Stations unguarded
The northeast corner of Washington has always been a productive playground for hunters and anglers. Recently it’s become especially fertile ground for poachers.
For the past year, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has had no enforcement agent assigned to Pend Oreille County.
“Unfortunately, it’s become common knowledge out there,” said Mike Whorton, the department’s regional enforcement manger in Spokane.
The shortcoming wasn’t well known to Newport-area resident Mike Brown until this spring, when he saw poachers blatantly exceeding their limits of bass at one of his favorite small lakes.
“It’s been good fishing for years, but all of a sudden some guys found the fish on their spawning beds and they’re coming late and just hammering the big ones,” he said. “No catch and release for these guys. The limit is one fish over 17 inches, but I’ve watched them take way more than their limit.
“I hear the thunk, thunk, thunk, as they drop the big ones in the back of their truck and it just makes me sick.”
Brown said he had trouble reaching the Fish and Wildlife Department at first, and then got little response.
“So many people expect us to be like the city police and be there in 10 minutes,” Whorton said. “Even if we were to drive 100 mph, sometimes we’d still be two hours away.
“Cell phones are great tools in reporting incidents, but they only add to the atmosphere that expects immediate response.”
The agency’s enforcement division has been understaffed for years, but coverage deteriorated further last summer when the agent assigned to Pend Oreille Country accepted a transfer position, Whorton said.
“Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties used to be covered by seven officers; now we’re down to two,” he said. “If I send an officer up there from southern Stevens County, it’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
Word about the lack of enforcement was out this winter, when the department received several complaints about blatant elk poaching incidents.
“We know of closed-season cases that happened in front of God and everybody,” he Whorton said. “We’re covering these on a case-by-case basis and we’ve made some citations. But when you hear about these incidents, it speaks to the deterrent effect of having an officer present in a local community.”
The agency plans to hire a new agent to fill the Pend Oreille County vacancy, Whorton said. “It’s a long process,” he added. “They have to complete the basic police academy and then do months of field training with other officers before we let them fly solo.”
A new officer may not be aboard before the fall hunting seasons, he said.
“This isn’t a problem just in northeastern Washington,” Whorton said. “We have big holes of coverage across the state.”
Since 1993, when the departments of Fisheries and Game were merged into the Fish and Wildlife Department, Washington has lost about 30 officers bringing the total of field and non-field officers to about 160 statewide.
While funding has remained fairly even, rising operation costs have gobbled up money for officers.
“It’s one of those black holes,” Whorton said. “Fewer officers to respond translates into less support from the public because people become frustrated with the lack of response.”
Meanwhile, the number of people doing illicit activities on wildlife lands continues to increase beyond hunting and fishing violations, he said.
“The Yakima region recently did a major sting on a marijuana growing operation on state wildlife lands,” he said.
He cited increasing use of off-road vehicles, growth in year-round outdoor recreation, illegal grazing and other activities that require enforcement.
“All together, this adds up to a major assault on wildlife lands,” he said. “It’s not conducive to wildlife.”