Conley Among Finalists For Fish And Wildlife Post

Jerry Conley, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s director for 16 years, is among four finalists to become director of Washington’s counterpart agency.

Washington’s Fish and Wildlife Commission hopes to name a new director Saturday to lead the 1,600-employee agency it oversees.

The commission narrowed its list to four finalists in April, then interviewed them last Saturday in Seattle.

Spokane’s Dean Lydig, a member of the Washington commission, declined to release the names of finalists. Conley confirmed he was interviewed by the Washington commission. The job is the first he has actively sought since joining the Idaho department in 1980.

“It’s one that happened to come up in an area of the country I liked and looked like one I’d enjoy,” Conley said Wednesday.

He said the turmoil surrounding the Idaho Fish and Game Commission since Republican Gov. Phil Batt took office last year did not prompt him to look for another job.

Despite Batt’s public declarations of discontent with the commission, the relationship generally has been smoother recently, Conley said.

“Certainly early in the administration, things were more traumatic than what’s going on now,” the director said. Batt has said publicly that he is not on a mission to replace Conley.

A fisheries biologist by training, Conley said the Washington agency appeals to him in part because it involves ocean issues.

The Washington job’s top pay is $93,000 a year, Lydig said. Conley makes nearly $89,000 as Idaho Department of Fish and Game director.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission began its search in January, soon after voters approved an initiative restoring its power to choose the department’s director. That power was taken away in 1993 by legislative action that also merged the state’s fisheries and wildlife departments early in the administration of Gov. Mike Lowry.

Observers doubt Bob Turner, the current director who was appointed by Lowry, will remain in the job.