The SB 6813 to abolish Washington Dept Fish and Wildlife and State Parks is now part of the Senate budget bill. If the Senate budget passes as it is now SB 6813 will abolish WDFW and State Parks moving their duties under the Dept of Natural Resources.

I am an employee of WDFW so my opinions are bias so take that into account as you read this. This bill really came out of no where. There really hasn't been time to study what this means for the agencies involved but more importantly the states resources. If the 3 agencies are to be merged lets slow the process down and put together a couple proposals for the next session. Many people thought the bill didn't have any legs so opposition has been very light.

DNR is a resource extractor. Fish and Wildlife is a conservation agency but the hunting fishing side is similar to the resource extracting for DNR. The scary aspect is thatthat the 3 agencies are not merging. Instead DNR is taking over the WDFW and state parks functions. My job is safe short term and possibly the long term. But DNR butts heads with Fish and Wildlife all the time. What will happen once DNR has a say in who the Assistant Directors are for the Wildlife, Hababit and Fish programs.