On Thu, 11 Jul 1996, Don Baccus wrote:
[DW]
> >(But even if hunters
> >overstate their case, the moral of the story remains that paying fees
> >and excise taxes buys clout; TWW is an opportunity for birders to buy
> >some clout.)

[DB]
> CLOUT? How about : acres. Square miles. Sections.
>
> From that follows clout. It's the primary reason why ODF&W pays
> attention to hunters [...]

Of course, and providing funds that constitute a significant part of
an agency's budget also generates clout; the TWW would do both, and is
an opportunity for birders to have a stronger influence on wildlife
policies.

[...]
DW
> >I do, however, gripe about hunters having the
> >run of nearly all public lands in the fall, and the rest of us having to
> >work around the hunting schedule. In Washington, any public lands except
> >national parks and (some of) those within city limits and other populated
> >areas are open to hunting (fide Fish and Wildlife person at their
> >information number). National forests, state parks and forests, etc.,
> >were *not* paid for by hunters.

[...]
DB> I suppose they [F&W] could do more to inform the non-hunting public
> as to when hunting occurs, but in Oregon at least, funding for such
> stuff is non-existent. Again, this is legislative. [...]

You started out arguing that hunters get attention from F&W because
they paid for land that F&W administers, and they pay fees and taxes
that birders don't. Presumably you meant that this influence acted
directly on F&W, not just indirectly through the legislature... (?).
Obviously there are many progressive folk in Wash F&W, but whoever
determined the format of the hunting schedules (presumably F&W staff,
not the legislature) was not concerned with summarizing this info in
a manner that is convenient for non-hunters as well as hunters to use,
even though this is the only source the public has for this info (which
affects vast amounts of public land in Washington, not just wildlife
refuges). The only part of F&W that the public sees reflected in these
schedules is the part that revolves around hunting.

TWW is a opportunity to strengthen the nongame part of F&W.

David Wright
Seattle, WA
dwright at u.washington.edu