Where did you send your F&W Proposal Letters?

[boneaddict]

I think they invented caller ID just for you at the WDFW. LOL

[WDFW-SUX]

 

[Snapshot]

Yes, the department's public input time is over but I didn't say anything about sending letters to the Department of Fish and Wildlife. I said send them to the Fish and Game Commission. They are two different entities. The WDFW recommends the seasons; it is up to the Commission to either approve the recommendations or tell the department to make changes to the recommendations. And that, good citizens of the state, is where you come in; you can send a letter to the Commission to let them know your thoughts any darn time you please. And right about now would be a great time.

InsideW,
I am compelled to point out two things: 1) I didn't miss any deadline, and 2) I'm not expecting any personal response. Respectfully, you jumped to a couple of incorrect conclusions. But keep up the otherwise good work.

[Coldeadhands]

Dale, letters were king.  But they like email these days, according to the office manager for Rep Skip Priest.   Nobody likes Anthrax.

[billythekidrock]

   Nobody likes Anthrax.

I do, or did. "Caught in a Mosh"

[Snapshot]

Coldands,

There are people who actually get paid for studying these sorts of things. I'm told that they have determined, for example; the value of a communication is commensurate with the effort required to send it; and, for every person who will take the time to send a letter there are seven others out there who have the same opinion but do not write. ...crap like that.
And so, "the effort required to convey an opinion", from easiest to most difficult, is 1) email, 2) phone call, 3) letter, 4) face-to-face meeting.

D

[Coldeadhands]

thats true.  I hope they were laid off after the results were made public.   Someone inside told some of our folks the opposition is 9:1 over support.    If a guy doesnt have a computer, I would give high marks for writing.

[InsideWDFW]

Yes, the department's public input time is over but I didn't say anything about sending letters to the Department of Fish and Wildlife. I said send them to the Fish and Game Commission. They are two different entities. The WDFW recommends the seasons; it is up to the Commission to either approve the recommendations or tell the department to make changes to the recommendations. And that, good citizens of the state, is where you come in; you can send a letter to the Commission to let them know your thoughts any darn time you please. And right about now would be a great time.

InsideW,
I am compelled to point out two things: 1) I didn't miss any deadline, and 2) I'm not expecting any personal response. Respectfully, you jumped to a couple of incorrect conclusions. But keep up the otherwise good work.

Sorry about the conclusions, everyone was quick to snap at the office that week, obviously me too.

As far as correspondence to WDFW.  Believe it or not employees want to hear what the public thinks about issues, we are after all a public agency.  I know that every state worker would say the same, but after working in government for awhile now, I can honestly say that WDFW employees care about what they do more then most.  You'd be surprised how many WDFW people you have as members here. A majority hunt, almost all fish, and all enjoy the outdoors one way or another.

The main problem is that there are thousands of you, and only a hundred or so of us.  And really 20 or so who have a hand in policy.  So when thousands of people demand (and some time threaten) to speak with one of the 20, you can understand that the response may be less then what is asked for.  There are processes in place in order to make sure that every single correspondence is read.  Going outside the normal channels mainly pisses the person off that you are trying to convince.  I know you want to be heard, but the person you are trying to reach is dealing with the other thousand people, the legislators, public groups, special interest groups, other WDFW employees, finding time to eat lunch, other state employees, and actually doing what they are paid to do.

I can say that a well written e-mail to wildthing@dfw.wa.gov is the best way above all else to get heard and responded to for anything game related.  All e-mails sent other agency e-mail address (including the commission) were forwarded to wildthing without comment.  Even the ones sent to Donny were answered by the same guys who answered all the other ones (they were bitching about having to draft a new response).  But once everything found it's way to wildthing, they were shipped to the appropriate game manager.  Except for the petitions, they were basically added to a mailing list then tossed.

I know it can be frustrating to get a canned response, but trust me there is a reason why all of our publications ect have wildthing@dfw.wa.gov as the contact information, there's a process in place that gets your thoughts to the right person as quick as possible.

Now for less serious answers.  We like e-mail because they are quicker to read and respond to, and they leave a record.  It's pretty tough for someone to say they didn't receive a response, or that something was said that wasn't when you have an electronic copy.  Also it's a headache to read some people's hand writing.  And they can be answered when the time is available.

Phone calls are great if you can accept the answer that the first person gives.  What usually happens with phone calls is that a caller doesn't like the first answer and demands to speak to someone higher.. and guess what - they get the same answer.  For the most part the people who answer the phones know what they are talking about, and if not they will put you on hold to get the right one.

Actually walking in and asking to speak with so and so is a crap shot.  More often then not they won't be there or they are in a meeting.  Which honestly is the case.

And finally we know that any proposal we throw out there is going to hated by one group or another.  Just as the "people who actually get paid for studying" will say, most of the comments you get when asking for public opinion will be negative.  We could open hunting up wide open with no restrictions what so ever and we'd still hear more complaints then support.  From my part in the whole processes I'd put the ratio at 20:1 rather then 9:1.  Ratios on public input are treated just like the PETA mailings we get, crumpled up and thrown in the trash.