More Details On Newest Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission Member Emerge

More details are emerging on Washington’s newest Fish and Wildlife Commission member, as well as reformists’ reaction to Governor Bob Ferguson’s Monday appointments.

“I grew up digging razor clams, dipping smelt up at Kalaloch, crabbing, hunting deer and elk, hiking, kayaking, everything that one does around here when you really love being outdoors,” Victor Garcia of Anacortes told the Washington State Standard for an article today.

Garcia’s term officially started Saturday, April 5, and runs through December 31, 2030.

While a WDFW press release described him as a “longtime commercial fisherman and educator,” his days on a Bering Sea boat are reported as having actually ended in the 1990s, according to the Standard, as he came ashore to start a family.

“I do citizen science, I work on eelgrass assessment, salmon spawning surveys. I’m a hunter, but I’m also in Audubon,” Garcia also told Standard reporter Bill Lucia. “I’ve gone all over the world to view specific birds. But, every now and then, I do hunt some of them.”

In a Capital Press article, Garcia is also paraphased as stating he is a hunter and a conservationist. “I do both,” he told reporter Don Jenkins. “I don’t see them as mutually exclusive.” 

Indeed, some years ago, I did a blog about a study that found birders and hunters are the strongest conservationists of all; yahtzee if you do both. While former Commissioner Kim Thorburn was not a hunter, she was a vegan birder who turned out to be a strong supporter of hunting and fishing, as well as good governance, during her time on the citizen panel that oversees WDFW policy and hires and fires its director.

Garcia made light of his interests in the Press, stating, “I have something for everyone to hate. You might describe me as a redneck liberal.”

And what are some more of those interests? Here is what Garcia’s official WDFW bio states about him:

Victor Garcia grew up outdoors. His favorite places were the trails, beaches, rivers, and lakes of the Cascades and Olympics. An avid birder before he could read, he has traveled to all continents except Antarctica to experience wildlife firsthand. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from the University of Washington, learning how ecosystems function from legends such as Robert Paine. After working for National Marine Fisheries Service, he worked as a commercial fisherman in the Bering Sea region. Victor earned a master’s in science education at Vanderbilt University. He taught in Nashville, returning to Washington to teach math and science. His flagship course was AP Environmental Science; where the topics of habitat, clean air, water, and conservation were emphasized. An advocate for community science, he worked with his students on monitoring and restoration projects. 

After retiring, he can be found anywhere from Washington to Alaska, in a boat, on a bike, or trail, enjoying nature with his family, friends, and dogs.

That Washington State Standard article adds to reporting on this blog earlier this week that found sportsmen’s groups and tribes pleased with Ferguson’s reappointments of Jim Anderson of Buckley and Molly Linville of Douglas County, and eager to meet with Garcia and learn more about him.

On the flip side, Washington Wildlife First – chief among the groups trying to “reform” Washington critter management via petitions, commission appointments, changing the mandate and other means – said it feels “betrayed.”

“Governor Ferguson insisted that he wanted to create a more ‘balanced’ Fish and Wildlife Commission, but instead, he has tilted it away from the values of Washingtonians, and toward the powerful special interests that have long controlled state fish and wildlife policy,” WWF stated in a bitter press release.

They said they had had “great hope” the new governor would reappoint their favored candidate, former Commission Vice Chair Tim Ragen of Anacortes.

In early February, Ferguson rescinded former Governor Jay Inslee’s 11th hour reappointment of Ragen and appointment of Lynn O’Connor, a Northeast Washington Rotary Club member and former park ranger, and then launched an “extensive interview process, utilizing a diverse interview panel to evaluate all of the 14 eligible individuals who applied for the Commission over the past year,” per a Governor’s Office press release.

Making his decision to appoint Garcia, Anderson and Linville instead of plug Ragen and O’Connor back in, Ferguson cited last December’s issuance of the Ruckelshaus Center report, which “raised several concerns about the commission, including the appointment process.”

That process had gone awry under Inslee, becoming more about ideology than balance and good fish and wildlife governance.

Cry not for the reformists, for they are the victims of their own overzealousness. The earthquake in fish and wildlife management they attempted in what must have seemed like a soft target in Washington created a tsunami, all right, one that ultimately washed their guy out to sea. Calling WDFW “a regressive department” probably wasn’t a good choice of words either.

After all the outsized dysfunction and disruption this small group has sown, heartburn and strife they’ve caused, Ferguson put the interest of Washington’s wildlife first, just not Washington Wildlife First’s.