‘This is improper’: Tom Nelson on WDFW commissioners found to have violated open meetings law

An independent investigation commissioned by Gov. Bob Ferguson found that Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Commissioners Lorna Smith and Melanie Rowland violated the state’s Open Public Meetings Act and, in some cases, the Public Records Act.

The probe, conducted by Transformative Workplace Investigations and released in late July, found that commissioners engaged in “serial meetings through coordinated communications” that shaped agency business outside publicly noticed meetings, including coordination on votes, policy drafting, and leadership elections.

The investigation stemmed from a Sportsmen’s Alliance records request and an internal WDFW legal memo, known as the “Knoll Memo,” that alleged commissioners had undisclosed meetings with Washington Wildlife First, a conservation nonprofit that has separately sued WDFW’s director and deputy director in federal court, with Smith listed as a co-plaintiff.

Tom Nelson, host of “The Outdoor Line,” discussed the investigation on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio, pointing to Jody Allen, sister of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, as a funder of Washington Wildlife First.

“Jody Allen has a few extra dollars, and has been putting them into a group called Washington Wildlife First,” Nelson said. “The problem with Washington Wildlife First is they wish to curtail, if not end, our traditional hunts and fishing trips. When this group starts improperly influencing and communicating with WDFW commissioners that are governor appointees, and you start having violations of the Open Public Records Act and emails, and you’re found to have colluded, this is improper. This is a subjugation of the natural public process.”

On Aug. 31, Ferguson’s office sent Smith and Rowland formal warning letters instead of removing them from the nine-member commission, whose members are all gubernatorial appointees; Smith, Rowland, and fellow commissioner John Lehmkuhl’s terms expire at the end of 2026.

Under state law, the Fish and Wildlife Commission must seek geographic balance, with three members living east of the Cascades, three west, and three at-large, with no two from the same county. The governor appoints all nine; Smith, Rowland, and the other commissioners named in the investigation were appointed by former Gov. Jay Inslee.

“Every single commissioner sits at the pleasure of the governor,” Nelson said. “This is how you can influence wildlife policy in the state of Washington, by picking people that work for predator preservationist groups or anti-hunting groups, and that’s what we’ve seen.”

Nelson also cited a separate issue involving Smith, who served on a Jefferson County land-use board while sitting on the commission, which the Sportsmen’s Alliance and others have argued conflicts with state law barring simultaneous service on two boards.

“Our now-Governor Bob Ferguson, who was then attorney general, could have addressed this back then, chose not to,” Nelson said. “Now Lorna Smith, because of some of the findings of the investigation, has now sued the state of Washington.”

Nelson pointed to the commission’s decision earlier this year to end spring black bear hunting as one outcome of the shift he described.

“When you make wildlife biology decisions using woke ideology, that’s no way to run a railroad,” Nelson said. “The problem with the commission right now is they have trained biologists, published scientists that are giving advice to the commission, and they choose not the scientific information, not the best biology.”

Nelson said he sees predator management as directly tied to public safety, pointing to a fatal cougar attack on a mountain biker in Washington within the past three years and a bear attack earlier this year.

“The more we don’t establish hunts and our dominance over these predatory animals, the more we will become prey,” Nelson said. “Right now, cougars kill more elk and deer than the humans in the state of Washington.”

Budget cuts have also closed parts of a popular salmon fishery

Nelson also criticized WDFW for closing part of the Snohomish River to fishing this fall due to reduced monitoring funding rather than a conservation concern. The Washington Legislature cut WDFW’s budget for Puget Sound salmon and steelhead monitoring in its most recent session, and the agency says it can no longer afford to monitor the full length of the Snohomish, Skagit and Stillaguamish rivers required under federal law and tribal co-management agreements.

WDFW closed the upper Snohomish River, above the railroad bridge near Snohomish, from Sept. 26 through Nov. 2, timed to coincide with this year’s Everett Coho Derby, the largest salmon derby on the West Coast.

“The Everett Coho Derby, the largest salmon derby on the West Coast, is in town, and WDFW grabbed the football and pulled it away so nobody could fish the Snohomish River, because they can’t afford to monitor these fisheries,” Nelson said. “We can’t fish, John, because somebody can’t watch us.”

Nelson cited WDFW’s own economic analysis showing the value of recreational fishing on affected rivers outweighs what the agency requested to fund monitoring.

“The agency estimated the fishery brought in $2.3 million in local spending, more than the $1.7 million it had requested for monitoring,” Curley said, citing the same figures.

Nelson argued recreational fishing delivers outsized economic value compared with commercially caught fish.

“The recreationally caught fish is worth 10 times to the local economy than a commercially caught fish that’s just purchased in a grocery store,” Nelson said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The John Curley Show” weekdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM.

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