Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Last updated

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (logo).svg
Logo of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Agency overview
Formed1994 (1994)
Preceding agencies
  • Washington Department of Fisheries
  • Washington Department of Wildlife
Jurisdiction State of Washington
Headquarters Natural Resources Building, Olympia, Washington, U.S.
47°02′14″N122°53′52″W / 47.03722°N 122.89778°W / 47.03722; -122.89778
Employeesapprox. 2,250 (2024) [1]
Annual budget$723.8 million (2023-25) [2]
Agency executive
  • Kelly Susewind, director
Key document
Website wdfw.wa.gov

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is a department of the government of the state of Washington, established in 1994. [1]

Contents

The WDFW manages over a million acres of land, the bulk of which is generally open to the public, and more than 500 water access sites. [3] Many of the sites are termed "wildlife areas" and permit hunting during the hunting season, typically in the autumn and early winter for birds, but all year round for coyotes. [4] Due to declining participation, the department has a hunter and angler recruitment, retention and reactivation plan. [5] A Discover Pass is required to park in the wildlife areas. [3]

WDFW is headquartered in Olympia, Washington and has 6 regional offices in Washington. In 2024, the agency collected approximately $59 million and $6.6 million from the sales of recreational and commercial licenses, respectively. [1]

History

The department's history starts with the appointment of a fisheries commissioner in 1890 by Governor of Washington Elisha P. Ferry. [6] The department is overseen by a director appointed by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission; Kelly Susewind was appointed to the position in June 2018. [7] Hunting and fishing license sales and income from the Discover Pass recreational access fee make up about one-quarter of the department’s budget. [5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 McCarthy, Pat (August 7, 2025). "Accountability Audit Report, Department of Fish and Wildlife; For the period July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024 (Report No. 1037864)". Office of the Washington State Auditor . p. 21. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  2. ↑ "Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife", WDFW's Operating Budget, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, retrieved August 10, 2025
  3. 1 2 "WDFW Lands Page". Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. August 22, 2020. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Summary of Hunting Seasons". Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  5. 1 2 Flatt, Courtney (May 8, 2022). "Decline in number of hunters causing funding problems for Northwest fish and wildlife agencies". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  6. ↑ "About the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife". Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
  7. ↑ Francovich, Eli (June 22, 2018). "Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife names Kelly Susewind new director". The Spokesman-Review . Retrieved February 5, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.