Commission Votes For Fee Increases

Washington state residents who are 70 or older could pay the same fees as other adults for fishing licenses after next year.

The state Fish and Wildlife Commission voted last week to streamline the state’s fishing and hunting license system. One of the changes would end the seniors’ privilege of buying freshwater and food-fishing licenses for $3 each.

Although the Fish and Wildlife Department said that 23 public meetings on proposals to change the licensing system were held, few, if any, seniors were told that fishing fees would increase.

The new few schedule, to go into effect in 1999, is subject to the approval of the Legislature.

In addition to the new fee schedule, the commission, as expected, approved the outline for a new Colville hunting and fishing agreement. It did so even after past commissioners appealed to the present commissioners to rectify a wrong against non-Indians who own land within the boundaries of the Colville reservation.

As for the license fee changes, the FWD long has wanted senior citizens to pay the same as other adults for fishing licenses. At one time, fishing licenses for people 70 or older were free. When the department proposed ending the free licenses, the uproar from seniors forced the department to back down. Then the department agreed to recommend that seniors be permitted to buy fishing licenses for $3. The department got its way and seniors have been spending only $3 for a general fishing license for several years.

If the proposal to end the big discount for seniors was mentioned at the public meetings or discussed by 2,300 people who commented on the department’s proposed license fee changes, most seniors apparently were unaware that they would have to start paying the same fees as other adults for a general fishing license in 1999.

Several friends who are 70 or older whom I contacted said they didn’t know the department included the big change in its new license fee proposal.

Under the new fee system approved by the commission, resident adults and seniors would pay $20 for freshwater licenses, $17 for a saltwater license, $7 for shellfish licenses or $34 for a combined license, including shellfish. Juveniles would pay $5 for a combination fishing license with a separate $3 charge for a shellfish license.

The commission also approved the department’s proposal to change the present system for hunting licenses.

As the result of the commission’s approval of a proposed agreement with the Colville Indian tribes, people who own land within the reservation boundaries still can’t hunt big-game animals on their own property.

The commissioners approved the proposed agreement despite appeals by two men who served on the commission that signed the 1982 agreement with the Colvilles.

Vern E. Ziegler of Spokane, a member of that commission, said in a letter to Bern Shanks, department director, that his commission made some mistakes.

“The drastic mistake that I would like to refer to is the hunting restrictions placed on fee-owned land within the reservation,” he said.

The decision was based on the premise that there was a shortage of big-game animals. “In reality, he said, “there was never a conservation issue established by the department or tribe. At the time, I felt it was grossly unfair to restrict one user group from the privilege of hunting lands that fell under state jurisdiction only to appease another user group.”

However, Ziegler voted with other commissioners to take away the hunting rights of the landowners.

“Unfortunately, that was a terrible reason for restricting the fee owners the privilege of hunting on their own lands.”

Norman Richardson of Yakima, another man who served on the 1982 commission, said in a letter to Lisa Pelly, present commission chairman, that “we made a mistake restricting hunting on fee land.”

He urged the present commission to “correct the injustice done to the non-Indian landowners and repeal the regulation restricting hunting by the landowners.”

Others urged the commission to vote to give back to non-Indians their right to hunt big game on their property. However, commissioners approved the outline for a new agreement with the tribe and directed Shanks to begin a public process to develop a new agreement.

Some owners of land within the reservation say they still haven’t given up their fight to have their rights to hunt big game restored.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Fenton Roskelley by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 3814.

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