Hello everyone, I wanted to post this here and give people a copy of this to spread around to buddies and on other social media platforms. I just want to say thank you to everyone for the support. Its gonna take all of us to come together and fight back. The last thing I'll say before diving in is that this can't just be a one-and-done deal. We need to have a presence at every meeting, whether in-person or over zoom. I'm not asking for a big display at every meeting but they need to know that we are watching and still care. We're just getting started. Also, you can sign up to speak a week or two below the meeting, do not sign up before than!
The big WDFW commission meeting is on October 26th-28th in Olympia at the Natural Resource building. Its during the end of Blacktail season and the opening weekend of Eastside Elk. Commissioners expect us to be gone and want to pass these policies without us being present. Now I will say, that commissioners are becoming more aware of us getting involved and are getting nervous about that. On Thursday the 26th, commissioners in big tent committee will discuss the conservation/preservation policy. On Friday, the big day the commission will vote on the Conservation Policy and if passed it will open the floodgates for even worse policies to pass and will change hunting in Washington. This policy is a dream for several anti-hunting groups and commissioners. They want to pass this even though a new draft has not been sent out and they have rushed the process. The process has not at all been transparent and are ready to move on from hunters, anglers and other traditional stakeholders. The process has been very secretive with anti-hunting groups involved in the process and VERY LITTLE involvement from DFW staff. Public comment for the policy should have been much bigger and longer but they opted for just one commission meeting for it and a month for people to comment which was back in June.
On the same day, a public hearing will be held for the CR-102 timber damage, we do not know if that will have its own public comment yet but will keep you all informed. It seems the CR-102 will be voted on in November. On one of the two days the commission will hear two petitions, a bear petition and a steelhead petition. For Friday , you will want to be down by 8am because we think the room and building will get packed very quickly. Judging from past meetings, on Fridays public comment typically starts at 8:45 or 8:30 and on Saturday typically starts at 8:00. So on Saturday probably want to be down earlier. Show up in hunter orange or wear your favorite hunting brand. If you speak, let them know what hunting means to you or talk about opposition for the preservation policy. Originally, we outnumbered antis by a 1,000 when it came to public response but antis used that to bash HOWL and make up lies. Friday is the big day but we need people down in Olympia on Saturday so we have a presence on both days and can rebuttal any votes or any comments. In my opinion, just being in person is a lot more powerful then speaking so don't be disappointed if you don't speak. You'll be fighting with us and making a stand. Commissioners will realize just how bad they screwed up and that they've awakened the sleeping giant.
Thank you all for wanting to get involved, its gonna take all of us together to save hunting in Washington. Speak up, donate to Sportsmens Alliance and let folks know whats happening. I'm proud to fight alongside all of you and hope to see you down south!
Last thing I'll close on, the next big meeting is on December 15th and 16th. They are going to do a meeting on the commission managing public comment. We think this could begin the censorship of hunters at meetings and try to dampen HOWL's efforts since antis and some commissioners hate HOWL and hunter involvement. . We will keep you all updated.
