WA wildlife commission to name new leaders next week

Washington’s top wildlife panel will choose new leadership when it meets next week.

The nine-member Fish and Wildlife Commission will meet Thursday to Saturday next week, beginning with committee meetings on Thursday.

Electing the panel’s chair and vice-chair is the first item on the agenda for the full commission meeting on Friday. Nominations were put forward during a truncated meeting in July, setting up a one-person race for chair and a two-commissioner race for vice-chair.

Commissioner Jim Anderson is running for the chair position. Anderson, of Pierce County, is the former executive director of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and has served as a commissioner since July 2019. He was reappointed by Gov. Bob Ferguson this past spring.

For vice chair, the race appears to be between commissioners Molly Linville and John Lehmkuhl.

Linville, a rancher from Douglas County, was first appointed to the commission in 2019 and served as vice chair from 2021 to 2023. She was briefly removed from the commission in early 2025 after outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee appointed someone else to her seat. She returned in April after Ferguson rescinded Inslee’s appointments and then reappointed her.

Lehmkuhl, a wildlife biologist from Chelan County, has served on the commission since 2022.

Outgoing chair Barbara Baker, of Thurston County, announced at the panel’s July meeting that she would not seek another term as chair. She has held the position since 2022.

She told her fellow commissioners in July that she thought having new leadership on the panel was a “healthy decision.”

“It’s a good management tool for us to change leadership every so often, and I’ve done it for a long time,” Baker said.

Baker’s tenure has been marked by controversy and criticism from hunting advocates who have bashed the commission over decisions like the termination of spring bear hunting.

A December report from the William D. Ruckelshaus Center based on more than 100 interviews found that many observers view the commission as “dysfuncitonal.”

Baker is also one of four commissioners that the Sportsmen’s Alliance has asked the governor to remove, citing what the organization considers improper behavior and mishandling of public records, among other issues.

The group’s petition also sought the removal of Lehmkuhl and commissioners Lorna Smith and Melanie Rowland.