Washington Fish & Wildlife Digest: September 28-October 4, 2023

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Digest is a weekly summary prepared by Washington Wildlife First to notify our supporters and coalition about urgent action alerts and upcoming events, apprise them of important issues and recent developments with Washington fish and wildlife management, and provide a recap of relevant news items.

What You Need to Know and Do This Week

Find more details about each item in the sections below.

Events:

• The 10^th Annual Speak for Wolves Conference will take place virtually from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 7. Register here.
• Please join Washington Wildlife First at the Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting in Olympia on October 26-28. See “Upcoming Events” for more.

Action:

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is inviting public comment on its draft environmental impact statement on its alternate plans to reintroduce grizzly bears in the North Cascades. See “Action Items” for more.

 News:

• Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission Chair Barbara Baker has said that the Commission will most likely not vote on the draft Conservation Policy this year. Read the “Recap of the Fish and Wildlife Commission Meeting” section for more.
• The Nez Perce tribe will likely be able to donate wolves to the state of Colorado to meet the deadline for its voter-mandated wolf reintroduction plan. See the “National & International Fish & Wildlife News” for more.

Upcoming Events

Fish and Wildlife Commission Meetings

• From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Monday, October 9, the Commission’s Wildlife Committee will meet via webinar (access by Zoom here; agenda here). The committee will discuss hunting season-setting for 2024-26 (WDFW recommendations here).
• The Fish and Wildlife Commission will meet in Olympia on October 26-28. There is as yet no agenda, but the Commission Chair has indicated that the Commission will consider the Wolf Protection Rulemaking Petition.

Other

• The 10^th Annual Speak for Wolves Conference will take place virtually from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 7. Register here.
• From noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 18, The Mountain Lion Foundation will host a webinar called “Finding the Light” with Wyoming photographer Savannah Rose, who will speak about her journey with depression and PTSD and her development as a photographer of cougars and other wildlife.

Action Items

Washington

• Washington Wildlife First and co-petitioners refiled the Wolf Protection Rulemaking Petition last month, thus restarting the 60-day deadline for the Commission to vote on whether to order WDFW to engage in rulemaking. Commission Chair Baker has said that the Commission will consider the petition during its October 26-28 meeting in Olympia. We have linked to the revised petition and proposed rule on our action page, as well as to two new addendums we prepared to answer FAQs and highlight some of the issues raised by the petitions.
• WDFW is soliciting public feedback on its proposed black bear timber damage rule, which would define a process for “an annual spring permitting process for bear removals.” This rule would replace the prior bear timber damage rule that was invalidated by the appeals court in 2021, following a suit brought by Animal & Earth Advocates on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity.
• Please submit comments supporting WDFW’s proposal to uplist the threatened western gray squirrel to “endangered.” The draft Periodic Status Review (PSR) highlights concerns like isolation and declining population, wildfire, timber harvest, and habitat loss, especially in the North Cascades and Klickitat regions. Some powerful commercial timber operations are opposing the move, so we need to express our support. Read a letter from Washington Wildlife First and other coalition groups on the western gray squirrel draft PSR.
• Please support WDFW’s recommendation to maintain state endangered status for the northern spotted owl, as described in its Periodic Status Review. The Commission has not yet scheduled the vote on this species’ status.

National

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is inviting public comment on the draft environmental impact statement for its alternate plans to reintroduce grizzly bears in the North Cascades. You may comment until November 13, 2023.

Recap: Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission Meeting of September 28-30, 2023

Commissioner Retreat

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission met September 28-30 at the Yakima Convention Center (agenda here). For the first day and a half, the Commission conducted its annual retreat facilitated by Triangle Associates; this retreat was open to the public, but not broadcast. The Commission discussed committee structures and pondered whether to make them open to the whole Commission to attend, as the Wildlife Committee currently is. Commissioners also debated how to improve the public participation process.

Full Commission Meeting (Friday video here; Saturday video here)

On Friday, after the morning retreat session and following briefings by WDFW Director Kelly Susewind and Region 3 Director Mike Livingston, the Commission voted to approve a lands transaction. It then approved the long-debated Willapa Bay Salmon Management Policy (C-3622). Commissioner Tim Ragen remarked that while he does not agree with everything in the policy, it represents “a really important step forward.”

The Commission heard a briefing from Intergovernmental Ocean Policy Manager Heather Hall and Puget Sound Shellfish Manager Aaron Dufault on Coastal Crab and Puget Sound Shellfish Rulemaking (WDFW summary here), which would establish electronic monitoring and gear marking to help prevent entanglement of marine mammals. Commissioner Ragen stressed the importance of such a policy, noting that 85% of right whales have scarring from entanglement in some degree. The Commission heard one public commenter on the policy: Larry Thevik of the Washington Dungeness Crab Fishermen’s Association, who asked for mitigation for potential lost opportunity for crab fishers.

Director Susewind and Deputy Director Amy Windrope did not attend the Saturday Commission meeting, as they were attending a commemoration for a 31-year-old biologist who tragically drowned while carrying out a snorkel survey. The Saturday session began with public comment (see below) before the Commissioners discussed future plans. Commission Chair Barbara Baker said that she plans further work on the draft Conservation Policy in the Big Tent Committee, with a discussion and “perhaps even….recommendations for a vote” in December. Despite its placement during the October 26-28 meeting on the Year-at-a-Glance, Chair Baker no longer envisions a vote on the policy this year.

Saturday Public Comment

• Speaking in person, Claire Loebs Davis of Washington Wildlife First suggested that the Commission allow commenters to form panels and to cede time to other commenters. She also cautioned against the “cobra effect,” an expression deriving from the British Empire’s attempt to eradicate cobras in India by offering a bounty, only for bounty collectors to begin breeding the snakes. By seeking to placate the most hostile commenters, Davis said, the Commission is only encouraging more venom.
• John Rosapepe of the Endangered Species Coalition urged the Commission to meet in Snohomish and Pierce Counties, the second and third most populated counties in the state, and to have public comment on Saturdays when it meets in populous areas. He also spoke against WDFW’s proposed downlisting of gray wolves and in favor of the Wolf Protection Rulemaking Petition.
• Josh Rosenau of Mountain Lion Foundation urged the Commission to seriously consider the Wolf Protection Rulemaking Petition, which he said would “set a tone for the department’s response to other wildlife conflicts… Research in Washington and throughout the west shows that non-lethal contract prevention works.”
• Speaking over Zoom, Pat Arnold of Friends of the White Salmon River urged the Commission to vote for the uplisting of the western gray squirrel as to endangered status, expressing the hope that this would lead to rulemaking: “People who care about squirrels, as we do, do not get to participate in the much-cited voluntary actions taken by large timber companies. Those records and actions are not in the public domain and there is no follow-up to check on their efficacy.”
• Eric Lagally, a volunteer with Washington Wildlife First, spoke in support of the Wolf Protection Rulemaking Petition, pointing out that high levels of killing have affected “the dispersal of wolves westward as called for in the Wolf Management Plan.”
• Ann Prezyna of Washington Wildlife First spoke in support of the Wolf Protection Rulemaking Petition, asking the Commission not to rush the process and to allow public comment.
• Rachel Bjork of the Northwest Animal Rights Network objected to the Commission’s undue attention to hostile and insulting commenters and denounced the excessive influence of hunters and anglers over WDFW. She also urged the Commission to allow adequate time to seriously consider the Wolf Protection Rulemaking Petition.
• David Linn of Washington Wildlife First spoke in support of the Wolf Protection Rulemaking Petition and detailed some of WDFW’s past failures to adhere to “the very weak requirements of the deeply flawed wolf livestock interaction protocol,” including the killing of the Togo wolf pack breeding male after predations on cattle on public land.
• Julia Zelman of Washington Wildlife First spoke in support of the Wolf Protection Rulemaking Petition, citing the low rate of growth in the gray wolf population last year, the high rate of poaching and agency killing, and the failure to meet the objectives set out in the 2011 Wolf Management She also urged the Commission to pass the Conservation Policy, noting that the Commission is the only body making decisions on fish and wildlife on public lands and thus should represent the public as a whole.

Other speakers included members of the public who stressed the need for the Wolf Protection Rule. Several members of the Coastal Conservation Association spoke of the need to properly implement conservation benefits from the legislature-mandated gillnet buyback program and asked for data on the inadequate reduction in gillnet fishing last year.

Many hunter commenters repeated common themes of their mistrust of the Commission and their belief that it is preparing to “end hunting,” denounced the draft Conservation Policy, and railed against what they view as the outsize influence of “rabid” “animal rights activists.” One in-person commenter, Alex Baier of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and a member of WDFW’s Wolf Advisory Group, referred to hunters and anglers as the Commission’s “primary constituents.” Several others repeated the baffling claim in a recently signed gubernatorial proclamation stating that hunters generated $92 billion for WDFW’s conservation activities last year. (WDFW’s actual operating budget is about $515 million).

In response to the commenters on the Wolf Protection Rulemaking Petition, Chair Baker said that the petition would be treated like any other, and that the vote would take place during the October 26-28 Commission meeting.

Washington Fish & Wildlife News

General Management Issues

Controversial timber sale near Elwha River moving forward. Bellamy Pailthorp, KNKX. September 14, 2023.

• Despite an opposing lawsuit from conservation groups, the Washington Department of Natural Resources is advancing a timber sale near the Elwha River. Earth Law Center advocate Elizabeth Dunne has criticized Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz for allowing logging of the forest.

Washington takes steps toward electronic licensing for hunters, anglers. Michael Wright, The Spokesman-Review. September 28, 2023.

• WDFW is taking comment on new rules paving the way toward mobile licensing, which will include mobile options for storing licenses and game tags and recording “harvest.”

Cougars & Bears

Federal Plan Could Restore Grizzly Bears to Washington’s North Cascades (press release). Center for Biological Diversity. September 28, 2023.

• Following the Center for Biological Diversity’s successfully lawsuit against the Trump administration’s illegal termination of a grizzly bear recovery plan in the North Cascades, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has issued a new environmental impact statement on the recovery plan. Under the new plan, FWS would release three to seven bears every year with a goal of restoring a sustainable population of 200 bears in 60 to 100 years. (This press release was reprinted on KTVZ.com.)
• The agricultural news site The Center Square quotes Republican Representative Dan Newhouse, who claims that the reintroduction plan “would be devastating for our North Central Washington communities.”
• Northwest Public Broadcasting notes that FWS is inviting public comment on the environmental impact statement and points out the ecological importance of the species: “Grizzly bears played an important part of the North Cascades ecosystem for thousands of years. Now, biologists say only a handful of grizzly bears likely live there. So few that biologists consider the bears functionally extinct in the area.”
• The Sportsmen’s Alliance also posted thoughts, with Todd Akins, vice president of government affairs, protesting that “[w]e’ve seen time and again that when humans and apex predators interact, the outcomes can be devastating.”
• See also this article in Northwest Sportsman, which notes that comment is open on the restoration plan until November 13.

Can WA’s Olympic Peninsula cougars coexist with human development? Lisa Gross, Inside Climate News (via The Seattle Times). October 1, 2023.

• The reporter follows Olympic Cougar Project biologist Mark Elbroch and his team as they survey the peninsula’s cougar population, which has been hit hard by “retaliatory killings” after cougars prey on livestock. Excessive killing and lack of connectivity “could reduce cats’ reproductive success and predispose them to genetic disorders, infections and parasites—if they don’t get shot for eating someone’s goat or llama first.”

Grizzly bear captured north of Colville. Stevens County Sheriff’s Office (via Fox28 Spokane). September 29, 2023.

• WDFW and the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office trapped a grizzly bear attracted by a chicken coop near Colville. The page reminds the public that “[s]hooting a grizzly bear is a federal and state felony which can result in criminal and civil penalties of up to $56,000 in fines and a year in jail.”

Fish, Shellfish & Marine Mammals

Biden Administration Recommits to Tribal Treaties, Endangered Salmon Restoration (press release). Defenders of Wildlife. September 29, 2023.

• Defenders praises the Biden administration’s call for federal agencies to “to take swift action to restore salmon populations across the Columbia and Snake River Basin.”

President Biden calls for abundant salmon in Columbia, Snake rivers. Lynda V. Mapes, The Seattle Times. September 27, 2023.

• President Biden issued a memorandum ordering all federal agencies to assess what they need to do to restore wild salmon in the Columbia River Basin as part of the government’s treaty and trust obligations to tribes. Negotiations over dams on the Columbia and Snake River are nearing an October 31 deadline. Nez Perce Chair Shannon Wheeler and Washington Senator Patty Murray praised the memorandum, while the anti-dam-removal “river users” organization Northwest RiverPartners’ executive director, Kurt Miller, disputed that the memorandum “changes anything.”

Orcas are Killing Porpoises But Not Eating Them. Jess Thomsen, Newsweek. September 29, 2023.

• A new study in Marine Mammal Science, co-authored by Deborah Giles of Wild Orca, examines incidents in which Southern Resident killer whales harassed or killed porpoises without eating them. The study suggests that killer whales are engaging in “play” or practicing hunting. A third possibility is that the orcas are showing “mismothering” or epimeletic behavior toward the porpoises. The authors and other killer whale scientists emphasize that Southern Resident killer whales cannot change their diet from Chinook salmon to instead eat marine mammals.

Oregon officials consider adding southern resident orcas to state endangered species list. Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle. September 28, 2023.

• Oregon may join Washington and the federal government in classifying southern resident killer whales (SRKWs) as endangered. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has produced an assessment in response to a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, and Whale and Dolphin Conservation. It is now up to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to decide whether to act on the assessment, which indicates that the SRKWs meet the criteria to be considered endangered.

Fire retardant has killed thousands of fish in the Pacific Northwest, including endangered salmon species. Susannah Frame, KING5. September 30, 2023.

• Ammonium phosphate-based fire retardant kills aquatic life, including endangered salmon, when it enters waterways in Washington. From 2012 to 2019, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) dropped retardant into or near water 459 times on the west coast. These accidents have killed off fish populations and set back nonprofit, indigenous, and state efforts to restore salmon. The nonprofit Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics has sued USFS three times over its use of fire retardant.

Pink salmon hatcheries, climate change harming other species: study. Grant Warkentin, MyPowellRiverNow.com. October 1, 2023.

• A study of pink salmon hatcheries in Marine Ecology Progress Series has shown that the overabundance of pink salmon from hatcheries in Alaska and Russia has had negative impacts on wild Chinook and other species of salmon.

Other Wildlife

Salish Sea on cusp of losing tufted puffins. Emily Matthiessen, Peninsula Daily News. September 30, 2023.

• The population of the state endangered tufted puffin in the Salish Sea has dwindled to two colonies, one of which only has a single confirmed breeding pair (the other has 27). The puffins may be suffering from lack of food. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refused to list the puffins as endangered in 2020.

Bull moose spotted in Pullman. Sydney A. Charles, KXLY. October 2, 2023.

• Pullman police alerted the public to the presence of a bull moose and warned people not to approach it.

National & International Fish & Wildlife News

General Management Issues

Lawsuit targets new Colorado Parks and Wildlife regulations for State Wildlife Areas. Jason Blevins, The Durango Herald. October 2, 2023.

• Friends of Animals has sued Colorado Parks and Wildlife over regulations that it claims discriminate against non-consumptive “users” of state-owned lands – for example, by not allowing boaters who are not fishing and by not allowing dogs except for hunting dogs. Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, says: “A miniscule five percent of Colorado residents hunt and six percent fish. CPW is desperate to save an industry headed for extinction instead of coming up with intelligent, sane ways to steward the natural world without money from guns and ammo.”

Revisiting two dogmas of conservation science. Kristy M. Ferraro et al., Conservation Biology. April 26, 2023.

• Argues that, due to both ecological and moral reasons, “conservation science should explicitly recognize the value of individuals” and that conservation science should not shun “critical anthropomorphism,” that is, “attributing so-called human characteristics to animals.”

There has been surprisingly little evidence on a global scale that wildlife reserves work. Until now. Warren Cornwall, Anthropocene. October 4, 2023.

• Reports on recent findings that populations in wildlife reserves and national parks “decline five times more slowly than populations living elsewhere,” a vindication of the assumption that preserved habitat is vital for conservation. However, simply preserving land may not always be sufficient to slow declines: Loss of habitat surrounding a preserve and climate change cause amphibians and reptiles to decline at greater rates. Countries with high degrees of corruption also pose a risk for endangered species, as they may not enforce protections.

Wolves

Idaho’s Nez Perce Tribe will ‘likely’ provide wolves to Colorado by the end of this year. Fort Collins Coloradoan. October 3, 2023.

• A Nez Perce spokesperson said that the tribe should be able to donate wolves to Colorado for its voter-mandated effort to reintroduce the species. Colorado had appeared to struggle to find wolves from a state partner, as Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho had refused to give Colorado any wolves, while Washington and Oregon expressed uncertainty about their ability to do so. The Nez Perce natural resource manager says that the tribe’s executive committee has greenlit the proposal to donate wolves and that the “Nez Perce Tribe has every intention of helping Colorado be a source of wolves.”

Endangered red wolf can make it in the wild, but not without `significant’ help, study says. Allen G. Breed, AP (via The Washington Post). September 29, 2023.

• FWS has released an updated plan for the recovery of the endangered red wolf, which, according to the article, “says it will take drastic reductions in gunshot and vehicle deaths, stepped-up efforts to prevent wolf-coyote mixing, and creative methods to increase reproduction in the wild and captive wolf populations.”

Cougars & Bears

Grizzly bear kills couple and their dog in Canada. Stephen Smith, CBS. October 2, 2023.

• An “aggressive” grizzly bear in Banff National Park in Canada killed a couple and their dog last Friday. A Parks Canada team killed the bear after finding the couple’s bodies. The article quotes Kim Titchener, a friend of the couple and a bear safety advocate: “It’s really just the reason why we’re seeing more attacks, which is more people heading outdoors and unfortunately not being educated on this.” (In this case, family members of the couple say they were experienced hikers well-versed in bear protocol.) Titchener points out that only 14% of grizzly attacks are fatal.

Stop next week’s bear hunt, 2 wildlife conservationists plead (opinion). Kevin Bixby and Michelle Lute, nj.com. October 3, 2023. (If you cannot access the article, read it here.)

• Praises the lawsuit brought by New Jersey state Senator Raymond Lesniak against New Jersey Fish & Game Council’s decision to allow bear hunting for five years. Lesniak is arguing that the Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs has undue influence over the composition of the council, rendering it undemocratic. Bixby and Lute provide context for the bear-hunting decision: “Although the Fish & Game Council justified the hunt as needed to reduce human-bear conflicts, it has failed to pursue non-lethal methods of preventing conflict, such as requiring bear-resistant trash cans and discouraging bird feeders in bear country.” Lesniak’s lawsuit also seeks a preliminary injunction to halt the upcoming bear hunting season, which begins October 9.

Should Colorado’s mountain lions be hunted? Voters could decide in new ballot initiative. Elise Schmelzer, The Denver Post (via The Spokesman-Review). September 29, 2023.

• Reports on the proposal to ban cougar and bobcat trophy hunting, which was filed for the fall 2024 ballot by conservation groups such as Animal Wellness Action/The Center for the Humane Economy (AWA/CHE), the Mountain Lion Foundation, and the Humane Society of Boulder. The article quotes Julie Marshall of AWA/CHE: “[Cougar and bobcat hunting] is about trophies and about fun. If you want to call it recreation, fine, but it’s clear it’s about trophies.”
• See also an editorial by three proponents of the ban, originally published in The Denver Post and reprinted on Mountain Lion Foundation’s website. The authors point out that the high proportion of female cougars means that kittens are being orphaned; that “sport-killing has never proven to be a management tool”; that there is no evidence trophy killing and trapping provide a “public benefit”; that the hunts do not provide significant economic benefit; and that Coloradoans highly disapprove of trophy hunting of cougars (especially when hunters use hounds).

Editorial: Rat poison almost killed P-22. We can save more lions and other wildlife if we ban rodenticides. The Los Angeles Times. September 26, 2023.

• The editorial describes how the famous cougar P-22 nearly died from complications related to ingesting an anti-coagulant rat poison called diphacinone and emphasizes that anti-coagulant rodenticides sicken and kill hawks, cougars, and other rodent predators. The writers voice their support for California Assembly Bill 1322, legislation currently with Governor Gavin Newsom’s office that would ban diphacinone. They also mention the work of the nonprofit Raptors Are the Solution, which successfully sued in 2022 for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation “to analyze and assess the impact of diphacinone on the environment, including its prevalence and effect on non-target wildlife.” However, the editorial notes that “it can take years to formally launch a reevaluation and get regulations in place.”

Other Carnivores

Replacing Wildlife Killing by Building Communities of Coexistence by Renee Seacor. Renee Seacor, Notes from the Field (Project Coyote). September 29, 2023.

• Seacor, Project Coyote’s Carnivore Conservation Manager, covers several interrelated topics, including the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s vote to ban wildlife-killing contests, the New York legislature’s passage of a bill with the same intent, the parallels of wildlife-killing contests with once-legal hawk-hunting, and Project Coyote’s #CaptureCoexistence wildlife photography campaign.

Fish & Marine Mammals

B.C. issues certificate for contentious Roberts Bank terminal expansion project. The Canadian Press (via The Globe and Mail). September 28, 2023.

• The government of British Columbia is allowing the Roberts Bank terminal expansion project despite environmental groups’ objections that the expansion will imperil critical habitat for southern resident killer whales.

Other Wildlife

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes federal protections for both species of western pond turtle under the Endangered Species Act. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. September 29, 2023.

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has proposed listing both the northwestern pond turtle and the southwestern pond turtle under the Endangered Species Act. FWS plans to solicit public comment on these proposals.
• See the KUOW story on this subject.

On the Lighter Side

Fat Bear Week. Explore.org. October 2023.

• Don’t forget to vote on which Katmai National Park brown bear will beef up the most!

Family Finds an Unexpected Guest Snoozing Peacefully on Their Porch. Stephen Messenger, The Dodo. September 29, 2023.

• A family in Wellington, New Zealand found a small fur seal curled up on their front step for a nap. The seal must have climbed several sets of stairs in order to reach the doorstep. Wildlife officials relocated the animal to a safer spot on the coast.

US: Orca Pod Greets Ferry Passengers In Seattle (article and video). Auburnpub.com. September 29, 2023.

• Enjoy the sight of a pod of killer whales off of Bainbridge Island.