Washington State Lost Its Spring Bear Hunt to Political Overreach—And It’s Just the Beginning

Washington just lost it’s permit-only spring bear season when the state’s Fish and Wildlife Commission vote came up tied 4-4. This is despite the fact that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife staff had recommended the commission approve the hunt, which has taken place each spring since 1999.  The vote to stop the spring bear hunt highlights the political divisiveness in the state and game commission, as well as the abuse of power wrought by Gov. Jay Inslee and favoritism for urban areas west of the Cascade Mountains. And it’s emblematic of anti-hunting efforts taking place nationally—including in your state.

A former presidential hopeful who ran on a green-friendly, climate-change platform (and who stumbled answering basic questions about recycling), Gov. Inslee runs the state with an iron hand through emergency powers granted at the start of the pandemic (and yet-to-be rescinded), and by appealing to western Washington voters at the expense of more than 1.6 million citizens in rural eastern Washington. When he doesn’t overrule the game commission and advisory groups outright (like on cougars and wolves, which predominantly impact those residents in the east of the state), he governs through dysfunction, paralysis, and decree.

By law, the game commission is to have three representatives from eastern Washington, three from western Washington and three at-large commissioners. Gov. Inslee has left one of the eastern Washington commissioner seats empty for more than a year and has only appointed western Washington residents to the at-large seats. At best, that has set the table for tie votes, which makes accomplishing work difficult. At worst, it creates a lopsided representation on the commission when two-thirds of the state’s land mass and the majority of wildlife-conflict issues are east of the Cascades.

Further, game commissioner Larry Carpenter has been left unscrupulously on the commission as chairman in bureaucratic title only. In reality, Carpenter’s term was up more than a year ago. He either needs to be reappointed or replaced. But Gov. Inslee has kept him in place, doing neither. With a commission of eight and a chairman who he can replace at any moment, Gov. Inslee can unduly influence game commission matters. According to backroom-word-of-mouth, Carpenter (who has long been an ally of sportsmen) has become Inslee’s puppet, voting “no” on passing the spring bear hunt at the behest of the governor.