It’s time to peel back veil of secrecy at LDWF

Next LDWF head should back transparency

My first job in the outdoor communications business was as a lowly Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries  “information specialist,” working under the chain-smoking, profanely cantankerous and unpredictable Maurice Cockerham.

We in the Information Section had one simple job: Tell the public that paid our salaries what the agency was about. Cockerham, who passed away several years ago, drove us hard to produce numerous weekly news releases on everything from deer research to fish sampling.

In those days, there wasn’t a single “press secretary” for the department. But Louisiana’s outdoorsmen knew where their money was being spent.

The Information Section is now gone. Today, every LDWF division has a dedicated press secretary.

And the public knows little about the agency they fund.

With the exception of a stream of releases coming out of the Enforcement Division, the LDWF is largely silent on its mission to manage and conserve our wildlife and fisheries.

What those press secretaries do is a mystery, because they certainly aren’t putting out public information. In fact, it often takes days for them to produce basic news releases on Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission action.

And we in the press have less access to biologists than ever, being forced to beg permission to speak to them ­— and sometimes, particularly when seeking information about saltwater fisheries, access is denied.

Current LDWF Secretary Robert Barham has seemingly been satisfied to leave the public in the dark, doing little to correct the dearth of information coming out of his agency.

But later this month, we will vote for a new governor. And that means Barham could be replaced. I would argue he should be, with his successor committed to an openness that really hasn’t been seen in recent years.

Turn to page 38 of this month’s Louisiana Sportsman magazine to learn, among other things, what qualifications the major gubernatorial candidates say are important when making this vital appointment.

No matter who reaches the Governor’s Mansion, we sportsmen should demand an LDWF secretary who will work for us ­— and that means peeling back the veil of secrecy pervasive at the agency and letting us all know what is going on.

The biologists working at the department are wonderful, and they want to share their work. And we who pay the bills have a right to know the status of all of Louisiana’s game species  — and, yes, that includes coastal fisheries after the BP spill.

So after casting your vote on Oct. 24, follow up with a demand that the next governor do the right thing.

Click here to read Q&As with each of the major gubernatorial candidates.

About Andy Crawford 863 Articles
Andy Crawford has spent nearly his entire career writing about and photographing Louisiana’s hunting and fishing community. While he has written for national publications, even spending four years as a senior writer for B.A.S.S., Crawford never strayed far from the pages of Louisiana Sportsman. Learn more about his work at www.AndyCrawford.Photography.