Fish and Wildlife agency faces severe cutbacks
February 27th, 2009 by cdunaganEfforts to protect Washington’s fish and wildlife resources are not what they used to be.
In part, that’s because the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife cannot keep up with a growing human population combined with declining animal populations and the habitat where they make their homes. Staffing levels within the agency seem disconnected from the research and enforcement efforts needed to protect what’s left.
I’ve heard growing concerns about this problem for years. Now, the state’s financial crisis has raised the problem to a new level, if that’s possible.
As Jeffery P. Mayor, a reporter for The News Tribune in Tacoma put it, “These are troubling times within the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.”
He went on to list the sudden resignation of Jeff Koenings as department director, the move to place fish-and-wildlife enforcement officers within the Washington State Patrol, and now budget cuts of nearly 10 percent, which could add up to 170 full-time positions.
I know that many agencies are facing cutbacks, but this one is a bit stunning to me, because I regularly deal with so many dedicated folks in this agency. I’ll try to report on this issue myself in the near future.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
March 3rd, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Chris,
Please do follow up on this. I don’t think the public has any idea how WDFW and other natural resource agencies have been progressively gutted in the past few years and are especially being so in the current round of budget cuts.
The state budget for natural resources, i.e. WDFW, DNR, etc has only been around 1-2% of the entire state budget so these budget cuts are already cutting some very slim organizations.
I know of an example in the San Juans where in the 1990s there were about 10 WDFW officers in the area but now there is only one and he/she can’t even go out to check to see what is happening because their protocol, and for obvious safety reasons, they require at least 2 people to take a boat out. Not much that one enforcement officer can do from their desk.