New License and Mandatory Reporting System
By now you may have heard, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is proposing a new license sales system called WILD (for Washington Interactive Licensing DataBase). Beginning in 2001, when you purchase your hunting license and transport tag at a WDFW dealer or regional/headquarter’s office, expect the clerk to enter your information into a small computer screen that is linked to the license database. Once the transaction is complete, your information and purchases will be instantaneously recorded and updated in the database. This new online system also will incorporate the added convenience of purchasing your licenses and tags with a credit card by telephone or Internet. To finance the new computerized system, license buyers will be charged a 9.5% transaction fee. Additionally, federal law will require social security numbers to be collected at the time of license issuance as a child support enforcement measure.
Coupled with WILD is Mandatory Reporting of all hunting activity for deer, elk, black bear, and turkey, whether an animal was harvested or not. For convenience and ease of use, two methods of reporting your hunting activity will be available; telephone reporting via a live operator or web-based reporting via the Internet. For both reporting methods, expect to answer questions about:
So what’s the benefit of these new systems? The WILD and Mandatory Reporting systems will provide wildlife managers with faster and better information for managing game species in Washington State. All this translates to improved estimates of total harvest, hunting pressure, and other measures used to develop hunting season and quota recommendations. But ultimately it’s even more than that, it’s an improvement in the sound management of wildlife species which allows wildlife professionals to make better decisions from better information.
More detailed information on the new systems will be available in January. But expect to see WILD and Mandatory Reporting by April of 2001.
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