What You Need to Know and Do This Week: December 23, 2023

The Action Roundup contains what you most need to know about actions to take to support wildlife management reform, as well as upcoming events and the Fish & Wildlife Commission’s latest actions.

Fish & Wildlife Commission News

  • The December 14-15 meeting of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission was a wonderful way to end the year! The Commission voted 7-2 to approve the rulemaking petition that Washington Wildlife First and seven other wildlife advocacy groups submitted to end the overexploitation of our bears and cougars and elected Commissioner Tim Ragen to serve as vice-chair. The Commission also approved the bear “timber damage” rule.
  • Read more below under “Highlights of the December 14-16, 2023 Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission Meeting.”

Upcoming Events

Fish and Wildlife Commission committees will discuss the latest round of Conservation Policy public comments (Big Tent Committee), Columbia River salmon fishery management and director delegation (Fish Committee), and the acquisition of Springwood Ranch and clarification of hydraulic rules around plastic in dock floats (Habitat Committee). The Wildlife Committee does not yet have any topics listed in Year-at-a-Glance, but we expect it to discuss the development of new rules about bear and cougar hunting and to go over details related to the Game Management Plan.

Action Items

  • Please send comments on the latest draft of the Conservation Policy by emailing updateddraftconservationpolicy [at] publicinput.com by January 12, 2024. The new draft of the policy reflects changes made in response to the latest round of criticism, including eliminating references to the precautionary principle and best available science.
  • WDFW is seeking public input on the North of Falcon policy. Please submit comments by email to northoffalconfwcpolicy2024-28 [at] publicinput.com or by calling 855-925-2801 and pressing #6825. The deadline to comment is January 15, 2024.
  • Please comment on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ proposal to shoot barred owls. Read the environmental impact statement here. Go to www.regulations.gov and search docket number FWS-R1-ES-2022-0074 to submit a comment. The 60-day comment period will close on January 17, 2024. For more information, see this article.
  • The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is soliciting commercial and scientific input on the potential listing of Washington coast spring Chinook under the Endangered Species Act. Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Enter NOAA–NMFS–2023–0148 in the Search box, click on the “Comment” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments. You can also mail comments to: Protected Resources Division, West Coast Region, NMFS, 1201 NE Lloyd Blvd., Suite #1100, Portland, OR 97232. Attn: Shivonne Nesbit. The deadline to comment is February 5, 2024. More information on the petition to list Washington coast spring Chinook here.
  • Please support WDFW’s recommendation in its draft Periodic Status Review of the killer whale to maintain the species’ endangered status on the state endangered species list. WDFW is accepting comments until February 19, 2024. You can comment via email or write to: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife ATTN: Taylor Cotten, P.O. Box 43141, Olympia, WA 98504.
  • WDFW is asking the public for input on the following species to inform its periodic status reviews: yellow-billed cuckoo, tufted puffin, Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit, fisher, sea otter, grizzly bear, Oregon silver-spot butterfly, Mazama pocket gopher; green, loggerhead, and leatherback sea turtles; and blue, fin, right, sei, and sperm whale. Submit comments by emailing TandEpubliccom [at] dfw.wa.gov or by sending mail addressed to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife ATTN: Taylor Cotten, P.O. Box 43141, Olympia, WA 98504. (WDFW has not provided deadlines for input.)

Highlights from Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission

Dec.14-16, 2023 Commission Meeting

For WDFW’s summary of the full Commission meeting, see here. The agenda for the committee meetings and full meeting is here. Video links below.

Thursday Committee Meetings

  • The Big Tent Committee, together with WDFW Director of External Affairs Nate Pamplin, discussed the latest edits to the Conservation Policy, with Commissioners Tim Ragen, Lorna Smith, and Melanie Rowland criticizing the removal of explicit language on the precautionary principle as well as the reference to best available science. The latest draft is out for public comment until January 12.
  • The Committee also discussed ways to better manage public comment, with Pamplin suggesting that when too many people sign up to testify, the Commission should conduct a random draw to decide who will be allowed to speak. Chair Barbara Baker supported this proposal, but Commissioner Smith expressed doubts, and said it would be unfair to start the new system immediately. (Video here.)
  • The Habitat Committee discussed the Lands 20/20 policy. (Video here.)
  • The Fish Committee discussed Lake Roosevelt sturgeon, coastal steelhead regulations, the North of Falcon policy, and a petition on Lake Whatcom cutthroat trout. (Video here.)
  • The Wildlife Committee heard a briefing on Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in response to commissioners’ questions about why some of these species were hunted. They also heard a presentation on sea duck hunting that sought to allay commissioners’ concerns about hunting these species—many of which are listed as SGCN.
  • At the end of the meeting, Commissioner Melanie Rowland raised citizen concerns over the Commission’s decision to delegate to Director Kelly Susewind all rulemaking for the 2024 three-year season-setting process. In particular, she raised concerns about the hunting rules for rabbit species and the decision to resume hunting of the Harlequin duck. Current rules allow hunters a “daily mixed bag” of five cottontails and/or snowshoe hares, which conflates hunting for three distinct species—the Eastern cottontail, the Nuttall’s cottontail, and the snowshoe hare. There are particular concerns about the Nuttall’s cottontail and the snowshoe hare, which are important prey species for threatened and endangered wildlife such as the Canada lynx and the ferruginous hawk. The Department is proposing resuming hunting for the Harlequin duck (an SGCN) in 2024 after it was closed last year due to concerns over exploitation. Rowland also indicated a desire to open rulemaking to classify coyotes as game species. Director Susewind and Commissioner Jim Anderson objected to these issues being reopened, and Chair Smith agreed to meet with Director Susewind to discuss how to move forward. (Video here.)

Full Commission Meeting Friday and Saturday

  • The Commission voted 7-2 to approve a rulemaking petition brought by several coalition members to end the overexploitation of cougars and bears and return to a management system that is based on science. Only (now former) Vice-Chair Molly Linville and Anderson dissented.

Although the agenda only allowed half an hour for this discussion, it lasted about 2.5 hours, starting with a lengthy presentation by Game Division Manager Anis Aoude urging denial of the petition. Aoude said that he did not “disagree with much of what we heard in the petition or from the scientists who signed on to this petition,” conceding that “many of the references in the petition were written by our staff, and reviewed by me, so for me to disagree [would not be] appropriate.”

Aoude sought to make three main points: (1) statewide cougar and bear populations are not being overhunted and there is no sign of decline; (2) increases in mortality levels did not result from 2019 and 2020 rule changes; and (3) the Commission should wait to make any changes until WDFW finishes developing its new game management. His presentation included 45 slides packed with information that had not been provided to commissioners in advance and had not been uploaded to the public website until that morning, drawing Commissioner Ragen’s objection that the Commission had not had any time to examine this new information or develop questions. Commissioners also raised several concerns about various aspects of the current cougar and bear hunting rules:

    • Aoude conceded that the current method of bear population assessment is flawed and does not necessarily show whether the population is increasing or decreasing. He said that WDFW had “always been working towards another approach.” He also acknowledged that the way WDFW administers cougar-hunting guidelines “makes them less effective.”
    • During the discussion, Aoude frequently challenged and interrupted commissioners who questioned his interpretations of the data presented. He, Assistant Director of the Wildlife Program Eric Gardner, Deputy Director Amy Windrope, and Director Kelly Susewind warned that if the Commission opened bear and cougar rulemaking, WDFW would delay its work on the already long overdue Game Management Plan.
    • In their statements before the vote, most commissioners agreed on the urgent need to reexamine seasons for at least one of the species. Smith and Myers both expressed concern that the Commission had not based its current cougar management on science. Commissioners John Lehmkuhl and Steve Parker asserted their wish to revisit cougar and bear seasons but questioned whether accepting the petition offered the best process for doing so. Chair Baker said she favored opening rulemaking for cougars but was unsure whether the Commission should do so for bears. Rowland emphasized the importance of fairly considering input from the proportion of the population represented by petitioners and reminded her colleagues that their vote to approve the petition would simply open rulemaking. In the end, the Commission approved Smith’s motion to accept the petition, committing to “work[ing] with staff to decide what elements of the petition would be included in the proposed rules and the timing for those rules.”
    • Read more about the discussion and vote in The Spokesman-Review and Capital Press. Watch the discussion and vote here.
  • On Saturday, the Commission held the leadership elections that it is legally mandated to have every two years. The Commission unanimously re-elected Barbara Baker as chair after she ran unopposed, but faced more controversy as Commissioner Ragen ran against Commissioner Linville for the position of vice-chair. After extensive discussion the Commission voted 5-4 to elect Commissioner Ragen to replace Commissioner Linville as vice-chair. with Commissioners Anderson, Baker, Linville, and Parker voting for Commissioner Linville, and Commissioners Lehmkuhl, Myers, Ragen, Rowland Smith voting for Commissioner Ragen).

Explaining his reasoning for running to be vice-chair, Ragen pledged to address the question of “what our mandate means,” stressed the need to better define how the Commission “preserves, protects, and perpetuates” wildlife, and said he would help the Commission engage in better communication with the public, particularly hunters. Smith praised Ragen’s leadership skills as the former head of the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission while Rowland pointed out that he would provide scientific expertise currently missing from Commission leadership. (Ragen has a Ph.D. in oceanography and spent most of his career studying marine mammals, while Linville has a B.S. in wildlife biology and worked briefly for the U.S. Forest Service before turning to farming and ranching full time many years ago.)  Anderson, who nominated Linville, emphasized her experience in Commission leadership, while Parker voiced his concern that the Commission would move forward “too quickly” under Ragen’s leadership. Chair Baker praised both candidates but said she does not believe the role of vice-chair “suits” Ragen, while Linville provides a nice balance on the leadership team by representing livestock and hunting interests. Watch the vote during Saturday’s session here.

  • The Commission voted to approve WDFW’s “Bear Timber Damage Rule” by a margin of 6 to 3, with Commissioners Ragen, Rowland, and Smith dissenting. The rule will set up a system for the owners of private timberland to use private hunters to kill bears during the spring, provided the timber owners can show that hungry bears have damaged any of their trees by “peeling” (stripping bark to feed on the sapwood underneath; here is a forester’s explanation). The commissioners who voted to approve the rule agreed with WDFW staff’s assertions that, since both WDFW and federal Wildlife Services already kill bears allegedly causing timber damage, the rule would not change much except for putting a process in place for WDFW’s program.

The dissenting commissioners argued that management had not provided any information about the problem they were trying to address or described how this rule would address it—especially because staff admitted that hunters were unlikely to kill the bears causing damage. They also objected to the fact that the agency did not have any way to determine if the program had effectively reduced damage. Although she voted in favor of the rule, Chair Baker expressed her determination that the permit would not evolve into a spring bear hunt, asking staff to confirm that they did not see the program expanding beyond the handful of bears WDFW is currently allowing to be killed under spring permits (6 bears in 2023). Staff confirmed that the program was not expected to expand and agreed to report back to the commission on the results of the program next spring. Read more in this KUOW article and watch the discussion and vote here.

  • Managers briefed the Commission on changes to the North of Falcon policy based on staff recommendations and public comment. Significant changes included removal of an instruction to WDFW to “seek access to unutilized portions of treaty harvest allocations,” revised guidance for providing fishing opportunity for Puget Sound-origin pink and chum salmon, a statement that the “intent to provide predictable and stable seasons will be considered when making in-season modifications to recreational fisheries,” and a direction to WDFW to make reports and summaries easily available online. Watch the briefing here (after the bear “timber damage” vote).

Open Public Input

  • During the hour and a half allotted to public comment on Friday morning, wildlife advocates made a strong showing, arguing for the cougar/bear petition and against the bear timber damage rule. Commissioners heard from a total of 38 people, with 27 speaking in favor of the petition and 11 against.
    • Among those in favor of the cougar/bear petition was cougar scientist Mark Elbroch, head of Panthera’s cougar program and a nationally recognized expert on cougar science, who said that the current management system for cougars was not scientifically defensible. Many commenters also referenced the letter from 50 carnivore scientists exhorting the Commission to pass the petition. Representatives of co-petitioner organizations underlined the urgency of stopping overexploitation of the two species and the strength of the science on which the petition is based. Claire Loebs Davis of Washington Wildlife First said that the “new game management plan is already three years behind schedule and it could be another two years before it is finalized,” so the Commission cannot wait for these documents to be finished before it changes cougar and bear seasons. Josh Rosenau of the Mountain Lion Foundation observed that the Commission had changed cougar rules “under pressure from vocal critics who had denigrated WDFW researchers’ work.” Rachel Haymon of Coexisting with Cougars in Klickitat County, urged the Commission to “stand firm on consensus science” and “count all [cougar] kills towards harvest deadlines.” Video of Friday public comment here.
  • On Saturday, 37 people had signed up to give testimony, but only 16 spoke. Several hunters railed at commissioners for passing the cougar/bear petition, with one calling them “evil” and many others accusing them of ignoring science and conspiring with “anti-hunting” organizations to end hunting in Washington. One commenter denounced Commissioner Smith by name despite warnings not to do so and ranted against scientists who support the consensus view of human-driven climate change. Another said the Commissioners should listen to hunters rather than scientists “sitting in Starbucks, thinking about [predators] with their friends, because that tribal mentality is easy to adopt, especially in the city limit.” However, five speakers were wildlife advocates who thanked the Commission for approving the cougar/bear petition and praised the Commission for listening to the concerns of the public, particularly scientists who offered support for the petition. Many speakers also offered ideas for better managing public comment and encouraged the Commission to adopt its plan to randomly draw from those who have signed up to testify. In response, Chair Baker urged everyone with ideas about how to manage public comment to email them to here and the other members of the Big Tent Committee. Video of Saturday public input here.

Dec. 8 Special Hatchery Workshop

On Friday, December 8, 2023, the Commission hosted its fourth and final workshop on hatchery production under the “Orca Prey Initiative,” presenting information requested by commissioners more than a year ago. This presentation focused on the impact of prey availability on Southern Resident killer whales.

Dec. 7 Carnivore Science Panel

On December 7, 2023, the Commission hosted a panel of internal carnivore biologists to discuss issues related to bear and cougar populations in advance of the December 14 vote on the bear/cougar rulemaking petition. Dr. Brian Kertson, a carnivore research scientist with the wildlife program gave a presentation on cougars, while Dr. Lindsay Welfelt, a bear and furbearer specialist with the wildlife program gave a presentation on black bears. WDFW’s Chief Wildlife Scientist Dr. Donny Martorello coordinated the panel and longtime bear and cougar specialist Rich Beausoleil was also present, but spoke relatively little.

The panel stuck close to management’s party line, emphasizing that WDFW did not have any evidence that record high levels of mortality in recent years had harmed the bear and cougar populations statewide, but sidestepping the fact that WDFW has long conceded that it may not be able to detect declines in either population until significant damage had already been done. Likewise, Dr. Kertson emphasized that the 16% threshold for cougar mortality had only been exceeded statewide in 2018, and only conceded under questioning from Commission Woody Myers that WDFW does not manage cougar populations at a statewide level. Dr. Kertson also said he did not believe what he called the “troubled teen hypothesis,” that increased immigration of subadult male cougars caused by excessive cougar mortality often leads to increased predations and human-cougar conflict. However, Dr. Kertson did not mention or discuss scientific reports indicating the contrary, including the 2011 paper on which he was the lead author, which found that subadult male cougars are more likely to frequent human-occupied areas. (See our petition at pp. 28-29 for references to more scientific articles explaining why rates of conflict are likely to rise in areas of excess mortality, including studies showing that: male cougars are more likely to attack livestock, orphaned kittens and subadult cougars are more likely to attack livestock, cougars under stress are more likely to enter suburban neighborhoods, younger cougars have more conflicts with humans, and subadult male cougars are responsible for most conflicts with humans).

Notably Dr. Kertson did confirm that the science staff was not consulted about the 2020 changes made to cougar management, which artificially inflated “assumed” cougar densities in some areas to allow more hunting and arbitrarily excluded subadult cougars from the population estimates and hunting guidelines. Dr. Wefelt also confirmed that research by WDFW scientists has shown that bear densities in many areas of the state are much lower than long believed, causing WDFW to lower its longtime estimate of the state bear population by about 40%.

Northwest Sportsman magazine provided its own spin on the carnivore science panel here.

Nov. 30, 2023 Special Fish Committee

On November 30, 2023, the Commission’s fish committee met to discuss coastal steelhead planning and to receive an update on aquatic invasive species. Watch full session here.