New director

[ctwiggs1]

Thanks for your input on this Allen!

[Oh Mah]

yeah this shows a lot. 

[Bob33]

Come on, Allen. We all know he’s nothing but a good old boy environmentalist with zero experience in biology, fish or game. And a friend of Weilgus to boot.

It’s true – just check out the posts on Hunt WA.

[Bushcraft]

Allen- that's great news! It was a question I hadn't seen answered yet, if the new director was a hunter and/or fisherman. Thanks for posting that.

I wonder why the WDFW didn't mention that in the news release?

It's anyone's guess as to why they didn't mention that he is an avid sportsman.  Perhaps they didn't want to get Inslee's panties in too much of a bunch.

[bearpaw]

Allen- that's great news! It was a question I hadn't seen answered yet, if the new director was a hunter and/or fisherman. Thanks for posting that.

I wonder why the WDFW didn't mention that in the news release?

It's anyone's guess as to why they didn't mention that he is an avid sportsman.  Perhaps they didn't want to get Inslee's panties in too much of a bunch.

Huge relief, thanks for the info, I had thought we got the bullet! Glad to read your info! 

BTW:  I'm a life member of national and a life member of Spokane! 

[DOUBLELUNG]

My guess would be that he has a history of firing problem employees (or other track record of solving personnel problems), given WDFW's recent personnel issues failings. 

I think we got lucky getting a sportsman, that doesn't mean he's good, but if he didn't have those qualifications odds are less that he'd be good. 

Hopefully he's good at interacting with Washington legislators, I do think that is good experience a Washington state bureaucrat is most likely to have. 

Hopefully, he will put together a robust contingency plan of how to do the best job possible with the financial resources available, and not just the unending squawk of not enough funding and handwringing that has defined WDFW since Koenings took the helm.  That will require prioritizing mission over positions if that is what it takes to have the funding to accomplish the mission.  I'd much rather have a staff of 1,500 with the resources to do the job in the field, than a staff of 1,900 sitting at PCs and sending emails because they don't have gas money to get out in  the field.  I've seen both realities.

[Bushcraft]

We can take care of the legislators. He needs to take care of personnel management.  Some more than others. 

[James]

"The public has high expectations for WDFW, and I'm excited about being in a position to deliver the results they deserve."

I suspect a vast majority of the public doesn't even know what WDFW is. For those who do I doubt their expectations are high.

If he manages well and listens to the right people, he can succeed. Given that only 4% of our population hunts, our voice is small.

Agreed we are a small part of the population in that regard, but  Sportsmen/women fund a huge percentage of WDFW's budget either directly or indirectly. I think that's where much of the contempt between sportsmen and WDFW come from, we pay our way, but others that don't pay their dues get more sway than they should.


I hope this guy comes in and kicks arse and takes names; makes WDFW the competent, respected, steward of fish, game, wildlife and sportsmen that we deserve. But my fear is it's going to take a lot more than a director change to get there.
 

[pianoman9701]

My benchmark for his effectiveness will be how he approaches predator management and what his goals are for more effective monitoring and response to problem animals, overpopulation control, and moving toward delisting the Canadian grey wolves everywhere they can be delisted. In my opinion, proper predator management now is a key component to having healthy ungulate herds (and predator populations) going forward.

[idahohuntr]

I'm moderately optimistic with this guy. They need a leader to hit the reset button on a department that has lost its way so its good to see it wasn't an insider. I like that this guy is a hunter/angler...but there is such a crisis of leadership at WDFW I would take a strong leader over a friendly hunter who is ineffective.  He needs to restore the focus on serving sportsmen and doing their core missions well...get rid of the butterfly biologists and the wolf facilitators and all the other distractions.  Every piece of paper or briefing he gets he should mandate the first sentence must describe how this information/action/whatever he's being briefed on benefits hunters and anglers of Wa state.  If he doesn't get a satisfactory answer...get the hell out.  This is how a leader can change the culture of an inept department with no focus or vision on the things that matter.

[bearpaw]

  that would be nice

I'm much more optimistic about this choice knowing that he is a sportsman. No doubt the guy has a very tough job to do, the agency is a mess in so many ways, nobody is happy with WDFW, but the right person with some leadership, management, budgeting, and negotiating skills could be very successful because there is so much room for improvement. I really wish him good luck and hope he can fix some of this mess!

[CAMPMEAT]

Move outta state...........

[bearpaw]

Move outta state...........

That's probably the smartest and easiest answer. 

[baldopepper]

I'm surprised they could find anyone crazy enough to take that job.  No win job, so many different, adamant opinions about how wdfw should be run and what priorities it has that at best you might be able to satisfy about  1/3 of the people with strong opinions. Just look at our own forum here that is made up of people with at least some thoughts in common-introduce a post with even a little controversy and you get a ton of very strong opinions and some very vile responses.  Good luck to him, hope he's thick skinned and wearing a hat with a bunch of miracles he can pull out of it. .

[bearpaw]

I'm surprised they could find anyone crazy enough to take that job.  No win job, so many different, adamant opinions about how wdfw should be run and what priorities it has that at best you might be able to satisfy about  1/3 of the people with strong opinions. Just look at our own forum here that is made up of people with at least some thoughts in common-introduce a post with even a little controversy and you get a ton of very strong opinions and some very vile responses.  Good luck to him, hope he's thick skinned and wearing a hat with a bunch of miracles he can pull out of it. .

  Totally agree, but there is so much room for improvement that a talented and smart leader could really build quite a lot of respect from all sides.