaining your position and voicing your opinion in a calm well spoken manner. So thank you for doing so !

I don't see anyone spouting hatred and vitriol against her at all. Most of what you're seeing is disgust at the WDFW for spending over $1m on a consultant for a job which won't change the status quo of the wolf situation one bit. 

[ribka]

omg i actually agree with everything you said in your post

I have been contacting and bugging RMEF and the mule deer foundation for years to lobby WDFW and try and participate in the WAG and predator issues in this state and in Idaho.

I have also contacted state representatives here in WA  voicing my concern that the user group that contributes the most to wildlife in the state, sportsmen, are shut out of the dialogue.

Give me a break regarding Francine and her ignorance. She is being paid an exorbitant amount of money because she is an "expert" supposedly well -versed in all aspect of wildlife management and conflict resolution and it says so on her web site and linked in profile. As a tax payer I am outraged that this money was wasted by WDFW when it could have been used to benefit wildlife in our state. How about some bitter brush restoration for mule deer after the years of fires? How about an elk fence along I 90 outside Ellensburg to reduce elk collisions?

To profess to know nothing about the contributions of sportsmen when she led this kangaroo panel?

Give me a friggin break

The Pittman Robertson Act ( tax dollars from sportsmen)  has been around over 80 years and has allocated money to wildlife conservation in the 100's of millions of dollars. That is 100 times more than every anti hunting group listed on her website

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittman%E2%80%93Robertson_Federal_Aid_in_Wildlife_Restoration_Act

The issue is not this facilitator.  It's the WDFW spending this kind of money on such a low priority issue. 

I'd be happy if they hired some part time intern to "manage" wolves and wolf issues in this state.  All the resources going into an animal we will never be able to hunt is just absurd when there are so many more pressing things to be spending time and money on. 

Better yet - let another agency or group deal with wolves...keep WDFW completely out of it.  Let WDFW focus on things they can actually manage - like habitat, regulations, hunting access etc.

[MR5x5]

I've read every response.  All I can is say is, sad.

Regardless of how we got here, we are currently here.  Any change would need to come from the here and now. No change is guaranteed.  Need to get past the Hatfield vs McCoy feelings.

One thing is for damn sure, if you are not at the table, regardless of how stack it might seem, then you have no voice at the table.

You may not like the game, but it is the game in play. Play it or or take up arms against it I guess?

[bobcat]

All I see that I feel is sad, is the fact that the WDFW threw away 1.6 million dollars. That money's gone. Nothing has changed with the wolves, and nothing will change. They'll continue to increase in number and will continue to eat deer, elk, moose, etc. What is the point of spending 1.6 million dollars on one person to mediate wolf meetings? Like someone else mentioned, just think how much bitterbrush restoration could have been accomplished with all that money, in the areas that have burned up in recent years.

[pianoman9701]

I've read every response.  All I can is say is, sad.

Regardless of how we got here, we are currently here.  Any change would need to come from the here and now. No change is guaranteed.  Need to get past the Hatfield vs McCoy feelings.

One thing is for damn sure, if you are not at the table, regardless of how stack it might seem, then you have no voice at the table.

You may not like the game, but it is the game in play. Play it or or take up arms against it I guess?

There is no game of which we can be a part. Many of us have been at the table and several times. The minds of the wolf people were made up far in advance of all the hearings and the objections and the fears of those who would be most affected by the plan. Anyone can say "I understand your concerns.", while completely ignoring them and doing what they'd set out to do anyway. That's what has and will continue to happen.

[jackelope]

The hatred and vitriol towards a women none of us have met is the reason our voices don't get any where and we get responses that have no action behind them.  I'd urge you to reach out to hunting organizations and let them know that Washington has a Wolf advisory group that has zero representation by any hunting groups . See if they are willing to reach out, maybe a larger group like RMEF has a bigger pull then an individual reaching out. I'd also like to commend the original poster, I think you did a very good job explaining your position and voicing your opinion in a calm well spoken manner. So thank you for doing so !

There are multiple current members of the WAG who are active hunters and members of large hunting based org's. That doesn't seem to matter anyway so I'm not sure why I feel the need to correct anyone.

This thread and the comments in it are a perfect example of why hunters and hunting based org's struggle in these scenarios.  Because the hunters' mentality is that it's too late...what's done is done and we can't change anything so why bother.
The groups we all despise are still there, hammering away and they always will be.