Veteran of Idaho Wildlife Agency Named to Lead Washington's Fish and Wildlife Department The Olympian Tuesday, January 13, 2015 Jim Unsworth, who has spent more than 30 years with Idaho’s wildife agency, was chosen Saturday to head Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. The 57-year-old Unsworth, who has been the deputy director of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, was chosen from four finalists by the state Fish and Wildlife Commission. The commission had interviewed eight candidates to take over for Phil Anderson, who announced in August he was resigning. Read more
Expect Higher Fees, Limited Access to Popular Recreation Spots in 2015 The News Tribune Saturday, January 10, 2015 It’s the first weekend of the NFL playoffs, so the most pressing outdoor issue on your mind is probably, “Can I squeeze in a side trip to the Grand Canyon on the way to Glendale, Arizona, to watch the Seahawks play in the Super Bowl?” Well, if you don’t do it now, you’ll pay for it later. The cost to visit national parks will likely increase by 67 percent in 2015. Read more
Outdoor recreation in state yields $22 billion in spending The Associated Press Friday, January 9, 2015 SEATTLE — A new state study finds that people in Washington spend nearly $22 billion each year hiking, skiing, boating, golfing, and in other outdoor pursuits. The report released Thursday estimates that residents spend on average about 56 days a year on outdoor recreational activities. And they spend money while doing so — on hotels, recreational equipment, food and other items. Read more
Big Tent Beginnings Thursday, January 1, 2015 If you’re looking for the time the “Big Tent Outdoor Coalition” drew its first breath, leap back to Spring 2012. We were fresh off legislative sessions where the Washington Wildlife & Recreation Program (WWRP) had to fight to survive in a 2011-13 biennial budget, and funding had been diverted from dedicated recreational accounts in the 2012 supplemental budget process. I sat in a meeting room with Kaleen Cottingham, the Director of the Recreation & Conservation Office, wondering how outdoor recreation could grow a louder and more formative voice in the State Capital. Read more
State Parks - Making Lemonade out of Budget Lemons Tuesday, December 30, 2014 Governor Inslee released his proposed budget for the 2015-17 biennium. After all the hoo-rah over the Governor’s Outdoor Recreation Task Force, after the Governor’s appeal to his Task Force for a plan for sufficient and sustainable funding for our state parks, I can only state that Governor Inslee’s proposed budget for State Parks is a major disappointment. Read more