New wildlife panel member puts good fortune in perspective

Spokane’s George Orr is on a roll.

During an interview Wednesday regarding his appointment to an important state panel, the retired Spokane firefighter and former state legislator put his recent good fortune into perspective, in this order.

•Three weeks ago, Orr learned that he’d beaten the odds to draw an antlerless elk tag for hunting in the Blue Mountains this fall.

•Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Chris Gregoire announced his appointment to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission.

•Wednesday evening, he was joining a buddy who claimed to have the secret for catching summer cutthroats at Marshall Lake.

“I’m 64 and life keeps getting fuller,” Orr said. “The (Eastern Washington) late buck season opens Nov. 5. If I can’t get a buck in the first two days, my birthday is Nov. 7 and then I’ll be eligible to shoot a doe. That’s one of the few sweet things about turning 65.”

Orr is scheduled to take a seat at the nine-member commission’s next meeting, Oct. 12-13 in Olympia. A governor’s office spokeswoman said he was selected from seven applicants – two from Western Washington and five from the East Side – to fill the position vacated in June by Fred Shiosaki of Spokane.

Orr said he was an applicant for the commission nine years ago when Gov. Gary Locke chose to appoint Shiosaki, a dedicated fly fisherman, to his first six-year term. Both men have promoted kid-fishing programs, with Orr organizing an annual fishing day for disabled kids that’s been running 23 years.

This time around, it was Orr who beat out another applicant from Spokane plus one each from Kittitas, Garfield and Okanogan counties, the governor’s office reported.

“I’m a pretty avid hunter and angler and I’ve always been interested in the commission and its role in managing fish, wildlife and the sports I love,” Orr said.

Looking back at his public service, he said his wariness of official statements and status quo has propelled much of his continued participation in panels and elected offices.

“I’ve always been the guy who asked, ‘How come?’ ” he said. “That’s what got me elected PTA president, and then to the Central Valley School Board, the state Gambling Commission and then to the legislature.

“One thing I’ve learned: When an administrator gives the company line in a public meeting, you need to go in confidence to underling employees to see if there are other sides of the issue.”

His experience as Fourth District state representative, 1990-1994, should be an asset.

“I was vaccinated with a phonograph needle,” he said, “so I’m hardened enough to do some legislative lobbying if necessary.”

Orr said he doesn’t have an agenda going into the commission, although he’s eager to have an inside track into answers to life’s persistent questions, from a hunter’s point of view.

“Why is the grouse limit three?” he said. “Is there a good reason? I’m curious.”

Commission chairman Jerry Gutzwiler of Wenatchee says Orr will be handed a huge plate of issues to satisfy his interest in wildlife management. Major agenda items this fall include:

•Salmon and steelhead fisheries management in Puget Sound and the Columbia River, fish hatchery reforms and seeking funds for fin-clipping hatchery fish so anglers can distinguish them from endangered wild stocks.

“It’s the difference between having a salmon season and not having a season in some areas,” Gutzwiler said.

•Hunting regulations for the next three-year period, a topic that consumes the commission and the Fish and Wildlife Department staff for more than a year through advisory committee reports and public meetings.

“One thing all the commissioners agree on,” Gutzwiler said: “There’s a lot more to this position than we ever thought. It sure isn’t just a two-day-a-month job.”

Each commissioner is appointed to at least two committees, such as marine fisheries, freshwater fisheries, enforcement and habitat. “There’s currently an opening on the Wildlife Committee and that might be a place where the new appointee can hang a hat,” Gutzwiler said.

The commission makeup has changed dramatically in the past few decades. Locke, obsessed with image and political correctness, nearly eliminated hunters and anglers from seats on a commission that deals largely with hunting and fishing issues.

“Gov. Gregoire took a lot of heat for putting her signature on the commission, replacing four commissioners as soon as she took office,” said Gutzwiler, who points out that he enjoys calling wild turkeys, big-game hunting and “chasing pheasants” with his bird dog. “I think she’s to be commended for putting together a great commission.”

By Gutzwiler’s count, all but one or two members of the current commission regularly hunt or fish.

“Shirley Solomon of Fir Island doesn’t, but she brings to the commission a background in dealing with tribal issues, which is very important to fish and wildlife management,” he said.

“On the other hand, Gary Douvia (Kettle Falls) is an outdoor guy; Will Roehl (Bellingham) is a tenacious salmon and steelhead angler; Chuck Perry (Moses Lake) hunts deer and elk; Connie Mahnken (Bainbridge Island) hunts and fishes; Miranda Wecker (Naselle) makes her husband row their drift boat while she fishes; and Ken Chew (Seattle) is a Ph.D. in shellfish science and a hunter to boot.”

“I’ll probably be the only commissioner who fishes for perch through the ice at Eloika Lake,” Orr said.”But I think I can fit in well with any commission,” he said. “I put on my resume that I’m an avid birdwatcher for 10 months a year and then I’m an avid bird shooter two months a year.”