Washington considers hunting, fishing fee increase amid resistance and questions

Public sentiment has already shaped a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife fee increase proposal, even though it won’t be presented to the Legislature until January.

Stephen Pozzanghera, director of the department’s Spokane-based eastern region, said the department heard loud and clear the proposal to charge $17 each for salmon and steelhead catch record cards –which were previously included in the price of a fishing license – was too steep of an ask.

“We already know we are backing off the $17 cost. We will be proposing $10,” he said, noting that the proposal was delivered to Gov. Jay Inslee’s office on Friday.

The proposals had not been updated on the agency’s website on Friday, and they could evolve even more before reaching the legislature for consideration, said Madonna Luers, department spokeswoman in Spokane.

Pozzanghera and other members of the eastern region staff visited Clarkston on Thursday to present information on the department’s Wild Future Initiative.

A similar meeting was held in Spokane Valley on Aug. 2 at CenterPlace.

During the process that began last year, the department asked hunters and anglers in Washington what they wanted from the agency and how they wanted hunting, fishing and conservation to be managed. The public answered that it wanted more hunting and fishing opportunities and more law enforcement, simpler hunting and fishing rules, more habitat restoration and a better effort to attract young people to hunting and fishing.

The agency has drawn up plans to meet the expectations, but said doing so will cost more money.

To deliver programs that will meet public expectations, Pozzanghera said the agency is proposing a fee increase that will generate an estimated $13 million per year, and it will also ask the Legislature for $21 million from the state’s general fund over the next two years.

The agency needs a revenue increase of about $12 million annually just to continue the program it now offers, Pozzanghera said. Anything above $12 million will allow it to start new programs to meet public expectations, and an increase of $43.2 million would allow full implementation. A flat budget would mean cuts to existing programs.

“With no new dollars at all, we are reducing opportunities across the board,” he said.

The proposal includes a 10 percent hike in hunting licenses and tags, and varying increase to fishing licenses. For example, an annual license that allows residents to fish in fresh water and saltwater and to collect shellfish would rise from $55.32 to $64.92. The same license for nonresidents would rise about $20 to $144.12.

There were few comments from the eight or so people who attended the meeting at the Walla Walla Community College Auditorium. Fishing outfitter Adam Hocking of Clarkston asked why permits for fishing guides who live in Washington will rise but the cost that nonresident outfitters pay to operate in the state will fall. He noted that Oregon charges out-of-state outfitters more than it charges its residents.

“I’m not upset at having to pay more,” he said. “I’m upset at nonresidents having to pay less.”

Eastern Region Fisheries Manager Chris Donley said state law requires the agency to create an even playing field for nonresident businesses, and if the new fees are approved, resident and nonresident outfitters will be paying about the same amount of money to operate in Washington.

The fee proposal also includes a mechanism that would index future fee increases to the rate of inflation. Pozzanghera said doing so would allow the agency to keep up with rising prices without having to go back to the Legislature every few years.

More information on the department’s revenue requests and what they would pay for are available at on the agency’s website, where people can also submit comments.

Outdoors editor Rich Landers contributed to this story.