Fish and Wildlife plays important state role

Eastern Washington is noted for the recreational activities it offers, including — hunting, fishing, hiking, boating, kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding and many others. People come from all over to enjoy the natural resources and not just from Western Washington. 

These recreational visitors bring much needed funds to the groceries, gas stations, motels, campgrounds and many of the resorts that specialize in meeting their needs to have a reason to travel to Eastern Washington. And many persons come from the crowded conditions of the west side of the state to enjoy the open spaces, drier weather and friendly residents of our Eastern Washington.

In order to meet the demands of visitors it is essential to preserve our resources to provide a reason to encourage such visitors. The Department of Fish and Wildlife is one such agency that helps Eastern Washington maintain and manage fishes and game animals that provide so much of a boost to our local economy.

Since the 1930’s, the hunters and anglers have paid the bills for the department and the department has provided services with no help (or very little help) from the state legislative body in Olympia. Any time the department acquired lands it has compensated the county governments for loss of property tax. And such purchases have been from non-governmental bodies like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation which operates on funding from the public not a government bureau.

The department provided boat launches on some of the state properties but does not charge any fees to use the facilities. Other agencies do charge fees such as the Department of Natural Resources (state lands or school lands). Lands under the management of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service do charge fees for visiting their lands and so does Washington State Parks.

The recent editorial in the Cheney Free Press was incorrect in many of these facts that were presented as truth. The publisher should so a better job of writing about such issues and do a much better job of research before making so many errors in the papers mentioned.

The economy of Eastern Washington needs the boost in sales and visits by all outdoor recreational activity and selling of state lands to private ownership is not the answer. It is time the state government started to help the hikers, anglers and all the tourist and visitors to enjoy the experience of visiting Eastern Washington lands and waters.

G. J. Hickman

Cheney