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Dear Claire,
During this year's whirlwind state legislative session, Washington Wildlife First sounded the alarm on several attacks leveled at our state's wildlife, and our supporters stepped up to help us defeat legislation that flew in the face of science, ethical management, and common sense. Here is a final update on the primary bills we followed this session.
First, the Good News!
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SJR 8208, the “right-to-hunt” amendment, passed through the Senate Agriculture Committee but stalled in the Rules Committee and failed to reach the Senate floor. Supporters of Washington Wildlife First generated hundreds of letters to defeat this dangerous proposal, which sought to amend the Washington Constitution to create a “right” to hunt, fish, and trap. This amendment would have prevented Washingtonians from influencing wildlife policy through ballot initiatives, hindered measures designed to protect biodiversity, and permanently protected cruel and ecologically destructive trapping, hunting, and fishing practices.
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Our supporters also helped stop bills targeting Washington’s wolves. Following an outcry, the Senate Agriculture Committee declined to act on SB 5939, the wolf baiting bill, which would have allowed livestock owners to shoot the first wolf visiting the site of a livestock predation. And the House Agriculture Committee did not call a vote on HB 2423, which would have allowed livestock owners and local officials to create a “regional management plan” to remove state protections for wolves in northeast Washington.
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After hundreds of letters and calls from wolf supporters, we successfully removed all the anti-wolf language from HB 2424, a bill that passed this session to direct the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to consult with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation regarding wolf management. The original version of the bill would have directed the Department “align” its wolf management with the tribes, which allow year-round wolf hunting with no limits.
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Meanwhile, our allies successfully secured $224,000 in the state budget to fund "bear wise" programs to help Washington communities to prevent conflicts with black bears. And with the passage of HB 1153, Washington became the first state to ban octopus farming, ensuring that this cruel and ecologically destructive practice will never gain a foothold here.
But we have more work to do...
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Unfortunately, SB 5846, a bill that would have required the state to create a management plan to protect and promote beavers, stalled out in the Senate Ways & Means Committee. But supporters of the bill made enormous progress on the issue this session and are continuing efforts to establish a sensible statewide policy that recognizes the invaluable work beavers do to mitigate the impacts of climate change. We will let you know of future actions you can take to help ensure that Washington has a flourishing beaver population!
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The legislature also approved HB 2293, establishing a working group to study avian predation of salmon. We were pleased that the House Agriculture Committee amended the bill to remove references to “harvesting” supposedly “overpopulated” birds and to place a bird conservationist on the working group, but we were unsuccessful at persuading the Senate Agriculture Committee to make additional changes to require the group to follow best available science and prioritize the study of nonlethal alternatives. We will keep you updated as our fight continues to prevent the scapegoating of birds and marine mammals for human-inflicted damage to salmon populations.
Thank you for your advocacy this session! Stay tuned for updates on the next phase of the battle to protect Washington's wildlife!
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