Two new Commissioners

Two new Commissioners were officially appointed. Their bios are already up on the Commission website (also listed below). Larry is still listed on the website although details on his current term haven’t been updated. Graybill is not listed - it appears an eastside position needs to be filled.



Lorna Smith, WDFW Commission

(Western Washington position)

Occupation: Retired, Executive Director, Western Wildlife Outreach (WWO)

Current Term: 1/4/2021 - 12/31/2026



Lorna Smith was appointed to the Commission in January, 2021. A graduate of Evergreen College, she served as Snohomish County lead environmental supervisor from 1986-2007 specializing in ESA, NEPA, SEPA, the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws. She has served as faculty for several Continuing Legal Education seminars on environmental compliance. Following her time at Snohomish County, she and her biologist husband, Darrell Smith, spent four years in Costa Rica working on habitat projects and establishment of a new national park.



A 5th generation Washingtonian whose family lived in coastal WA and OR before statehood, Smith grew up on the saltwater. She comes from a long line of lighthouse keepers, hunters, fishers and boaters. The Smith’s rural home in Jefferson County overlooks Discovery Bay, Protection Island and the Dungeness Lighthouse where her grandparents were stationed. As one of two coalition leads, Smith received a national conservation award for her work with WDFW, USFWS and Washington’s congressional delegation to establish Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge, home to tens of thousands of nesting seabirds. Smith also received recognition from WDFW for her years of service on the Department’s Non-game and Lands Advisory Committees. She has also served on WDFW ad-hoc advisory committees focused on large carnivores.



Appointed by the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners, Smith is currently serving her second and third terms on the Jefferson County Planning Commission and the Jefferson County Conservation Futures Oversight Committee.



As volunteer Executive Director for the nonprofit Western Wildlife Outreach (WWO). WWO has frequently partnered with WDFW, USFWS, the Woodland Park Zoo, Cabela’s and other organizations to produce outreach and education materials and to give community presentations promoting steps for people to take to ensure that wildlife, people and their domestic animals can safely coexist.



Fred Koontz, WDFW Commission

(At-Large position, King County)

Occupation: Retired, Vice President of Field Conservation, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle

Current Term: 1/4/2021 - 12/31/2026



Fred Koontz was appointed to the Commission in January 2021. Dr. Koontz retired in 2017 after a 35-year career in wildlife conservation.



After receiving a Ph.D. in Zoology, Fred worked for 15 years at the Wildlife Conservation Society, where he help manage the mammal collection at the Bronx Zoo, conducted research and served on many committees of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. Subsequent positions included Executive Vice President at Wildlife Trust (now EcoHealth Alliance); Executive Director at Teatown, a New York environmental center; and Vice President of Field Conservation at Woodland Park Zoo.



Fred has assisted on wildlife projects in the U.S., Latin America, Africa and Asia. For example, recovery of endangered Western pond turtles in Washington state; reintroducing howler monkeys into the Cockscomb Basin, Belize; satellite tracking forest elephants in Cameroon; and launching a tiger conservation project in Malaysia. At Woodland Park Zoo, projects were carried out with strong local collaboration, including Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). Dr. Koontz led the creation of the Zoo’s Living Northwest Program that strengthened their participation in Washington state conservation.



Dr. Koontz served on adjunct faculties at Columbia University, Fordham University, New York University and the University of Washington, and has published more than 50 articles on animal-related topics.



Dr. Koontz has served on the WDFW’s Wildlife Diversity Advisory Council, Budget and Policy Advisory Group and Snoqualmie Wildlife Area Advisory Committee. In 2016, Dr. Koontz was co-organizer of the Washington Wildlife Leaders Forum, a conference of 50 leaders who strategized for fish and wildlife agency improvement. Fred currently serves on the national board of Wildlands Network.



Fred enjoys hiking, nature observation and playing pickleball. He lives in King County with his wife, Dr. Wendy Westrom, a veterinarian.

Just an observation but neither of them are shown as having a consumptive use as one of their current activities.

I noticed that too.

Who needs the consumptive users anyway. They just complain all the time.

It’s not so much that they lack ‘consumptive use experience’. It’s the lack of management experience. Specifically fish and wildlife management.

F/W management involves balancing competing uses, engaging with diverse user groups with high expectations, understanding conflicting mandates within WDFW (e.g., conservation vs. consumptive use), recognizing that trade-offs and conflicts are inherent in almost any decision being made, and realizing that no matter what decision you make, lots of folks are going to hate you.

Face it, F/W management is a contact sport. Bumps and bruises are normal. On a good day. Bad days are even worse. Anyone in these positions need to recognize what they’re getting into.

I wish these two new Commissioners, and all the Commissioners, the best of luck.

Fresh blood is always good for a body like this, but I suspect a lot of hand-holding will be required thru at least one full years worth of meetings before these folks are anywhere close to "up to speed" on the most pressing issues for the agency.

So to review current appointments.

Graybill out... no replacement.
Who left to open the seats for the two newbies

You wouldn't be thinking about push back on WDFW's recent efforts to reduce its fiscal shortfalls by increasing license fees on those consumptive users experiencing less and less reasonable opportunity? Would you???

Graybill, Kehoe, Brad Smith, and probably Carpenter (his term expired the end of October)

Baker, Anderson, and Koontz are the "at-large" Commissioners

Smith is W Washington as are McIsaac and Carpenter

Linville and Thorburn are E Washington.

Graybill was E Washington and will have to be replaced by someone from E Washington.

Commission is required to have 3 from Eastern Washington, 3 from Western Washington, and 3 at-large. Not sure when the last time the Commission "at-large" members were all from W Washington.

I really wonder if the new Commissioners have even purchased a fishing or hunting license before? I guess that doesn't define if they will be a "good" Commissioner or not..unfortunately, it feels "our side" just keeps losing a little more control each time Dimsleez appoints someone else?

Graybill IS a fisherman, yet overall he's spineless IMO. Here's the direct response I received back from him last March when I emailed him about opening up the NOF meetings,etc. "NOF meetings remain closed not by choice. The WDFD has tried without success to get these meetings open. It is, and has always been, up to the tribes. They have their reasons."

I take stock of all the assets I "invest in" (aka...waste money on) for hunting/fishing and then still wish sometimes that my Old Man would have been a golfer instead...

A former zookeeper, eh?

Either they're looking for advice on how to manage the poo-flinging monkeys at North of Falcon, or else they're bringing in a consultant to help them establish the remaining wild steelhead habitat as "wildlife viewing areas." It couldn't have been to help manage the Skokomish fall fishery, since that's closed....

But seriously, these folks appear at least as capable as any to sit back and defer to the Director. They'll do fine.

We are screwed.

2 more spandex wearing fern feelers.

What a joke this libertard state has become.

Looks like both new Commissioners have strong wildlife credentials, but the lack of any hook and bullet connection is conspicuously obvious. Not that any of those are requirements, but these appointments appear consistent with Director Susewind's trend of making the agency an environmental and habitat management agency that offers "petting zoo" opportunities to WA citizens, in lieu of actual hunting and fishing.

That way, Salmo, we can continue to develop land for houses and such. Taking the long-range view that resources are screwed because humans screw too much.'

Elections have consequences. More bad news from the Tyrant Governor.

Could they be here for Wolf and Grizzly Topics?

Wolf? Bet that will be a renewed topic. Grizzly? Didn't the USFWS decide in 2020 to not pursue their reintroduction program? Unless they were to change their minds I don't see the Commission wading into that topic on its own.

01/09/2021



Struck my funny bone !!!!!! Good way to start my Saturday with a laugh. Need to have a lighter moment, after the events in Washington D.C. this week....

Be safe.......Go Hawks !!!!!!!!

the Hawks did not "GO" yesterday, they went.

Thought you might like to see the following article on Commissioner Lorna Smith.

OUTDOORS: Port Townsend’s Lorna Smith appointed to state Fish and Wildlife Commission

By Michael Carman

Thursday, January 7, 2021


Lorna Smith appointed to state Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The North Olympic Peninsula once again has representation on the state Fish and Wildlife Commission, a nine-person citizen panel appointed by the governor to set policy for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Port Townsend’s Lorna Smith, 69, was appointed alongside King County’s Fred Koontz by Gov. Jay Inslee to four-year terms that began Monday and run through Dec. 31, 2026.

Smith served as Snohomish County’s lead environmental supervisor from 1986-2007 and has previously received recognition from the Fish and Wildlife Department for her service on its Non-game and Lands Advisory committees. She also earned a national conservation award for her efforts to establish Protection Island as a National Wildlife Refuge.

More recently, she has served as executive director of Western Wildlife Outreach, a group which focuses on coexistence between humans and large meat-eating animals such as bears, cougars and wolves. She also ran for a Jefferson County Board of Commissioners position in 2020, eventually losing to fellow Democrat Heidi Eisenhour in November’s race.

Smith said she wanted to serve on the commission because she is passionate about fish and wildlife and brings an ecological mindset to the group.

“I am an ecologist; I have worked in the field of ecology and watershed restoration my whole career,” Smith said. “Even before WWO, I have had years of interactions with [Fish and Wildlife] department biologists and staffers. I am passionate about these organisms.

“We live above Discovery Bay, and we see so much biodiversity, and my main interest is maintaining biodiversity because we are at a critical point with climate change.”

Her time on the Non-game Committee also will help Smith bring another viewpoint to the commission.

“I’m not driven by a need to protect a specific animal,” Smith said. “Ninety to 95 percent of fish and wildlife species in the state are not harvested, they are non-game. And the number of hunters and fishers has really declined to where it’s about 4 percent of the population. The Commission is charged to manage all of those species, not just those that are hunted and fished. I want to bring a habitat and ecosystem focus to the commission because that will benefit the most wildlife.”

Smith said she is interested in researching the impacts of climate change on wildlife populations and watershed recovery.

“And moving the needle back toward more reliance on science in decision making,” Smith said.

And while changes to how the department is funded may not be feasible in the upcoming state legislative session due to the financial impacts of COVID-19, Smith said she would like to explore other funding options due to a trending pattern of declining hunting and fishing license sales [2020 will likely be an outlier in terms of increased license sales].

“I feel strongly that we need to get more people involved in fish and wildlife issues and looking at more revenue sources,” Smith said.

“A reliable, dependable source of funding has been hunters and fishers, and I would like to see that tent expanded. And it’s a difficult time to be coming in with that focus, especially in a 90-day legislative session that will be focused on the pandemic as it needs to be. So some of these ideas may not come up or come to fruition until we have recovered.”

Asked to comment on reductions in recreational fishing opportunities on the North Olympic Peninsula, Smith said conditions are not getting any better.

“It’s a very difficult picture right now for salmonid species right now,” she said. “Harvest levels have been reduced across the board, and it’s not getting better. I don’t have those answers, but I will be at the table to hopefully tackle them as they come up.

“We can’t close down hatcheries overnight thinking that will be the solution to bringing back wild fish stocks, but we also need to avoid infringing upon or impacting wild fish that are trying to spawn. We have to be very careful about how hatcheries are managed so that wild fish have a chance to recover.”

Given her past efforts to preserve Protection Island and its large seabird population, her outdoor activities take a particularly avian lean.

“I love to go out and observe wildlife,” Smith said. “I’m a birder and participated in the Audubon’s Christmas bird count. We have a boat, a canoe; we hike and snowshoe.”

She and her family have harvested crab but said her Discovery Bay neighbors help keep her stocked with fish and game.

“I’m going to make an honest confession. Out here all of our neighbors fish and crab, and they fill up our freezer. And when these presents arrive on our door step, including venison, we are thankful,” Smith said.

________

Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or mcarman@peninsuladaily news.com.

Not sure how long they really serve, as the article mentions (4) years, then also says 12/31/26. By my math that would be 6 calendar years, but hey... the topic concerns WDFW here and it's Math related; not necessarily their strong suit at times. The rag coulda buggered it just as easy too.

I wonder if the "neighbor's gifted venison" is fed to the "large meat-eating animals" at the Western Wildlife Outreach group where she's an Ecologist.

The last sentence of the interview reiterates that she has no skin in the game and that she's just another "yes man, club member". (but hey, the gig looks good on the resume' and the catchphrase got Jayboi's "short" attention, so who's the dummy here???) Blah, Blah, Blah..unfortunately, just another never-was.

Lorna Smith appointed to state Fish and Wildlife Commission:

Quote from Ms. Smith:

"And while changes to how the department is funded may not be feasible in the upcoming state legislative session due to the financial impacts of COVID-19, Smith said she would like to explore other funding options due to a trending pattern of declining hunting and fishing license sales [2020 will likely be an outlier in terms of increased license sales].
A reliable, dependable source of funding has been hunters and fishers, and I would like to see that tent expanded. And it’s a difficult time to be coming in with that focus, especially in a 90-day legislative session that will be focused on the pandemic as it needs to be. So some of these ideas may not come up or come to fruition until we have recovered.”

This should prickle the hair on the backs of many sportsmen. The way this sounds to me is she is saying is that she wants to find more "ecologically friendly" sources of revenue (Perhaps like from groups like "Wild Fish Conservancy" so the policies coming out of the Commission in the future will no longer need to consider the potential impact of reduced license revenue if it negatively impacts fishing and hunting.

What you're seeing is the beginning of the end of recreational fishing and hunting in this state...

From a week ago in the Spokesman-Review..not a bad article regarding "Is hunting under attack in Wa St, and info on the 2 newest Commissioners". Our local rag re-printed it. It's slow in here so I posted the link.

https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/is-h...1d9061da77.html