Save Badger Lake! - Spokane County, WA

[cdcarpeti]

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is preparing to kill all fish, insects, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, etc in Badger Lake (Spokane County WA).

Badger Lake is teeming with trophy-sized Bass that will be killed by "rehabilitation" this fall.

Badger Lake is the home of multitudes of Osprey, Bald Eagles, Hawks, and other raptors, that depend upon the aquatic life for sustenance.

Swans, ducks, geese, loons, turkeys, quail, grouse, and dozens of other birds rely upon Badger Lake as a clean and bountiful refuge.

Otters, racoons, bobcats, and myriad other wild animals will be threatened when Badger Lake is poisoned.


The WDFW intends to completely poison the lake in October 2013 by dumping tens of thousands of pounds of Rotenone insecticide into the water.

In addition to the ecological consequences, those residents that use the pure (up til now) lake water for drinking and irrigation of crops will be seriously impacted by this activity.

According to WDFW, the ONLY reason for this "rehabilitation" is to replace all aquatic life with hatchery raised trout. More trout translates into more fishing licenses and access passes sold.

Taxpayer dollars are being spent to kill wildlife and to enrich those that do the killing.

Disgusting.


Complain to these WDFW Contacts:

Steve.Pozzanghera@dfw.wa.gov (509)892-7852
Christopher.Donley@dfw.wa.gov 509-892-1001 Ext 307
teamspokane@dfw.wa.gov (509) 892-1001
randall.osborne@dfw.wa.gov 509-892-1001 Ext 302
Philip.Anderson@dfw.wa.gov 360-902-2720
director@dfw.wa.gov (360) 902-2200
Bruce.Bolding@dfw.wa.gov 360-902-8417

here is a link to the WDFW phone directory: http://wdfw.wa.gov/about/contact/edirectory/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[hewesfisher]

Public meetings set on proposed
treatments for three eastside lakes

OLYMPIA – State fishery managers will host four public meetings in late July to discuss proposals to treat three lakes in eastern Washington with rotenone, a naturally occurring pesticide commonly used to remove undesirable fish species from lakes and streams.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is proposing to treat Badger Lake in Spokane County, Spectacle Lake in Okanogan County, and the Hampton and Pillar-Widgeon Lake chains in Grant County this fall to remove species ranging from bass and bullhead to stunted panfish.

The Pillar-Widgeon chain is made up of 10 waters, including: Pillar, Snipe, Cattail, Gadwall, Poacher, Lemna, Shoveler, Sago, Hourglass and the Widgeons. The Hampton Chain is made up of Upper and Lower Hampton, Hampton Slough, Hen, Dabbler, Marie and three small, unnamed ponds.

“The goal is to restore trout populations by removing competing species that have essentially taken over,” said Bruce Bolding, WDFW warmwater fish program manager. “Illegally stocked fish compete with trout fry for food and prey, rendering efforts to stock trout fry ineffective.”

Public meetings to discuss the lake treatments proposed by WDFW are scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. on the following dates at the following locations:

July 18 – Ephrata, at the WDFW Region 2 Office, 1550 Alder St. N.W.

July 29 - Olympia, at the Natural Resource Building, 1111 Washington St., Room 175.

July 30 – Tonasket, at the City Hall Council Chamber, 209 S. Whitcomb.

July 31 – Cheney, at the Cheney Library, 610 1st St.

In addition to input received at the public meetings, WDFW will consider written comments received through Aug. 23. Comments should be addressed to Bruce Bolding, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia, WA 98501-1091.

Final consideration of the proposals will be made by the WDFW director in early September.

Rotenone is an organic substance derived from the roots of tropical plants, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved for use as a fish pesticide and as an insecticide in the agriculture industry. It has been used by WDFW in lake and stream rehabilitations for more than 70 years, and is commonly used by other fish and wildlife management agencies nationwide.

[zen leecher]

I'm assuming the "bucket brigade" put the bass in Badger.

[AJ's Dad]

Public meetings set on proposed
treatments for three eastside lakes

OLYMPIA – State fishery managers will host four public meetings in late July to discuss proposals to treat three lakes in eastern Washington with rotenone, a naturally occurring pesticide commonly used to remove undesirable fish species from lakes and streams.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is proposing to treat Badger Lake in Spokane County, Spectacle Lake in Okanogan County, and the Hampton and Pillar-Widgeon Lake chains in Grant County this fall to remove species ranging from bass and bullhead to stunted panfish.

The Pillar-Widgeon chain is made up of 10 waters, including: Pillar, Snipe, Cattail, Gadwall, Poacher, Lemna, Shoveler, Sago, Hourglass and the Widgeons. The Hampton Chain is made up of Upper and Lower Hampton, Hampton Slough, Hen, Dabbler, Marie and three small, unnamed ponds.

“The goal is to restore trout populations by removing competing species that have essentially taken over,” said Bruce Bolding, WDFW warmwater fish program manager. “Illegally stocked fish compete with trout fry for food and prey, rendering efforts to stock trout fry ineffective.”

Public meetings to discuss the lake treatments proposed by WDFW are scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. on the following dates at the following locations:

July 18 – Ephrata, at the WDFW Region 2 Office, 1550 Alder St. N.W.

July 29 - Olympia, at the Natural Resource Building, 1111 Washington St., Room 175.

July 30 – Tonasket, at the City Hall Council Chamber, 209 S. Whitcomb.

July 31 – Cheney, at the Cheney Library, 610 1st St.

In addition to input received at the public meetings, WDFW will consider written comments received through Aug. 23. Comments should be addressed to Bruce Bolding, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia, WA 98501-1091.

Final consideration of the proposals will be made by the WDFW director in early September.

Rotenone is an organic substance derived from the roots of tropical plants, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved for use as a fish pesticide and as an insecticide in the agriculture industry. It has been used by WDFW in lake and stream rehabilitations for more than 70 years, and is commonly used by other fish and wildlife management agencies nationwide.

Ya right. Just like they listened to public comment about the Pend Oreille River. Have a meeting, let some people vent their frustration, then do whatever they want anyway. They're the experts right????

[Marc Martyn]

They actually did listen about the treatment of fish lake by Cheney. They were going to plant the lake with tiger trout again. A couple of us convinced them to not put those in but rainbows and brook trout. The tiger trout were not keeping the pan fish at bay. It was a lengthy meeting but they did decide not to go with tiger trout again. I only wish that they would go back to planting brown trout in there again. Overall it was worth the time spent at the meeting.
As far as badger goes, they rehab that lake every few years. It will recover and be a good lake again.

[YellowBear]

I was talking with some folks yesterday about this kill and they came up with a pretty good idea, PAY ATTENTION HERE WDFW. Get ahold of a few Bass clubs and let them go out and catch the Largemouth out of Badger.
Then stock them in Sprague. This will not cost the TAX PAYER a dime.

Marc, I hate to disapoint you but the policy for Fish lake has been Rainbow and Brookies for 50 years that I know of.
You did not convince them of anything.

[G-Man]

What I don't get is why there are limits set for non trout species in lakes the State designates as trout only. In these lakes there should be no size or catch limit on bass, perch, crappie, etc. It might even discourage unauthorized re-planting of these species after the lakes are rehabbed.

[zen leecher]

What I don't get is why there are limits set for non trout species in lakes the State designates as trout only. In these lakes there should be no size or catch limit on bass, perch, crappie, etc. It might even discourage unauthorized re-planting of these species after the lakes are rehabbed.

Now this is a good idea.

The bucket brigade plants bass in Badger and then follows up with panfish to provide food for the bass. Then want to prevent WDFW from killing the lake off.

It's like a bank robber wanting to decriminalize bank robbing.

[YellowBear]

Its funny how things work.
When a lake gets stocked with ANY warmwater species its a bad thing.
They are concidered a invasive species most of the time, but when WDFW plants Triploids, German Browns, Tiger Trout,Cutbows,Rainbows or any of THEIR! favorite species, its okay.

[Amx]

And there are LOTS of lakes better suited for warm water species, but the wdfw INSISTS that trout be in the lake and eliminate the warm water fish. It's been proven many times that warm water fish and trout can live together. The wdfw DOESN'T stock the trout because the bass eat them all, they are stocked because the FISHERMEN eat the trout.

[racfish]

Anytime I see the word management and State of Wa. in the same sentence,it runs a chill down my back. Those two words dont belong in the same sentence.Poisoning lakes just seem ridiculous.

[dea]

"They're the experts right????"

Everyone claims to be an expert, and hence our problem.

They will make up whatever work they can to insure access to the same amount of tax dollars the following year.

Come on fellas@!? Have you seen our boat launches?! Garbage, dog crap from people with no pass, dog crap from people with passes, kids throwing rocks in the water ( with parents present ) while boats are coming in, swimming in non swimming zones ( with parents present ), no swimming signs hidden by bushes that are overgrown, and they have the money to spend poisoning a lake so as to kill all of it's wildlife?

...now I'm getting sick and frustrated.