One of the department’s most important partnerships is its work with volunteers. The department continues to receive essential aid from volunteers, without whose help some functions simply could not continue. Volunteers numbered more than 10,000 in 1997, filling a variety of roles. Many of the state’s fish and wildlife education functions are conducted by volunteers. Volunteer instructors led hunting, fishing and wildlife education courses for tens of thousands of Washington residents.

Other volunteer activities in 1997 included:

• Enhancing habitat for wildlife on thousands of acres of land.

• Helping raise and transplant thousands of salmon, steelhead and other fish species.

• Clearing non-native vegetation, such as spartina, that destroys fish and wildlife habitat on thousands of acres of land.

• Conducting educational tours at agency hatcheries and wildlife areas.

• Serving as eyes and ears for enforcement efforts through the Stream Watch, Unit Watch and Road Management programs.

• Building feeders and monitoring and maintaining sites for winter deer and elk feeding projects.

• Aiding in elk herding efforts and removing elk from private property and agricultural sites.