WDFW Hunter Ed Instructor And Master Hunter Resigns

A Southwest Washington man who helped educate “hundreds of new hunters” as well as served as a WDFW Master Hunter for more than a dozen years has resigned from both posts.

In a letter to Governor Jay Inslee (see below), John Wallace wrote that recent “activist appointments” to the Fish and Wildlife Commission are “killing hunting in Washington and therefore, are killing actual conservation” without offering funding solutions, rendering his efforts “fruitless.”

“With regret, I am resigning as an instructor and Master Hunter,” stated the Vancouver mortgage broker and active member of the Hunting-Washington forum, where he’s known as pianoman9701. “I hope you come to understand that hunting has an important role in Wildlife conservation and will seek to undue the damage to hunting and our valuable Washington wildlife.”

The resignations were confirmed by WDFW yesterday.

Hunters know to keep an eye on a population more so than an individual, but the loss of someone so invested in conservation and who has pointed so many new hunters in that direction is worrisome. And it follows on a state carnivore manager who left their position earlier this year following the commission’s bucking of agency recommendations around spring bear hunting.

“As you may be aware, wildlife conservation is funded primarily by the Pittman Robertson taxes we pay on firearms and ammunition and hunting equipment, hunting and fishing license fees, and our participation in conservation groups like Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants forever (and many more organizations). All other groups combined do not come close to the contributions to wildlife conservation made by hunters and fishers,” Wallace wrote.

In 2018, WDFW estimated that between license fees and Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson excise fees and the leveraging thereof, hunters and anglers contributed a full third of its budget, a figure that doesn’t take into account the volunteer work of RMEF, DU and others, nor the federal and state taxes and electricity bills that sportsmen pay along with the general public to make up the other two-thirds. Since then and after a failed license fee increase, state General Fund disbursements have grown, and there’s a chance WDFW could score millions more should the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act pass Congress.

Wallace said that his goal as a WDFW Master Hunter – a program created in 2007 and that replaced an older one to deal with conflict wildlife and more – “was to improve my ethics, my knowledge about the North American Wildlife Conservation Model (the envy of the entire world in wildlife conservation), and to be able to communicate effectively with non-hunters about our heritage, our impact, and why we do what we do.”

Per WDFW, there were 1,361 certified Master Hunters in March 2021. Along with helping to resolve problems between people and critters, lethally removing deer and elk damaging property, and bolstering landowner relations and improving private-land access, their job includes “Strengthening the conservation ethic, image of hunting, and hunting heritage.” They must also perform 40 hours of community service each year; WDFW estimates that some 15,000 volunteer hours worth $450,000 are annually provided by certified Master Hunters and program applicants.

As for the Hunter Education program, from 2009-12 and ’14-19, it certified an average of 11,314 students annually (2013 data was unavailable for the tallying). The agency has big goals to boost that to 14,000 a year by 2030 by increasing outreach to underserved or underrepresented areas of the state and more efforts under its 2022 Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation Plan.

John Wallace’s late November letter comes as the Governor’s Office mulls commission appointments. Three terms officially end at the end of this month, including those of two pro-hunting and -fishing members, one of whom has publicly stated he will resign. Traditional conservationists and preservationists are lobbying Inslee ahead of appointments. As of mid-November at least 48 people have applied, and since then one more has apparently thrown their hat in the ring.

Inslee’s past five appointments have been controversially one-sided, tipping the commission away from its strongest traditional supporters as some groups aim to “reform” WDFW, which the citizen panel oversees and hires and fires its director.

THE FOLLOWING IS THE RESIGNATION LETTER OF JOHN WALLACE

Governor Jay Inslee
PO Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002
Subject: Master Hunter/Hunter Education Instructor/Wildlife Commission

Governor Inslee,

I have been a WA Master Hunter for close to 15 years. My reason for doing the work was to improve my ethics, my knowledge about the North American Wildlife Conservation Model (the envy of the entire world in wildlife conservation), and to be able to communicate effectively with non-hunters about our heritage, our impact, and why we do what we do. I’m also a Hunter Education Instructor, having brought hundreds of new hunters into our sport. 

As you may be aware, wildlife conservation is funded primarily by the Pittman Robertson taxes we pay on firearms and ammunition and hunting equipment, hunting and fishing license fees, and our participation in conservation groups like Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants forever (and many more organizations). All other groups combined do not come close to the contributions to wildlife conservation made by hunters and fishers.

Your appointments of five animal rights activists for a majority to the Wildlife Commission has had an immediate negative effect and will continue to hurt our hunters’ massive contributions to wildlife conservation as hunter numbers dwindle out of sheer frustration. We’re losing opportunities, ungulate numbers are decreasing, all while the costs of fees and equipment increases. Bear and cougar numbers are out of control in WA. Your activist appointments have already negatively affected wildlife conservation by eliminating predator seasons (spring bear), while their organizations contribute little to nothing for actual wildlife conservation. They’re killing hunting in WA and therefore, are killing actual conservation. Their organizations’ stated goals are not to save any wildlife, but to end hunting. And they give no solution as how to fund wildlife conservation once their anti-hunting goals are met.

As a result, I find my efforts as a Master Hunter and Hunter Education Instructor are fruitless. With regret, I am resigning as an instructor and Master Hunter. I hope you come to understand that hunting has an important role in Wildlife conservation and will seek to undue the damage to hunting and our valuable Washington wildlife.

Respectfully,

John Wallace