Dear leroy,
Thank You for your overwhelming response last week to our call to Acton regarding the Senate's proposed merger of State Parks, The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources. Legislators heard your voice, and as a result, CCA was instrumental in getting the merger language amended out of the Senate Supplemental Budget.
Now the WDFW is facing another major challenge in the Senate. Senate budget writers have decided that since they were not able to achieve their $10 million in savings from the proposed merger of the agencies, they have now decided to drastically cut General Fund spending to the Department of Fish and Wildlife by another $9.7 million. To put this in perspective, the Department already experienced a reduction of $30 million in General Fund spending in the 2009 Operating Budget. That is $40 million in cuts out of a $110 million dollar General Fund Budget over two years! According to the Department, these additional cuts will jeopardize future salmon production with the closure of up to 5 hatcheries, impacting Grays Harbor, Coastal and Puget Sound fisheries. In addition, the number of enforcement officers will be reduced and staffing levels for important salmon recovery efforts will be lower as a result of the proposed Senate budget cuts. See the attached document from WDFW outlining the details of these budget cuts.
The House version of the Supplemental Budget also reduces the Departments General Fund spending, but at a much lower level. Instead of a near $10 million hit in the Senate Supplemental Budget, the House Supplemental Budget proposes a $6 million budget reduction. While we have significant concerns with any cut to the agency, the House proposal does provide the Department with an additional $4 million over the Senate proposal. That is $4 million that could go to improve salmon recovery efforts.
Once again, we need your help. Much like the battle we fought over the merger last week, we need you to contact your legislators immediately, urging them to oppose the Senate cuts to the Department of Fish and Wildlife budget and to --at a minimum -- support the House funding levels for the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The Senate cuts cripple the Department's ability to successfully manage our fisheries resources and will have a long term negative impact on salmon recovery efforts in our State. The cuts being proposed for WDFW are far greater than those being proposed for other Natural Resource agencies and come on top of significant cuts last year.
Sincerely,
CCA Washington
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