Alert: SB 6813 - WDFW Elimination

[bearpaw]

Thoughts from one of the legislators involved:

Dear Dale and Tara,                                   March 1, 2010
 
Thank you for contacting Senator Schoesler’s office with your concerns about Senate Bill 6813: the proposal to merge the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Washington State Department of Parks and Recreation Commission into the Department of Natural Resources. The Senator read your e-mail and asked me to respond on his behalf. The Senator agrees that the merger of these two agencies would be disastrous for the future of wildlife and outdoor recreation in our state.

One of his main problems with this merger is based on the fact that the goals of these three departments are conflicting. The DNR has the job of managing public lands and natural resources to provide economic gain for the state. The WDFW has the responsibility of protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and their habitats and well as providing sustainable, fish- and wildlife-related recreational and commercial opportunities. The Parks and Recreation Commission oversees the management of state parks. These agencies are diverse and have different vested interests in State resources.

After the 1994 merger of the Departments of Fisheries and Game into the Department of Fish and Wildlife, it has only just begun to function cohesively. This proposed merger would create another “superagency,” which will only lead to further delays and issues for the public.. In this time of economic hardship we should be streamlining government, not expanding the bureaucracy to unbearable levels.

This merger has been offered as a cost-saving mechanism. The Department of Fish and Wildlife receives less than 30% of its funding from the general fund. The WFDW is largely self-funded from licenses and fees. In fact, hunters and fishermen agreed to pay a surcharge on licenses last year to preserve vital WDFW functions.

Washington State receives federal money for wildlife habitat development. In order to continue to receive this money Washington must comply with the Pittman Robertson Act of 1937, which requires the state to have a “law prohibiting the diversion of license fees paid by hunters for any purpose other than the administration of the state’s fish and game department.” This prohibits money from permits and fees being sent into the general fund, and keeps them for use for conservation

The timeline that Senate Bill 6813 mandates is poorly thought out and will be nearly impossible to achieve. The proposed legislation requires that the three agencies must submit a report detailing how the merge will be accomplished by July 1, 2010. The merger itself must be completely by September 1, 2010. This is an impossibly short amount of time to make a readjustment of this size, and will only lead to further mistakes and unnecessary costs.

Senator Schoesler does support interagency cooperation between the Department of Fish and Wildlife, State Parks and Recreation and the Department of Natural Resources. However, I do not feel that the merging of these agencies will do anything but create problems for our children and grandchildren to solve.

Thank you for contacting Senator Schoesler’s office with your concerns. If you have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact the office.

Sincerely,
Amanda

Amanda Livesay
Legislative Intern
Senator Mark Schoesler
9th District

[Kain]

Great letter! 

[bearpaw]

Another message that just came in. Seems that numerous legislators were looking at this intelligently.


Dear Dale and Tara,

Thank you so much for contacting me regarding the merge of the Department of Wildlife and the DNR. I am not in support of this merge and we were able to defeat it in a budget amendment passed on Friday. 

Thanks again for contacting me. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Senator Joseph Zarelli
18th legislative district
(360) 786-7634

[Kain]

Another message that just came in. Seems that numerous legislators were looking at this intelligently.

They could be but the timing seems a little odd that you are just now hearing from them now that it looks like its not going to happen.     Maybe Im just being cynical.

[whacker1]

based on the people responding, I would say you are just getting the response after the chaos has died down from last week.  Zarelli and Schoessler are on our side as far as that committee goes. 

[Kain]

Sounds good I can see these guys being pretty busy.

[bearpaw]

I am still of the opinion that some well thought out ideas need to be presented to certain legislators to try and improve the WDFW.  

[Kain]

Short email in response to my email from Sen Craig Pridemore.

Pridemore, Sen. Craig to me
show details 4:41 PM (13 minutes ago)
Totally with you, Naithan.  I think we can kill this.

Craig

[woodswalker]

From Steve Hobb's office in response to my notes:

Thanks for the note.  I've always been against the proposed merger of these two agencies. We managed to kill this legislation Saturday, at least for this session.  Fish and Wildlife is not a "trim the fat" type item - rather it is one of the best allocations of our funds. We can cut elsewhere, Fish and Wildlife stays.

Thanks,

- Steve

And from Schoelsler"s office:
Dear Aaron,                                                                                                                                                       March 1, 2010

 

Thank you for contacting Senator Schoesler’s office with your concerns about Senate Bill 6813: the proposal to merge the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Washington State Department of Parks and Recreation Commission into the Department of Natural Resources. The Senator read your e-mail and asked me to respond on his behalf. The Senator agrees that the merger of these two agencies would be disastrous for the future of wildlife and outdoor recreation in our state.

 

One of his main problems with this merger is based on the fact that the goals of these three departments are conflicting. The DNR has the job of managing public lands and natural resources to provide economic gain for the state. The WDFW has the responsibility of protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and their habitats and well as providing sustainable, fish- and wildlife-related recreational and commercial opportunities. The Parks and Recreation Commission oversees the management of state parks. These agencies are diverse and have different vested interests in State resources.

 

After the 1994 merger of the Departments of Fisheries and Game into the Department of Fish and Wildlife, it has only just begun to function cohesively. This proposed merger would create another “superagency,” which will only lead to further delays and issues for the public.. In this time of economic hardship we should be streamlining government, not expanding the bureaucracy to unbearable levels.

 

This merger has been offered as a cost-saving mechanism. The Department of Fish and Wildlife receives less than 30% of its funding from the general fund. The WFDW is largely self-funded from licenses and fees. In fact, hunters and fishermen agreed to pay a surcharge on licenses last year to preserve vital WDFW functions.

 

Washington State receives federal money for wildlife habitat development. In order to continue to receive this money Washington must comply with the Pittman Robertson Act of 1937, which requires the state to have a “law prohibiting the diversion of license fees paid by hunters for any purpose other than the administration of the state’s fish and game department.” This prohibits money from permits and fees being sent into the general fund, and keeps them for use for conservation

 

The timeline that Senate Bill 6813 mandates is poorly thought out and will be nearly impossible to achieve. The proposed legislation requires that the three agencies must submit a report detailing how the merge will be accomplished by July 1, 2010. The merger itself must be completely by September 1, 2010. This is an impossibly short amount of time to make a readjustment of this size, and will only lead to further mistakes and unnecessary costs.

 

Senator Schoesler does support interagency cooperation between the Department of Fish and Wildlife, State Parks and Recreation and the Department of Natural Resources. However, I do not feel that the merging of these agencies will do anything but create problems for our children and grandchildren to solve.

 

Thank you for contacting Senator Schoesler’s office with your concerns. If you have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact the office.

 

Sincerely,

 

Amanda

 

Amanda Livesay

Legislative Intern
Senator Mark Schoesler
9th District
360.786.7620

livesay.amanda@leg.wa.gov

[jackelope]

just saw this on another BB:

Late yesterday evening the Senate Ways and Means Committee adopted an amendment to the 2010 Supplemental Budget that maintains the Department of Fish and Wildlife as a separate entity from the Department of Natural Resources. You will recall CCA Washington issued an action alert to our members a few days ago informing that the earlier version of this budget proposed merging WDFW into DNR.

In response to thousands of e-mails and phone calls from CCA members, supporters and friends, legislators modified this budget to keep WDFW in place. Budget cuts for WDFW and DNR are part of this new amendment. We will be communicating more about these cuts and the amendment in the near future. For now we wanted you to know this is a significant win for CCA and for the citizens of Washington. You are to be congratulated for this success and no further e-mails to your legislators on this topic are necessary at this time.

Sincerely,

CCA Washington

[jackelope]

p.s. that post was made 2/27

[billythekidrock]

I am still of the opinion that some well thought out ideas need to be presented to certain legislators to try and improve the WDFW. 

I agree, and if that doesn't work then I say merge them. It can't be much worse than it all ready is. Maybe a new direction with new leadership will right some of the wrongs. 

[Hangfire]

NEVER say government agencies can't get much worse. Bearpaw deserves a lot of credit for his work on this.

[bearpaw]

Thanks for the nice comment hangfire, my real interest is the future of our sport. I have realized that if some of us don't take the time to support our sport politically, those who want to stop hunting will continue to prevail.

I have a grandchild that is less than 1 year old. I want her to have the choice to hunt and own guns if she wishes when she is old enough. It is sad that I even have to be concerned, but at this point it appears questionable if there will be hunting or a 2nd Amendment 18 years from today.

Just think about how that would affect you and your family, I know these thoughts give me the drive to put up with the politics when I would much rather be talking hunting.