WA Wildlife Commission Considers Reversing Vote on 2022 Spring Bear Hunt
Taking advantage of two empty seats that Governor Jay Inslee is expected to fill any day, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission buckled to pressure from extremist hunting groupsFriday and voted to take steps to reverse its November decision not to hold a 2022 spring bear hunt.
On November 19, 2021, the Commission voted 4-4 not to approve the rule that would have established a 2022 spring bear hunt. The vote was tied because Governor Inslee has not appointed anyone to fill the eastern Washington Commission seat vacated on December 31, 2020, which at that time left one open seat on the nine-member Commission.
Thousands of people weighed in during the rulemaking process to oppose the trophy hunt, which exploits the bear population during its most sensitive period and orphans bear cubs and leaves them to starve.Commissioners who voted against the hunt emphasized the failure ofDepartment managers to substantiate the purported “management need” for the hunt, and voiced concern that management’s assertions contradict theDepartment’s own published science, annual game reports, and game management plan.
Following the vote, extremist hunting groups launched a vicious campaign against those Commissioners, specifically targeting recent appointees Fred Koontz and Lorna Smith. Those attacks demanded that Koontz and Smith be thrown off the Commission, called for them to be “hung,” claimed there is “no bag limit on politicians,” and targeted Commissioner Smith with countless gender-based attacks, including accusing her of being a “nasty woman” who was “emotional” and“hysterical.” Some Commissioners and Department staff, notably including Commissioner Kim Thorburn, publicly encouraged these extremist groups and coached them on how to reverse the decision.
Shortly afterwards, Commissioner Koontz announced his resignation in a letter that questioned whether he could have a “meaningful role” in that kind of environment, and which observed that the Commission is “stuck in a politicized quagmire” and has “largely lost the ability to have civil public conversations.”
During Friday’s debate, Commissioner Barbara Baker said the story behind Koontz’s resignation was “his story to tell,” but that “we all saw the intimidation, threats, and public ridicule that he was subject to merely for having the audacity to ask some questions.”
Commission Chair Larry Carpenter joined Commissioners Baker and Smith in opposing Friday’s decision, which took advantage of Koontz’s departure to reverse the November decision by a 4-3 margin. A lifetime hunter, Commissioner Carpenter called the vote “irresponsible,” and said it does not pass the “red-faced test.”
The Commissioners who opposed Friday’s reversal noted that it would jeopardize the Commission’s credibility and feed doubts about its continuing viability, just as multiple bills are moving forward in the legislature to reform and perhaps abolish the Commission. Commissioner Baker called these bills the equivalent of a “vote of no confidence.”
But Friday’s vote is not the end of the story. The Department must now propose a new rule to allow the 2022 spring bear hunt, which must go through the full public notice-and-comment rulemaking process, and then come before the Commission for a new vote. The Commission is likely to have new members before that vote, and they will ultimately decide whether the 2022 spring hunt will go forward.
Washington Wildlife First has long joined with other fish and wildlife advocacy organizations in asking Governor Inslee to fill the eastern Washington Commission seat. On December 19, 2021, following the resignation of Commissioner Koontz, 30 fish, wildlife, and environmental advocacy groups signed a joint letter calling for Governor Inslee to immediately fill both vacant seats, by selecting Commissioners who understand and value science, will conserve and protect our environment, and will focus on bringing critically needed reforms to the Department.
Fish and Wildlife Commissioners refuse to authorize 2022 spring bear season after a dramatic hearing that ended up in a 4-4 tie vote.
After a dramatic hearing and a surprise tie vote, the Fish and Wildlife Commission refused to approve the rule that would have authorized spring bear hunting for 2022.
The unusually lively debate prior to the vote touched on larger issues regarding the proper role of the Commission, including whether Commissioners should pay attention to public opinion, and whether it was appropriate for them to debate the scientific conclusions presented by Department managers.
In the end, it was clear the Commission had listened to overwhelming public opinion in opposition to the hunt, which included letters from several scientists questioning the claims Department managers had made about the hunt. (Read some of the letters that were submitted here.)
More than 100 people signed up to testify at the October 22 hearing on the rule, although the hearing went so long that many were not able to stay on the line long enough to speak. Of those who gave live testimony, only one person spoke in favor of the spring bear hunt.
WDFW management desperately sought comments in support of the spring bear hunt from hunting groups, with Game Division Manger Anis Aoude sending late-night texts after the public hearing on October 22 to scold those groups because “Hunters did not show today.”
WDFW’s solicitation generated a rush of comments from bear hunters, which WDFW extended the comment period from October 21 to November 1 to accommodate. Nevertheless, of the more than 5,000 written comments WDFW received on the rule, 54% opposed spring bear hunting, with only 42% writing in support.
During the final debate on the rule before the November 19 vote, Commissioners Lorna Smith, Fred Koontz, and Barbara Baker spoke at length about their reasons for opposing the continuation of spring bear hunting. Each emphasized their concerns over the lack of science supporting the purported rationale for the hunt, the overwhelming public sentiment voiced in opposition to the hunt, and the ethics of hunting bears in the spring, especially given the likelihood that hunters would orphan nursing cubs, leaving them to starve.
Commissioner Smith emphasized her concern that the Department was not using the best available science in managing the bear population, but was ignoring is own published research showing that bear densities in most of the state were less than 50% of what had long been assumed.
Nevertheless, in 2019 the Department approved increases in bag limits in Eastern Washington and a lengthening of the bear hunting season which resulted in a 50% increase in the number of bears killed during each of the past two years.
Commissioner Smith quoted from a section of the Department’s Game Management Plan, which observed that by the time a decline in the bear population is detected, bear populations may have already decreased to the point that it may take up to 15 years to recover them.
“I have big concerns about what we really know about the current population. …I’m very concerned that our harvest rate right now between the fall and spring bear hunt combined could be at a point that is not sustainable,” she said. “I’m not saying that’s where we are—I’m saying I have a fear that that could be where we are and we simply don’t have the data to know that.”
Commissioner Koontz raised similar concerns, and added that the Commission has the responsibility to serve as a “conduit between the Department and the public and to act as a check when Department actions become off track with the common interests.”
“In the case of spring bear hunts, it is my opinion that the public at large is not in favor of hunting bears for recreation in the spring when there is an opportunity to hunt bears in the fall and there are no other clear non-recreational benefits, and when bears are emerging from hibernation, faced with the difficulty of finding food, and mother bears are raising cubs,” he said. “We don’t hunt any other mammals in the spring, the time of life renewal.”
On the other side, Commissioner Thorburn said that her interpretation of the Department’s mandate was that it must allow hunting whenever it would not impair conservation of a species, and she was satisfied that agency management had shown that the hunt would not harm the bear population.
“Therefore, it is my position that we are obligated to support this motion,” she said.
Commissioner Baker noted that the Department had changed its rationale for the hunt over the past year, from insisting that it was necessary to kill bears in the spring to achieve management objectives, such as to reduce conflict, to acknowledging that the spring hunt was primarily for recreation.
“I believe this is a very important shift, and with that an important shift in our burden–the Commission’s burden–which is to consider whether in the absence of substantiated, scientifically defensible good reasons for this hunt, and in the face of considerable opposition, we should approve it. That is the substantive question that we are answering today,” she said.
At the conclusion of the debate, Commission Chair Carpenter said that he has been on both sides of the issue over the past several months, and that he changed his position several times during the debate.
In the end, however, he said that he was concerned by several questions that were raised by the debate over the hunt, including whether the Department was using a model that was sufficient to show declines in the bear population.
“My position is that…we should take a one year pause to get confirmation on all the things we need to know, so that we can get back in the game next year to know exactly where we are, and to be able to defer all the flak that is shot at us,” he said.
Commissioner Carpenter’s vote against the hunt resulted in a 4-4 tie, which was insufficient to pass the rule instituting the 2022 spring bear hunt. In order to revive the hunt in any future years, the Department will need to propose a new rule, which will be subject to a new round of public notice and comment, and will need to gain support from a majority of the Commissioners.
