What You Need to Know and Do This Week: March 25, 2024

The Action Roundup contains what you most need to know about actions to take to support wildlife management reform as well as upcoming events.

Urgent Notices and Actions

Actions

      • WDFW has issued a revised Gray Wolf Periodic Status Review, along with a CR-102 proposing a rule to downlist wolves from endangered to sensitive, and a  Determination of Nonsignificance for the new rule under the State Environmental Policy Act.
        • Comments on both the proposed rule and the SEPA determination are due at midnight on May 6. The Commission is not scheduled to vote on the proposal until June at the earliest and will likely vote in July. It is not yet clear whether the public comment period will be extended.
        • Although it is still early in the process, we encourage you to enter brief comments on the SEPA webpage. You can also comment on the SEPA determination by emailing SEPA_GrayWolf@publicinput.com.
        • You can comment on the proposed rule by entering text in the box on this page, emailing graywolf2024@publicinput.com, or leaving a voicemail message at 855-925-2801 (project code 6505).
        • You can reference the talking points we developed related to last year’s proposal. Although the general principles remain the same, please keep in mind that some of the specific information is now outdated. We will develop revised talking points analyzing the new PSR, proposed rule, and the SEPA determination.
        • For context, you may want to reference last year’s Gray Wolf PSR, the 2023 version of the Petracca study on which the original PSR was based (and which the new PSR still references, and the final, peer-reviewed version of the Petracca study published in January 2024.

Events

  • WDFW, tribes, and other state agencies are currently negotiating next year’s Northwest fisheries as part of the North of Falcon rulemaking process. The next public meeting will be in Westport, Washington at 7-9 p.m. on March 25 (click here for more information and to register). For the full North of Falcon schedule and to register for meetings, see this page. For more information on North of Falcon, see this page.
  • WDFW’s 2024 Aquatic Species Restoration Plan Symposium will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 17-18 at Centralia College, 600 Centralia College Blvd., Centralia, WA. The symposium promises the chance to “hear project success stories, get details on landowner involvement, and visit a site in person to learn about creative opportunities to reduce flood damage while providing habitat benefits for aquatic species.” Register and find more information here.

More Action Items

  • The public comment periods for the bald eagle and peregrine falcon draft status reviews are open through May 27, 2024.WDFW is recommending that both species remain delisted. Please send your comments to TandEpubliccom@dfw.wa.gov or by mailing Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife ATTN: Taylor Cotten, P.O. Box 43141, Olympia, WA 98504.
  • WDFW is asking the public for information on the ground squirrel to assist in the determination of the species’ conservation status. Send your observations to TandEpubliccom@dfw.wa.gov or by mailing Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife ATTN: Taylor Cotten, P.O. Box 43141, Olympia, WA 98504. Reports will be posted to the species status review page. (WDFW has not provided a deadline.)