Is there a way to make the director an elected office again? Would that help or hurt sporties? Just curious what other potential options we have tbh.

It would take either the leg or an initiative. Leg won't give away any hope of control. Given the success of the Tribe's in WA gubmint I suspect that if there was an election for WDFW (which has never been the case) Director I am fairly sure the Tribal choice would win.

As imperfect as it may seem the Governor in office appoints Commissioners to what are staggered terms. The Commissioners hire and fire the Director. The staggered terms for Commissioners plus the fact that they are required to be from different regions within the State provides some semblance of mitigating unhealthy political swings.

If the Director were to be an elected office the Commission would effectively become obsolete - either gone entirely or in an advisory role. Do you really want the Seattle voting block determining the direction of the WDFW? Just remember, the Seattle Times just got rid of their outdoor reporting - we are no longer considered relevant in their Seattle centric perspective.

If you are unhappy with the Director's performance and/or the policies he is implementing then address those issues to the Commission! Yes, it is difficult to overcome the inertia but that may be the lesser evil to rapid swings in management policy driven by (generally ignorant) public opinion.

I agree with you Larry. Having the Commission as a delegation authority is VERY IMPORTANT to the fisheries. It is only because the Commission is involved and a delegating authority, we have any hope of public involvement in our fisheries management. That's why the Tribes are pushing hard for legislation making the Commission an advisory body only and making the Director the sole authority to negotiate with NWIFC for fisheries management. Effectively, taking any liability to the States Open Meeting Laws mute. If/when they succeed, then the NOF and any other meetings will be totally out of bounds to public oversight. Believe me, it only gets worse. They are not only going after the fish, they are attacking hunting rights, water rights, land management, tax regulation and on and on. The general public doesn't know, doesn't care or both....

The tribes seem to be able to play a "long game" while the rest of us have attention spans measured in nanoseconds. They have a plan, are working towards it, and just assume that our collective boredom will allow for their success.

You're absolutely right! I like to say, "they are masters at taking the mountain a pebble at a time." Look back to 1975 and where we are now. The question of equality in the fisheries back then, is now a question of where does it end. The influence in our political system by casino money, coupled with the insulation of "sovereignty" has made for a very powerful minority. A minority that not only steers many political decisions in the state through campaign donations, but carries a very large stick in the way of funding law suits that the State just can't afford. The result is, we now have a separate coalition of nations, within our border who, although small in numbers, are able to dictate policy, law and influence over the entire population of this State.

I'm not Tribal bashing, I support the treaty rights as agreed upon. What I can't agree too is the manipulation of the law and use of financial influence to degrade the rights of our state citizens just because they can.

I am not sure it it is just "the Tribes". I think there is a lot of support in the community at large for them, given the way they were treated, how hard the State fought to keep them on the bank, and so on. I think there is a large residual feeling that they deserve whatever they can get based on history. Nationwide history, not just local.

As with many issues in America, the mass will not get involved until something happens that effects them personally. The wall that we are working on is two part: Lack of education and limited outreach. There were 693,786 fishing licenses sold last year. Imagine if half of those sportsmen signed our petition and contacted their representatives! We need to concentrate NOW on getting the masses educated about the damaging effects of the Secret Meetings, and how it impacts them personally. There will be a concentrated effort against us, and it has already started. We cannot wait, we MUST increase our efforts NOW!



Several things I have recently done to further our cause:

Sent request for a meeting with the Governor's office.

Sent request for a meeting with NWIFC Chair, Lorraine Loomis.

Sent letter to Representative Liz Pikes Office requesting a meeting.

Sent request for information on "Government to Government" meetings to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

I ask all of you to reach out in any way you can to get people educated and let them know how destructive to our fisheries these continuing SECRET MEETINGS are to all citizens in this great state!

wonder if the wa supreme court ruling on port commissioners secret meeting would apply to the situation with WDFW and the tribes. Seems to me they are out of compliance with that decesion.

The major difference is, the State (WDFW Leadership) has labeled the North of Falcon Meetings as "Government to Government " and therefore are exempt from the Open Meetings Law. Its interesting to note that at the beginning of this petition, we were told that "as Sovereign Nations, the Tribes are not subject to State Law." As we pursued that as not true, Director Unsworth changed the reason to the meetings being Government to Government! It's clear that these meetings should have public oversight. We are diligently looking into the legality of labeling these meetings as Government to Government. Even IF these meetings can be closed to the public (that's a big if) They shouldn't be closed if cooperation and openness is truly the goal of both the WDFW Leadership and the NWIFC.

Back In Booth Gradner's day the state and tribes signed the "Centennial Accords" (from WA statehood centennial) that outlined how the state and tribes would manage, negotiate, work with each other.

The 1989 Centennial Accords committed Washington State to work with treaty tribes on a government to government basis. Did anyone, including former Governor Booth Gardner, intend for G2G meetings to occur behind closed doors in secret?

In the Centennial Accords, there is a whole lotta words on "government to government", "agencies/representatives " etc but not a lotta words (ie any) on "public participation". State law, state courts have little to no leverage in the negotiation format between the state and the tribes as far as requiring "open meetings".

http://www.goia.wa.gov/government-to-government/data/centennialaccord.htm

I think the State realized, when they looked at the possibility of Boldt II (habitat, see culvert case) that the Tribes had the whole state by the balls. Stop development, roll back damage, and so on. The State (and business) was scared shitless about having a court say that the Tribes had a right to at least a moderate living made by fishing for salmon. That has led to the current situation. Give 'em what they want for as long as we can. Eventually, development and climate change will render strong salmonid populations moot.

The question of having the workings of these meeting made public is still very much debatable, and has yet to be resolved. But, let's say for arguments sake that, the law allow's these meetings to be held in secret. Just because they CAN, doesn't mean they SHOULD! We have been told over and over that the fisheries are in trouble. That we (the sportsmen) MUST MAKE SACRIFICES in order to preserve and conserve the fish stocks. SO, how can there be any justification to conducting the most important meetings of the entire process and keep the informational exchange SECRET from the very people that are the most impacted!!!!

Our CO-Managers, through the NWIFC Chairwoman Lorraine Loomis, have repeatedly called for "cooperation and participation by all parties", yet they continue to obstruct a simple live video feed to allow the rest (and majority) of stakeholders from having ANY meaningful place at the table. You can read for yourself in the "Message from the Chairmen, NWIFC web site: NWIFC Message from the Chairman

It is very troubling that our Taxpaid public servants (WDFW Senior Leadership) are adamantly fighting AGAINST us to keep the doors closed. SOMETHING IS JUST NOT RIGHT HERE!

To be a little clear on who is paying WDFW. It is license fees and the DJ/PR taxes. There is some GF from the state, but that amount keeps shrinking. They work for US, not for the State. That is why it grates on folks to grow hatchery fish for others (AK, BC, Tribes) to catch. That is why the push to not buy licenses has some value. Not only does it reduce WDFW staffing levels (probably not a good thing) but it reduces the pool of fish to catch. The Tribes are betting that we will continue to produce fish for them. Given how well the State already funds Education, Infrastructure, Mental Health, Public Safety I am sure the Leg would love to fund salmon hatcheries so the Tribes can fish.

Duly noting your sarcasm, I have been thinking for a while now that organized sport fishing interests should lobby the Legislature to further radically decrease, if not totally eliminate, General Fund money allocation to WDFW. The purpose is to get WDFW's attention, to stop biting the hand that feeds them, to have the Department acknowledge that its business plan is fatally flawed, and needs to be replaced with a Departmental Operations Plan that is skewed toward its constituencies in proportion to the % funding provided by each constituency. In that context, WDFW would spend no more than about 3% of its revenue on managing non-treaty commercial fishing, somewhere between little and none on co-managing - such as it is - treaty fisheries, and around 97% on recreational fishing. I wonder what the probability of getting the Legislature to swing this direction might be. I think only a small number of Legislators are tightly in the hip pocket of commercial fishing, altho some, like Blake, hold key committee positions.

Right you are. As we speak, the debate is raging in Olympia over the budget. In that debate, the Democrats are arguing for more general fund money to WDFW.
Call your representatives and let them know this is not acceptable!

Send and email to Sen. Kirk Pearson, he is heading a drive to have an independent audit of WDFW and to reduce some funding, while protecting hatchery's and essential internal functions until completion of the audit and evaluation of the senior leadership.

I think Salmo offers a great plan. Another offshoot of that would be that the non-consumptive users would need to support something like DJ/PR for the non-game stuff.

We wanted to let you know about some of the things that we are currently working on.

First, we’ve sent another letter, with follow-up emails requesting a meeting with the Chairmen of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. We’ve not heard back yet, but will be following up with some calls next week. We believe the time for dialogue is at hand. We are hoping Chairmen Lorraine Loomis feels the same.

We’ve been in contact with Rep. Liz Pikes office, and have been told that she will put us on her schedule the last week of June. Please, take the time to send her an email expressing your support for ending these destructive meetings.

Senator Pearson’s office has let us know that the fight for a better, more responsive WDFW continues. He is committed to improving the agency and is still working for an independent consultant group to identify and fix management and organizational issues!

We are gearing up for the “Public Input Hearings. I will be attending the one in Olympia for sure, and will try and make the others. We need a strong show of support at these charades. If you can possibly attend, please do, and speak up about what an insult it is to ask for our input to rules that were made in meetings we were barred from! If you can't make, be sure and send in a comment letting them know that we are not fooled, we demand they open the WDFW/Tribal NOF meetings.

Requests have been sent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs regarding the “Government to Government” label that the State is using to obstruct public oversight in the secret meetings.

We reached out to the Governors office, requesting an audience to speak on your behalf about the overwhelming distrust we feel for the WDFW senior leadership and it’s role in fighting against us to have these meetings opened.

On a personal note, I’ve contacted my district State representatives asking for a meeting, to brief them on how damaging these meetings are, and to ask for their support in ending them.

Also, we now have an email account that you can use to send us comments and suggestions, and that we can use to communicate with you directly.

Our email address is: OpenNOF@Gmail.com

Of course, we will continue to send out updates to keep everyone informed of any and all developments. We encourage you to continue to get others involved and to reach out to your representatives, the Commissioners, WDFW Senior staff, and others.

We are not going away!