I rec'd the following note from Jim Tuggle, PSA State Board President this evening.

Dave


Friends,



At 3:30 this afternoon I received a call informing me that WDFW Director Jeff Koenings has called a meeting for tomorrow (Wednesday) to present to the sport fishing leaders a proposal from the Columbia River gillnetters for a compromise on the Columbia River Spring Chinook allocation plan.



The problem with this is that the "sport fishing leaders" have not been advised of the meeting!!!!! It seems that Koenings likely has hand picked some of his favorite people to represent the state's sport fishing leaders!!!!!! Sounds like another "Visioning Process", doesn't it?



Just to let you know, I will be attending that meeting tomorrow if I can FIND OUT WHERE IT IS BEING HELD!!!!!! I had to leave my job at the Sport Show in Portland to try to attend this unscheduled and very questionable meeting. After all, the public input on these seasons has long been concluded. When will the F&W Commission step up and do their job? Doesn't look like they want to make the tough decisions, does it? Or is Dr. Koenings side stepping the commission? And, one has to wonder about what kind of political pressure is being applied and on whom.



This is just more evidence of an out of control administration that is not using the public process but is engineering and steering a favored few to represent a false position in order to continue to support a culture that is damaging to an already endangered resource. I guarantee you that I will not sit back and let some folks both inside and outside the WDFW continue to manipulate the public processes to manage our fish and wildlife resources in their interests.



Start composing your editorial opinion letters. I’ll keep you advised.



Tug