Maryland Wildlife Advisory Commission

Come out and see us
Michael A. Sawyers
Cumberland Times-News

— How many of you out there know what the Maryland Wildlife Advisory Commission is?

That’s what I thought.

Good for you over there in Finzel and you out there in Little Orleans. Not many others do, but that isn’t really all that surprising.

The Maryland Wildlife Advisory Commission is a group of citizens appointed by the governor to advise the Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service about things that have to do with coots and coyotes and deer and doves. They meet pretty much monthly in Annapolis.

It has been a while, but I attended a couple of their gatherings and those were only slightly more interesting than a Frostburg Mayor and Council meeting on a slow night. However, I’ve been reading the WAC minutes online and the banter, questions and comments appear to be more insightful in recent times.

There are nine seats on the commission.

Existing members whose service continues are Chairman V. Wilson Freeland, Vice Chairman Jeffrey D. Plummer, Gary E. Fratz, Edwin R. Fry, Timothy W. Lambert and E. Joseph Lamp, Ph.D.

Just recently, three new members have been appointed: Jacquelyn Bonomo, Charles Rodney and Lou Compton.

Fratz, a Garrett County resident, is our guy.

The WAC doesn’t have any power. The WAC vote doesn’t hold any official sway when it comes to deer seasons or trapping regulations or how far away from an occupied dwelling you can be when you shoot at a squirrel, but it certainly helps when the balloting comes down on the side of the good guys.

One example is the WAC vote in the 1990s to have a bear hunt in Maryland.

I would like to see the WAC become less obscure and more of a two-way street.

What am I saying?

I’m saying I’d like to see the WAC get out and meet with and talk to the people of Maryland. I’m thinking hunters when I say that, but everybody who has thoughts about the state’s wildlife would be invited.

Instead of meeting only in Annapolis, take the WAC on the road once or twice a year to place such as Rocky Gap State Park or some nice meeting place in Harford or Charles or Wicomico counties.

Give me some advance notice when the WAC is coming out this way and I’ll do my best to build the crowd.

Besides, Gary Fratz wouldn’t have to drive so far to every WAC meeting. I think he has done great, missing only five meetings since January of 2008 and attending one other via conference call.

I think WAC members should be conduits that can take the thoughts, desires and longings of the people who live in their parts of the state and relay them to the movers and shakers at the wildlife agency. Maybe the individual WAC members already meet with their neighbors to discuss these sorts of things. I don’t know for sure. I hope they do.

It is actually a bit difficult to contact individual members or even to find out where they live.

I mean, is Edwin Fry an Eastern Shore guy or from Hagerstown? Would a hunter talk to him about duck hunting in Talbot County or gobbler hunting on the Indian Springs Wildlife Management Area? I think it would help to know, in a public way, from the where each member hails.

Agency spokesman Bob Beyer has told me that phone numbers and towns of residence are private information that cannot be passed on.

There is a general e-mail address for the WAC at www.dnr.state.md.us that you can use to make contact and somebody will get back to you.

Great to see new commissioner Lou Compton on board. Some of you know that Lou has already been a force for hunters by way of the Maryland Bowhunters Society. And, of course, Tim Lambert has been a long-time stalwart for the hunters of Maryland, holding office in the former Maryland Sportsmen’s Association.

So, this is my request for the WAC to seek a higher profile among the license buying public and, by doing so, become a little more constituent friendly.

Come out and see us.

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