Elk Fence Proviso: 2022 Report to the Legislature

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (Department) report to the legislature regarding proviso (31) funding in our 2021-2023 operating budget for elk fencing in Skagit Valley. Funding and the proviso language requires a report to the relevant committees of the legislature per language that reads as follows:

“(31) $600,000 of the general fund—state appropriation for fiscal year 2022 is provided solely for the department to conduct a pilot project to test New Zealand style elk fencing, similar to the style used by the United States Department of Agriculture at the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range, including materials and construction techniques, and determine the cost and effectiveness of the fence design in reducing damage to school property and agricultural lands within the range of the north Cascades elk herd. The department of fish and wildlife shall work with at least one agricultural property owner in Skagit county with property abutting state highway 20 and one school district located in Skagit county with enrollment of less than 650 students that volunteer to build and test the elk fence design and, in compliance with RCW 43.01.036, report back to the natural resources committees of the legislature by November 1, 2022, on the results of the pilot project.”

The Department worked with one school district and one property owner that met the specifications in the proviso: (1) the Concrete School District and (2) a landowner on Wilde Road near SR20 that was complaining of repeated damage to his pasture he leases to a Skagit County livestock producer for hay production.