State Furlough Day Number 3 September 7th

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) offices will close Tuesday, Sept. 7, for the third of 10 statewide, unpaid employee-layoff days.

During the closure, WDFW wildlife areas and water-access sites will remain open for public use, but WDFW hatcheries will not be open to the public. Fishing and hunting licenses may be purchased online at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/ and at retail vendors.

The statewide, temporary layoffs are mandated by ESSB 6503 (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6503), adopted by the 2010 Legislature to help balance the state budget in the face of a revenue shortfall.

WDFW enforcement officers are exempt from the temporary layoffs under the law. WDFW also has exempted fish counters who distinguish various species of salmon as they move past Columbia River hydropower dams.

This News is a service of:
       

The federally required and federally funded fish counting must be conducted consistently as salmon pass the dams. Certain WDFW employees who feed animals or perform other tasks critical to resource management will take alternate temporary layoff days.

Other upcoming 2010 temporary layoff days are Oct. 11 and Dec. 27. In 2011, temporary layoff dates are Jan. 28, Feb. 22, March 11, April 22 and June 10. Previous employee layoff days were July 12 and Aug. 6.

More information on state office closures associated with the temporary layoff is available at http://www.ofm.wa.gov/layoff/default.asp.