Fishing, hunting, land additions on Wash. commission agenda

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT — The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission has a full agenda of wide ranging topics to cover at its meeting Friday in Moses Lake.

Among the 15 agenda items, the panel will take public comments on proposed changes to hunting rules, consider adopting sportfishing rules and vote on buying a 1600-acre addition to the Blue Mountains Wildlife Area in Asotin County.

The meeting will convene at 8 a.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center, 401 S. Balsam St.

The commission will accept public comments on 17  proposed hunting rule changes, which would include allowing the use of illuminated arrow nocks for archery equipment and restoring antlerless elk opportunities for archery hunters in Yakima County Units 352 (Nile) and 356 (Bumping).

The commission won't vote on the proposed changes to hunting rules until its April 12-13 meeting in Olympia.

However, the commission will consider adopting nearly 70 sportfishing rules, including proposals that would allow the use of two fishing poles on 50 additional lakes throughout the state and liberalize limits for walleye, bass and catfish in the Columbia River system. 

The standout among three proposed land transactions is the plan to buy 1,614 acres of the 4-0 Ranch in Asotin County as phase two of a multi-year project to secure a total of nearly 12,000 acres of riparian habitat for steelhead and bull trout and terrestrial habitat for deer, bighorn sheep and elk.