Fish & Wildlife Commission Vote on New Prospecting Rules Canceled

The vote at the Fish and Wildlife Commission rule adoption hearing scheduled for February 2, 2008 has been canceled. Instead of voting on whether to adopt the new prospecting and mining rules proposed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Commission will receive a briefing from WDFW. The meeting agenda for Saturday, February 2, states:

MINERAL PROSPECTING (a.k.a. “GOLD AND FISH”) REGULATION PROPOSALS UPDATE – BRIEFING:

Department staff will brief the Commission on the status of developing proposed amendments to WAC rules regulating mineral prospecting activities while protecting fish and wildlife habitat. The amended rules, once finalized and adopted, will be published in a new “Gold and Fish pamphlet.”

Staff Report:
Perry Harvester, Region 3 Habitat Program Manager; and
Pat Chapman, Regulatory Services Coordinator, Habitat Program

Apparently, the change in the agenda came about as a result of the comments received by WDFW regarding the proposed rules and from the input they received at the four public meeetings which concluded January 16 in Mill Creek.

At this point, the entire rule revision process appears to be up in the air. I understand that representatives of the mining community will be present at the commission meeting to video record WDFW's presentation to the Commissioners.

Details on the Commission meeting are:

February 1-2, 2008, Commission Meeting
Natural Resources Building
1111 Washington St. SE
First Floor, Room 172
Olympia, Washington

The Fish and Wildlife Commission's home page is http://wdfw.wa.gov/com/comintro.htm.

The link for the meeting calendar is http://wdfw.wa.gov/com/meetings.htm where you will find links to the agendas for the upcoming meetings.

If you can possibly attend the February 2 meeting, please do so.