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Fish and Wildlife Commission to discuss wolf management plan, set waterfowl seasonsOLYMPIA — The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission is scheduled to discuss the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) recommended Wolf Conservation and Management Plan during a special meeting Aug. 4 in Olympia.The special meeting will be followed by a two-day meeting Aug. 5-6, when the commission is scheduled to take action on proposed 2011-12 migratory waterfowl hunting seasons and changes to cougar hunting regulations.The commission’s special meeting on the final Environmental Impact Statement/Recommended Wolf Conservation and Management Plan will begin at 10 a.m. Aug. 4 in Room 172 on the first floor of the Natural Resources Building, 1111 Washington St. S.E. The commission will meet at the same location Aug. 5-6, beginning at 8:30 a.m. both days.Agendas for both meetings are available on the commission’s website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/commission/meetings.html.During the special meeting Aug. 4, the commission will receive a briefing and take public comment on the recommended Wolf Conservation and Management Plan. The plan is intended to guide state wolf management while wolves naturally disperse and re-establish a sustainable breeding population in the state.The plan contains recovery objectives that would allow the state to eventually remove wolves from protection lists, along with management strategies to address wolf-livestock and wolf-ungulate conflicts.The recommended plan was developed after a scientific peer review and extensive public review of the 2009 draft plan. The public comment process, which concluded last year, included 19 public meetings and drew nearly 65,000 responses. In addition, a 17-member citizen Wolf Working Group, which advised WDFW on the plan, met with WDFW staff 10 times from 2007-2011.WDFW will post on its website the final EIS/Recommended Wolf Conservation and Management Plan on July 28 at http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/gray_wolf/. The website also contains information on the wolf plan development process, including past public input and the scientific peer review.The commission, which sets policy for WDFW, has scheduled three more special meetings to discuss the recommended Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and take public comment. Those meetings are tentatively scheduled for Aug. 29 in Ellensburg, and Oct. 6 and Nov. 3 in Olympia.The commission is scheduled to take action on the plan during its December 2-3 meeting in Olympia.Meanwhile, the commission is scheduled to conduct a public hearing and take action on proposed 2011-12 migratory waterfowl hunting seasons during the Aug. 5-6 meeting in Olympia. Under the seasons proposed by WDFW, waterfowl hunting seasons would be similar to last year.Also at that meeting, the commission is scheduled to take action on proposed changes to cougar hunting regulations in six counties in eastern Washington, where a pilot project authorizing cougar hunting with the aid of dogs was not extended by the Legislature this year.WDFW is recommending an increase in cougar hunting opportunities without the aid of dogs in Klickitat, Chelan, Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties to continue to meet management objectives in those areas.In addition, the commission will consider a proposal that would modify the criteria for determining when cougars are removed to address public concerns for pet and livestock depredation and personal safety. The proposal would allow for cougar removals when complaints confirmed by WDFW staff exceed the five-year average.In other action, the commission will consider proposed amendments to the list of game reserves. The proposed amendments would clarify and update the boundary description for Swinomish Spit Game Reserve and eliminate the Ellensburg Game Farm Reserve and South Tacoma Game Farm Reserve.The commission also will be briefed on the new Discover Pass and the status of key groundfish species in Puget Sound. The commission also will consider for approval WDFW’s proposed 2012 supplemental operating and capital budget requests, as well as the department’s legislative proposals for 2012.
In other business, the commission deferred action on proposed amendments to cougar hunting regulations until its Aug. 19 conference call to allow time for further review.One of those proposals would amend cougar hunting regulations in six counties in eastern Washington, where a pilot project authorizing cougar hunting with the aid of dogs was not extended by the Legislature this year. WDFW is recommending an increase in cougar hunting opportunities without the aid of dogs in Klickitat, Chelan, Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties to continue to meet management objectives in those areas.Another proposal would modify the criteria for determining when cougars are removed to address public concerns for pet and livestock depredation and personal safety. The proposal would allow for cougar removals when complaints confirmed by WDFW staff exceed the five-year average.WDFW game managers are recommending the amendments to cougar hunting regulations as an interim measure until the 2012-14 hunting season package is developed. Public discussion on the 2012-14 hunting seasons is scheduled to begin later this month.
Benjamin Mena Just get rid of them tags all together people only shoot them because their baby's and scared!!! Their ment to be running free :-)
2500 cougars in WA. 50% are female and they give birth to 2.4 cubs every other year. Kitten mortality rate is around 30%. If you do the math you would realize that the cougar population nearly doubles every two years.You should be thanking hunters and the WDFW for proactively trying to keep the populations below carrying capacity. The wildlife commission needs to make these changes immediately and consider increasing hunting opportunity across the entire state.
Better hurry the crazies have already started their efforts to stop more hunting opportunity.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150265257566761&set=a.390652606760.166104.385127436760&type=1&theaterFrom a Portland, OR resident that works at the humane society and cant spell...QuoteBenjamin Mena Just get rid of them tags all together people only shoot them because their baby's and scared!!! Their ment to be running free :-)
Nice work on getting the WDFW's attention on this, Kain.
Karen Dowe Hunters only want to use hounds because hound hunting of cougars is easier than not using hounds. The majority in Washington don't agree with sport hunting of cougars. We banned hound hunting because the MAJORITY clearly is against it. These hunters, the minority care nothing for wildlife except KILLING IT.
Karen Dowe Using hounds to track and tree animals is regarded as very cowardly. That is why it's been banned in some state including Washington.
