ACCESS FEE: Updated 3/2

Phil Anderson, state wildlife director, told me Tuesday in Olympia there has been an amendment added to the Discover Pass legislation that would allow hunting and fishing license holders to use state Department of Fish and Wildlife lands for $7 extra.

One of the big objections of sportsmen is paying $30 for the proposed Discover Pass, that would be needed to use state parks, Department of Fish and Wildlife boat ramps and lands and state forest lands.

Sportsmen already support natural resource management through hunting and fishing license fees and having to ante up another $30 simply to use a public fishing access area seems excessive.

I’ll have more on this later as soon as I make time to do a follow-up on the Discover Pass, parks-wildlife merger and hunting-fishing license fee increase bills.