CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The first meeting of the West Virginia Natural Resources Commission under the new “virtual” format Thursday received less than favorable reviews from sportsmen who were willing to comment. The meeting was staged with each Commissioner located in their respective district office and connected to the rest of the meeting in a Zoom-style gathering. Sportsmen who sought to make a comment during the public portion of the meeting had to be at one of the district office locations to do so. Although the meeting was streamed live on the Department of Commerce YouTube page, live comments could only be made in person at the meeting sites.
The meeting was the first since the agency announced the format change in May. The meetings by statue, are held four times annually. Previously they were staged at various locations around the state like a State Park or college campus. They were also held on Sunday at 1 p.m. Participation and attendance was typically low unless there was a hot topic pending. Thursday’s virtual meeting also seemed to have sparse interest from the public and moving it to a Thursday at 5 p.m. wasn’t what some had hoped for.
“I believe the use of video conferencing from district offices and a live-stream is designed to have more interested parties participate, but I have to question if it’s been really well thought out,” said Ed McMinn of the West Virginia Bowhunters Association during his remarks from the Charleston headquarters during the public comment period. “First 5 p.m. is a time when most sportsmen and women are working or just getting off work, in fact I had to take personal leave to be here and I work just a few minutes away from this building.”
McMinn added limiting Commissioners to their own district limits the opportunity for them to meet with DNR staff which he considered counter productive. He also noted it makes it hard for sportsmen and women who may be at a district office to meet and communicate with other Commissioners who are not from their respective district.
A day after the meeting, Shon Butler of Longspur Tracking and Outfitting, a fixture at most previous meetings, shared his distain in an irate Facebook post. Butler explained similar difficulty in making the 5 p.m. meeting time. He added information about the meeting he received was incomplete. He arrived as his District Headquarters in French Creek only to learn his district’s meeting site had been moved to the Elkins Operations Center, but he was unaware.
“I still disagree with this format 10000000%, you aren’t going to change my mind that this isn’t an attempt to distance sportsmen from DNR leadership. With so many important items in WV now is not the time for these meetings held during the work week, during business hours and held in a manner that’s inconvenient to your everyday sportsman!” Butler posted to social media.
When announcing the change in May, DNR Director Brett McMillion said, “Our Sunday participation has been so low, we need to find times that might be more acceptable to our general public. We looked at most of the commissions in West Virginia to find out what time they offered. What we found was most of them are done during the day, so we thought most of the public might be engaged in work so we wanted to pick an evening hour as late as we could.”
For now, it doesn’t appear the format will be adjusted. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 30th at 5 p.m.
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Horsepower Restrictions
A couple of those speaking in the public portion of the meeting wanted to address the proposition of removing the horsepower restrictions on the smaller, flood control lakes in West Virginia. The proposals are part of a series of rules to be presented to the Legislature next year and would allow large boats to operate their large outboards on six lakes which currently are limited to 9.9 horsepower motors. The rule would make the entire body of water no-wake and would require the operators to move at no-wake speeds. The idea is particularly bothersome to members of the Stonecoal Lake Fishing Club. President Jeremy Quick addressed Commissioners and stated his club was adamantly opposed to the idea. He feared the no-wake status would be easily abused without a large law enforcement presence and would disturb the tranquility and fishing experience on the smaller impoundments.
Quick also suggested to the Commission the long-term lease between the DNR and Harrison Power for public use of the lake included a provision for a 10 horsepower limit.
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Grouse Review
DRN Biologist Holly Morris gave a presentation on ruffed grouse work in West Virginia. Morris explained the research on the issues facing the grouse in West Virginia were already documented in an extensive study done in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. She said the biggest obstacles facing grouse in the Appalachian range were habitat, food sources, and West Nile Virus. Lack of large scale timber cutting has caused the ruffed rouse to struggle for many years.
Morris also outlined a state sponsored initiative to help share the cost to convert private land into grouse habitat. The program was authorized by the Justice Administration with then Governor Jim Justice asking to create some kind of program to benefit struggling grouse populations. Morris noted in her presentation the struggle for grouse wasn’t a problem exclusive to West Virginia, but a decline seen throughout the eastern United States.
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Small Game and Fish Regulations Approved
Commissioners unanimously approved the 2025 small game hunting and trapping regulations. The only discussion on the subject came from Commissioner Jerod Harman who had questions about ongoing otter research and whether it was too early to start considering ways to expand otter harvests in the state.
“Right now the study is being wrapped up and we’ll be looking at that data this winter. Any proposals that may be necessary we can make recommendations at that time. We want to make any decisions on sound science and we’ve got to wait until the research is done before we would make any potential recommendations for changes,” said Steve Rauch, Assistant Chief for Game Management at DNR.
“It’s a hot topic for sportsmen and I want to keep it on the front burner. The actual harvest numbers are pretty low and we want to make sure if there are people out there wanting to trap more of them they should be allowed,” said Harman.
Commissioner Janet Hamric Hodge asked again for better clarification on West Virginia’s game laws regarding porcupines.
“We’re seeing more and more of them. Pennsylvania now has a season. Their sportsmen are allowed to take them and they’re classified as a furbearer,” explained Hamric-Hodge.
Porcupines are a native species in West Virginia but were extirpated many years ago. They have slowly moved back into West Virginia from Pennsylvania. West Virginia’s DNR had no program to reintroduce the species. Hodge maintains the state needs to recognize their arrival and put more clarity into the regulations.
“Three’s this little section that says we can’t take things like elk or owls. Can we get the porcupine added to that list? This would at least let Sportsmen know it’s illegal to kill them. We’re not getting that information out to the sportsmen,” she added.
Rauch responded they planned on moving the measure of a porcupine season, even if it is a closed season, through the normal process of creating regulations. The process takes a good amount of time to complete.
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Fishing Regulations Approved
The 2025 fishing regulations were approved. It was a unanimous vote with no fanfare since there were zero proposed changes to any of the fishing regulations for the year.