Whitman County votes to sign joint letter raising concerns about WDFW conduct
Summary
The Board amended the Aug. 10 agenda and voted to sign a joint letter to the Governor and State Attorney General alleging the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife made decisions influenced by outside animal-rights advocacy and failed to comply with OPMA and public records requests; the letter was carried by motion.
On Aug. 10 the Whitman County Board discussed and carried a motion to amend the agenda and sign a joint letter, drafted by the Eastern Washington Council of Governments (EWCOG), to the Governor and State Attorney General concerning the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).
Commissioner Arthur D. Swannack described several alleged concerns: that some WDFW Commissioners met outside public meetings with animal-rights advocates, that decisions (including on the Spring Black Bear Season) departed from biologists' recommendations, and that public-records requests had not been fully honored. Commissioner Whetzel moved, Commissioner Handy seconded, and the Board carried a motion to sign the letter to the Governor and Attorney General.
The transcript records the Board's formal vote to send the joint letter but does not include any response from WDFW. Commissioners said they were motivated by constituent concerns and regional impacts related to wildlife management.
AI generated
The text on this page is AI generated. Summaries, highlights, analysis, and video transcripts are all produced from the original source material.
AI can make mistakes, so if you spot one, and we will fix it for everyone.
Note: the source content is unaltered by us. Any content source we link to, be it a video, an audio recording, or a document, is presented exactly as its publisher released it. That publisher is usually a government body, sometimes an individual official or another organisation.
