Just got out of a meet and greet with Lorna Smith

[Firstgenhunter]

Hello everyone, so we just got out of a meet and greet with Lorna Smith with the event being hosted by Sierra Club. Lorna and other commissioners have refused to meet with sportsmen and even turned down offers with the biggest names. They did not know we were hunters but this meeting was damning. Now is the time to get involved because these people have a full agenda and are ready to go to war with sportsmen. Here is a summary of the event. We recorded the meeting and will have stuff out in the coming weeks.

It opened with a presentation on how hunters don't pay for conservation in our state. She said that nonhunters and other people pay for conservation. It gets worse and worse. She wants to give Washingtonians who live in highly populated areas a say in policy. So perhaps this means giving folks in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties a bigger say? She said cougars are being "persecuted" and she and Woody Myers in a future meeting will propose shortening the length of cougar seasons and lower bag limits. I think this is a plan if they can't have the full bans by April 2024. Very scary regardless and she is very pro-predator. Would make whats happening on the eastside a whole lot worse.
She was very adamant on doing things differently with predators. Almost as if the goal is rewilding but she didn't explicitly say rewilding. She said that she is a part of a "coalition" inside the commission. I would guess her, Rowland, Ragen, Myers and Baker. Those are the main antis, I don't think Lehmkul is fully with them. Maybe he is but its so hard to understand him. And something very concerning was said. She and maybe others seek to fire WDFW Director Kelly Susewind. He is a hunter and fought hard for spring bear. He could have retired by now but he is choosing to stay and fight for us. I would not be surprised that we see them trying to clean house in the next few years. She expressed annoyance at how the department disagrees with them.

Lorna spent the rest of the meeting pandering to Sierra Club and trying to rally the forces and speak up at commission meetings to defend her and other commissioners. Granted only 20 people showed up to this meeting but concerning regardless. The antis are rallying their forces. In this photo, you will see several current event issues that Lorna wants antis to speak up on. It is time to get involved! Speak up at any meeting you can, any chance you get. Become a Sportsmens Alliance member! They are going to war with hunters. Once again, here is some more info on October. Get involved!

We need people in Olympia on both days. The CR-102 and the Conservation Policy vote will be on October 27th. The meeting will be at the Natural Resource building. We need to pack the room, building and even parking lot with hunters. Show up in hunter orange or your favorite hunting brands to show what side your on. We need to show that hunters are united and we are going to get involved. We're gonna keep showing up and making our voice heard. We will let you know when you can start signing up to speak but sign-ups typically open a week or two before the meeting. We need people to speak on Saturday the 28th as well to rebuttal anything that happens or is said on Thursday and Friday. If you don't want to speak that's okay. Your presence in-person is already going to be very powerful. You'll want to be down by 8am. The room will fill up and public comment typically starts around 8:30 to 9:00.

We also have a major announcement. After the commission meeting on the 27th, we will be hosting a pint night at Dick's Brewing Co in Centralia in the evening. We will head over after the meeting. This will be a get-together event from sportsmen and we will discuss the meeting and what comes next. Keep an eye out for more information soon. HUGE shoutout to [Joel Swecker])for putting this together. Thank you all for the support and keep an eye out on our pages for more announcements!

[The100Road]

Thank you for this. Keep up the fight!

[MADMAX]

Love it or lose it
Agree thanks for keeping us informed

[Skyvalhunter]

Smith is one of those types thats the loud mouth and conversation controller in a group which is not a good thing for hunters. She is one of the top people that need to be ousted from the commission.

[Jpmiller]

Where can we access the recording of the meeting you were a part of?

[Firstgenhunter]

Where can we access the recording of the meeting you were a part of?

It was a private meeting, I imagine Sierra Club isn't going to share it around. We were trying to screen record it but now we're having audio issues and it didn't pick up the audio. We're doing everything we can but we took photos of some images from Lorna's presentation. The photo above is one of the photos from the presentation. If we can get access to the recording somehow we will post a link here.

[Bullkllr]

So here we have a standing member of the Wildlife Commission actively lobbying against hunting.This seems like precedent in that they're not even trying to shade it any more. If this doesn't get hunters' attention nothing will.

[timberfaller]

The Sierra Club, Center for Biodiversity, the DNC, plus a whole host of others are nothing but a sic bunch of people!  They have an agenda and the courts and know how to use them effectively!

The Sierra Club cut their teeth with logging.(very few members BUT all were lawyers in the beginning)
The Center for Bio-diversity cut their teeth on banning lead.
The DNC, well their actions speak for themselves!

These people have an agenda and they DON'T compromise in the slightest.  I've fought these types all my life and I am tired of it.  YOU young people need to stand up and take them on at every turn!! 

A big thanks to those who Fight!!

Smith is just a pawn, if she doesn't do as she is told, she will be sacrificed.  You don't rub elbows with these people just for fun.

[RC]

Just out of curiosity, where are the tribes with all of this?  Don't seem to hear much and would think they would be on our side, but maybe I'm wrong?

[jstone]

I doubt this would affect the Tribes

[Mtnwalker]

This is insane that these members are now openly discussing their agenda as if they are untouchable. As long as Inslee is in office, they probably are

[bearpaw]

Thanks to the OP for posting this info! 

Just out of curiosity, where are the tribes with all of this?  Don't seem to hear much and would think they would be on our side, but maybe I'm wrong?

The commission has no control over treaty rights, so no direct impact to tribal members.

[Firstgenhunter]

I doubt this would affect the Tribes

The tribes are not at all happy with this commission. Can't say too much but they are seeing what's going on and are doing stuff on their own.

[buckfvr]

I have to imagine the commissions effect on game animals will ultimately
affect the tribe and result in some kind of response. 

[pianoman9701]

The Tribes are affected by the consequences of the predator spiral. They don't support or ignore any of this.