I wonder what would happen if the state came in with cameras and set up the room to broadcast. If the tribe walked out, I would think they could go straight to the courts for an injunction and demand they participate. It would then be up to tribes to argue in court why they won't. The law already dictates they must reach an agreement, so I believe it would be up to them to show why they can not allow the state to follow the Open meetings rule. If the court agrees with them, so be it. If not, then the state would have no excuse not to broadcast. If the tribes show up and refuse to participate meaningfully, that would then be broad cast. I see no way they can win if the state pushes the issue. Which, has been stated many times, they do not seem to have any desire to do.

The WDFW and Director Unsworth have released a press piece that addresses their position on the secret meetings and how they are in total agreement that they should remain secret. Of course, the Tribes are running the show. They use the Gov't to Gov't tactic to take away the rights of the public and to remove any opposition to the deals since we cannot see how they are conducting themselves and the leverage they use to get what they want.

Here is the Press Release:

Public Input in the North of Falcon Process

We don't agree with the position and have responded through an update on the petition. Below is our response.

Director Unsworth: This Just Doesn't Work For Us!

MAR 11, 2017 — In a recent WDFW News Release, the Department and Director Unsworth once again attempted to focus attention on the left hand, while the right hand is still locking the door in our face.

In the release, they try to draw the focus off the secret meetings by saying:
“The public meetings are opportunities for anglers, commercial fishers and others interested in salmon to discuss regional and statewide fisheries issues with representatives from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).”
"I strongly encourage people to get involved and share their thoughts," Unsworth said. "Whether it's at one of the public meetings, through our online tool or in discussions with our many Advisory Group members, the public's input is essential in developing fisheries. As fisheries managers develop this year's salmon seasons, public participation is vital.”

Yet, he also continues to justify the secret meetings by saying:
"These government-to-government meetings must occur for fishing seasons to be set," Unsworth said. "Refusing to meet with the tribes because they will not allow the public to attend these negotiations would be very unproductive for everyone involved.”

Then he adds:
"State and tribal co-managers are far more effective when we work together at recovering and protecting fish and wildlife in Washington," Unsworth said. "I'm committed to working with the tribes to improve the process, make it as open and transparent as possible, and ensure our state's resources are sustainable for future generations.”

MR. UNSWORTH, THAT SIMPLY DOSEN’T WORK FOR US, AND HERE’S WHY.
The public meetings, slide shows, power point presentations, the public recommendations, requests and suggestions, all of the “public participation” in the process is ABSOLUTELY MEANINGLESS once the doors of these secret meetings are closed and locked to the public! Why? Because the Tribes have a huge advantage in these negotiations. The State MUST agree with the Tribes or risk not getting permits in time to have any seasons at all. Why do you think the Tribes and WDFW are fighting so hard to keep these meetings out of the public eye? They offer many excuses, but they don’t want the public to know how one sided and dysfunctional this process is!

Instead of making excuses why these meetings must remain closed, or fighting the citizens to keep secrets, why not work with us in fixing this unfair permitting process? Why has WDFW made no effort to request Federal guidance and direction to counter the overwhelming Tribal leverage? Why not Federal intervention in the form of arbitration? In the grand scheme of things, upholding and defending the civil liberties of ALL AMERICANS has the same priority, and is just as important as doing so for the Native Americans! Federal Law as set forth by the Boldt Decision has been superseded by a misconception of the dual citizenship principle. Don’t Tribal citizens vote in our elections? Don’t they have Bills drafted in our legislature to become State laws? Do they not contribute large sums of money to campaigns here in our State. All the privileges of State Citizens, yet they get to pick and choose which laws pertain to them?

This Gov’t to Gov’t meeting excuse needs to be looked into. After all, they are not negotiating National Security, nor are they discussing classified intelligence. They are negotiating the peoples Natural Resources! Why does that have to be kept secret?

Director Unsworth knows we are not asking for an open auditorium full of people. We want a live video feed, un-edited with no off camera negotiations. Simple. There is no reason this should interfere with any negotiations, and certainly is a low cost, effective method to allow public oversight!

So, Director Unsworth, we ask you again. If these negotiations are being conducted fairly to all parties, and you and the Tribal representatives are proud of the work you’re doing to preserve and protect our fish in these meetings, why are you fighting so hard to keep these meetings SECRET?

I URGE ALL OF YOUR TO SEND AN EMAIL TO DIRECTOR UNSWORTH AND THE COMMISSION, right now, and let them know we are not going away, we are not backing down and we are simply not buying their party line! Tell them to press the Tribes to open these meetings as they should be. It is the way WE DO GOVERNMENT IN THIS COUNTRY! Work on fixing the unfair leverage the Tribes have in the permitting process, and COME CLEAN WITH THE CITIZENS!

director@dfw.wa.gov
commission@dfw.wa.gov

State Senator Pearson Meets With Us.
Perry Menchaca
Tacoma, WA
MAR 14, 2017 — On March 13th, our fight for transparency in the Tribal/North of Falcon meetings was briefed to State Senator Kirk Pearson. Our meeting with Senator Pearson was most encouraging and very up-lifting.

As most of you already know, Senator Pearson, Chair of the Natural Resource and Parks Committee is one of the “good guys” who is truly devoted to conservation and fixing the problems in our fisheries. Our time with the Senator was very positive as we presented the issue of the permits being used as leverage in the secret meetings, and as we discussed your overwhelming support in having these meetings opened to public oversight.

As things develop, we will update you with details, but we are very encouraged with the positive conversation we had. We want all of you to stay active and remain in the fight. Continue to get the word out and educate everyone you can about our cause, and, of course, contact your representatives, the Commission, and Director Unsworth to let them know we are not going away!

In order to start fixing the problems, we must know what the problems are! Open and honest meetings that are truly conservation-driven is the right and only way to manage our fisheries.

Please give Senator Pearson a huge “Thank You”, as well. He has been in the fray for a good long time working to better our fisheries, and deserves our support.

Senator Pearsons Email: Kirk.Pearson@Leg.wa.gov

We will post more details and updates as things progress.

Your Voice is being heard!

I didn't buy a fishing license this year, is there a fund somewhere I could donate what I woulda spent? Seems like lip service when I make contacts with my reps.

I think this is important enough to cut and paste the preamble from their Open Meeting Act (emphasis added):

"1.01.010 Legislative Declaration

The legislature finds and declares that the Tribal Council, its subcommittees, boards, committees, departments, and all other divisions of the Nisqually Indian Tribe exist to aid in the conduct of
the people's business. It is the intent of this chapter that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.

The people of this Tribe do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created."

Kno, just hang on to the money for now. Once we win this, you can feel good about buying a license again! Thanks for the support. Let Director Unsworth and the Commission know that you're holding off buying a license until this thing is fixed!

Keep up the fire!

Thanks Larry for the extract. We too find it interesting that they profess openness in their government, yet, are perfectly fine blocking us from the same. Isn't that called..two faced? How can they possibly expect cooperation and trust building like that?

the actions of the WDFW and the so called stewards of the environment makes me want to go out and kill some $hit just so it doesn't end up in a net somewhere... I've never been a lawbreaker before, but I'm seriously considering it this year... here's hoping the enforcement budget is reduced as much as the opportunities available!!

this fu(king state needs to legalize Gawd damn gambling...

Are talks between Canada and the US open meetings?

Are you referring to on-going fisheries discussions? If so, ..

Completely transparent! Media allowed to cover, extensive records of the proceedings, participants are allowed to discuss negotiations, and in some cases audio and video records are made. I suppose if you wanted to go sit in on one of the negotiations all you would need is prior approval so they can insure your not a trouble maker and there is a seat available for you.



The Canadian/U.S. talks are between the U.S. Gov't and a Foreign Gov't.
People confuse Sovereign with Foreign. The Tribes are Sovereign in that they are self governing on their land. It does not mean they are wholly and completely independent of the laws and constitution of the United States and the State in which they reside. If they were, they would require passports, and would have an embassy!

Again, they (the Sovereign Nation Tribes) vote in our elections, donate large sums of money to lawmakers, introduce bills to be made into laws, conduct business freely, purchase land, and in all other cases participate in all activities as any other citizen of the State. The exception is (and this is because no one challenges them) they pick and choose which laws apply to them and they can independently declare any transactions as Gov't to Gov't, thus preventing the public from having any access to the details of the deals they are making.

Senator Pearson aims budget bullseye, headed straight for WDFW Leadership!

It appears we are not alone in finding the leadership of WDFW lacking.

After our meeting with Senator Pearson, we are confident one of the "fixes" he speaks of in his article is the lack of transparency in our North of Falcon process and the Directors support of blocking public oversight.

Senate rejects fee increase and calls for "overhaul" of WDFW!

We just posted an update on the petition. In short, we have had a very interesting meeting with our newest WDFW Commissioner, Barbra Baker and the WDFW Deputy Director, Joe Stohr. The meeting was informative and cordial. It allowed us the opportunity to speak directly to leadership and let them know how important having an open management process is to the citizens and for the fish. Although we did not get any concrete assurances of assistance, we have opened a dialog which will allow us to continue to address the issue. We do know that others in senior leadership positions have taken notice of our fight and as we stated in the update, the tide has turned. We now have influential leaders looking at the problem of secret meetings.

Government moves slow. As Senator Pearson so elegantly said, "at times it's like watching paint dry." However, be assured, it is moving, and it is moving in our direction to affect change to end these distrustful secret meetings.

We will continue to move the process forward. We will reach out to elected officials, appointed leader and tribal representatives and we ask all of you to do the same. Stay resolved, victory for open management is ours if we will continue to fight for it.

Remember, the numbers of petition signers is powerful. It speaks very loudly to everyone involved in this issue. Do your part and continue to get supporters on board. Besides the letters and calls your making, it is the single most powerful tool we have!

Good luck! Hope you win!

It has been some time since my last post. Frankly, I've been waiting to see how things fall together after the NOF completion. For the most part, my prediction that the Tribes would be more "cooperative" this year came to pass, as we did not hear of any really contentious fights. However, I also believe this was more a stall tactic rather than true progress in cooperation. The Tribes took a step back to take the pressure off, all the while, leaning forward with legislative action and maneuvering to prevent any attempts at transparency in future NOF meetings. Again, masters of the game. I intend to continue to push for full and accurate disclosures in our NOF process. I hope I can continue to count on all of you for support.

We are in a battle. A battle to bring truth to our fisheries. It is a David against Goliath fight at this point, but if we continue to ban together, we have a chance.

Thank you, I will keep you updated. Please do the same.

BW

Thank you for your efforts to date. It is a long term struggle. We need to keep pushing forward.

The thanks goes to all the people like you who have supported and continue to support this effort. We are going to need to put a major effort in to increase the pressure through contacting our legislators, and the WDFW Commission directly and often. The Tribes and WDFW have laid the ground work to keep these meetings secret, and they have no intention of letting the public see what they are doing without some HUGE support of the people.

....and we mustn't forget our Federal representatives and agencies....they need to hear from us, too.

Once again, WDFW is trying to pull the wool over the eye's of the sport fishermen by pretending to want PUBLIC INPUT! In a recent notification, WDFW is asking for the public's input on proposed rule changes. Of course, it's all smoke and mirrors, since the "proposed changes" have already been agreed to in the WDFW/Tribal North of Falcon meetings, which the "public" was restricted from even hearing what they discussed and agreed to. So, now they ram the deal down our throats and add the insult by asking us to provide input!!! If that doesn't make you pissed then you must be dead!

If your as mad and fed up with this "business as usual" disregard for the thousands of sport fishermen, please attend the public hearing and voice your frustration. If you cannot attend (they do it on a weekday, when most people have to be at work, of course) then please, write, call or email in your very strong statement letting them know, the secret meetings MUST END!!

Here is a copy of the notification with the contact information:

---------------------WDFW NOTIFICATION ----------------------------
2017 North of Falcon Rulemaking - Recreational Salmon Fishery - Puget Sound Freshwater and Saltwater.
The Department is considering changes to recreational salmon fishing rules resulting from stakeholder recommendations made during North of Falcon meetings. Recreational salmon fishing rules based on North of Falcon recommendations change from year to year to reflect resource availability and to achieve conservation goals. Amendments to recreational salmon fishing rules are needed to implement the agreed-upon changes.

Public Comment Period: Written comments are due by June 27, 2017 Written comments may be emailed to: Rules.Coordinator@dfw.wa.gov Or mailed to: Scott Bird, WDFW Rules Coordinator, 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501 Fax: 360-902-2155

A public hearing will take place on June 27, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Natural Resources Building Room 184 1111 Washington St. SE Olympia, WA 98501

I sent them my public input via email. Here's my suggestion.

Since all the seasons and regs were agreed upon during a secret (violating state laws) meetings. The only suggestion I have is either stand up for open nof tribal negotiations or resign and allow the people that fund wdfw to have the opportunity to be properly represented

Well said. Integrity and courage to stand up for what's right within WDFW is as rare as steelhead are in the Nisqually!