Letter: A State Agency Goes Rogue
June 15, 2026To the Community:
Writing to VTDigger in the May 27 letter headlined, “Vermont’s wildlife agency doesn’t represent Vermont,” Derby resident Walter Medwid discusses the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s failure to represent Vermonters and its culture that is not reflective of the state at large. The same letter offered evidence of a hiring practice that ensures Vermont values also won’t be reflected in the makeup of staff.
To add to the issues with the Fish and Wildlife Department’s management comes their decision to embark upon a greenwashing campaign on Vermont Public (radio). While there are countless sound reasons that businesses and individuals should support Vermont Public, what is jarring is the use of public funds by a state agency in order to recognize the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department as a financial sponsor.
The clear goal is to suggest to listeners – consciously or subconsciously – that the department’s values align with Vermont Public’s when, in fact, that alignment does not exist. If Vermont Public listeners more or less reflect the state as a whole, then most people strive to coexist with nature, not dominate it, as is the prevailing value held at the Fish and Wildlife Department.
And while other state agencies lay off staff, Fish and Wildlife uses precious resources not to address wildlife issues but rather to fund a campaign to apply concealer to the department’s bruised image (largely as a result of controversial management decisions). Management at the Department of Fish and Wildlife has lost its way, and worse, it seems that there’s no one in either the Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore’s or the governor’s office to mind the store.
The idea that Fish and Wildlife Department management, Secretary Moore, and the governor have turned a blind eye to the issues at the department, and most grievously, the lack of representation of Vermonters on staff or management levels, is a core breakdown of state government.
Vermonters are paying an ever-increasing amount to fund the Fish and Wildlife Department as license sales fall (an ongoing trend since the mid-1970s).
Values have changed, interests and expectations have changed, and there is an urgent need for a Fish and Wildlife Department focused largely on the 1,000-plus Vermont species that are facing imminent threats to their survival.
Of course, fishing and hunting activities deserve their fair share of state resources. But do they deserve an extraordinary portion of state resources and an entire agency culture, too?
The Department of Fish and Wildlife wants to make sure the public is fully involved in helping fund the department with a new fee to use public lands, yet the last thing it wants is to have public interests represented within the department's staff or the Fish and Wildlife Board. More hypocrisy from the administration.
A most basic requirement of government is to require that various agencies address the needs and expectations of the people. Sadly, the executive branch has failed to ensure that the Department of Fish and Wildlife is transforming to meet the new moment we are in.
It is also a clear demonstration of a failure of imagination.
Lisa Jablow
Brattleboro