(The Center Square) – The Columbus, Ohio-based Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation has filed a lawsuit in state superior court against the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife. The lawsuit alleges the agency violated the state’s Public Records Act by slow-walking a public records request for 16 months.
The nonprofit organization that defends the rights of hunters, anglers, trappers, and sport shooters initially sought public records in September 2023 regarding documents related to a meeting of the WDFW Commission.
“The department has yet to deliver even a tiny fraction of the documents it identified as relevant to the Sportsmen’s Alliance’s request,” SAF said in a news release.
Dr. Todd Adkins, SAF senior vice president, provided some more specifics.
“Over 500 days have passed, and we’ve received less than 0.01% of the documents the department identified as relevant to our request,” he said in the news release. “Instead, we’ve been consistently strung along, with delivery promised by ever-extending deadlines. Which begs the question – what is the agency hiding? It’s no wonder the state’s sportsmen and women have little confidence in this process.”
The news release goes on to say, “At its current rate in processing our request, the department will take 1,975,034 days, or over 5,411 years, to produce the responsive records.”
The Center Square reached out to WDFW for comment on the lawsuit.
“WDFW has received the complaint, and we are not able to comment on active litigation at this time,” Sam Montgomery, acting WDFW communications and public engagement director, said in an email.
The documents sought by the SAF pertain to a Nov. 18, 2022, WDFW Commission meeting that resulted in a vote to cancel spring bear hunts. The SAF contends the vote came as a surprise to the organization and Washington hunters because there was no indication on the agenda that a cancellation vote would be considered.