Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission members who balked at a plan to phase gill-nets off the Columbia River will face the public Thursday at the Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show. Steven Nehl/Oregonian file photo
Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commissioners under fire from sport anglers will help host a reception Thursday at the Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show.
The reception comes on the heels this past week of a sharply worded demand by a legislator for the resignation of all four commission members who defied a plan to remove gill-nets from the lower Columbia River.
“This is an outrageous and inappropriate decision,” said Rep. Bill Kennemer, R-Oregon City, in a floor speech Thursday in Salem. “…175,000 Columbia River sports anglers are paying, being betrayed, and taken for a ride.”
Kennemer called on the commission to either reverse its decision, for the governor to remove the four commissioners – Bruce Buckmaster, Laura Anderson, Greg Wolley and Holly Akenson – or for them to all resign.
He also threatened legislative budgetary action, specifically mentioning a potential refund of the unpopular Columbia River Endorsement Fee paid by sport anglers and originally intended to help transition gill-nets into off-channel areas. (An accounting of the money is now displayed online.)
Buckmaster, Wolley and Akenson are among five commissioners scheduled to host a Sportsmen’s Show reception at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the Expo Center’s Green Theater (admission not required). The other two are Jim Bittle and Bob Webber, who voted in the minority with Commission chair Michael Finley. Curt Melcher, director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, will also attend.
The full commission will hold its regular monthly meeting Friday in Tigard.
On Saturday, Kennemer and Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stayton will join the Coastal Conservation Association and other sportfishing groups in a town hall discussion at 2:30 p.m., in the show’s Auxilliary East Hall.
— Bill Monroe
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