The effort to relocate the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Bob Oke Game Farm in Centralia is now beyond discussions with state departments and local governments as two 20th District lawmakers have brought the issue to lawmakers in the Washington state Legislature.
State Reps. Peter Abbarno, R-Chehalis, and Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, introduced a bill to the Washington state Legislature last week that calls for the full relocation of the Bob Oke Game Farm, which is located in the Fords Prairie neighborhood near Centralia High School and operated by WDFW.
Recent studies have linked the game farm — which raises thousands of pheasants for later release and hunting — to elevated levels of nitrates in nearby drinking water wells.
House Bill 2668, according to the representatives, orders WDFW to find a new location for the pheasant farm that has less potential for groundwater pollution and begin an “orderly transition.”
In a recent public statement, Orcutt said he and his colleague were looking to pass the bill to ensure that the long process of relocating the game farm starts as soon as possible.
"While it is important to address the immediate issue of continued leaching of nitrates into private wells and the municipal water supply by requiring WDFW to comply with state rules around animal feeding operations, we also need to start the process of relocating the game farm to a more suitable location — one where drinking water sources are not subject to the nitrates from such an operation," Orcutt said. “Moving the game farm will take time, but it will take even longer if we never start the process. This bill mandates the process begin now to get the process underway and get the game farm moved."
The bill is also the second of two the legislative duo has introduced this session that concerns the Bob Oke Game Farm.
The first, House Bill 2343, which received its first public hearing two weeks ago, would change state law to require state-operated game and livestock farms to adhere to the same requirements as privately-operated farms. Those requirements would include things like mandated manure management plans, regular monitoring of possible contamination and more.
The relocation bill, however, is aimed simply at relocating the farm. If approved, WDFW and the Department of Enterprise Services would be required to submit a joint relocation plan by the end of the year, Dec. 31, 2026. The move would then be required to take place within the next 36 months. The bill also requires reducing the number of birds at the game farm, removing more birds and increasing groundwater monitoring.
Since the discovery of nitrate contamination in groundwater near the game farm, the City of Centralia and WDFW have negotiated next steps, which already included groundwater monitoring and other studies that are already ongoing and have confirmed a link between the farm and the contamination. WDFW has also, as part of its response to the finding of groundwater contamination, recently developed a manure management plan and begun rotating birds more regularly out of open air pens directly over the Centralia aquifer.
The new bill also requires the development of a remediation plan for the Bob Oke Game Farm property, which would require continued groundwater monitoring and other steps to restore the soil and find appropriate uses for the land after the relocation of the pheasant farm.
"We're talking about people's drinking water, families, seniors, and entire neighborhoods who rely on this aquifer every single day," Abbarno said. "There cannot be one set of rules for private citizens and another for the state. If a private operation caused this level of contamination, it would be shut down. This bill holds the government to the same standards. It creates a clear path to relocate the facility, clean up the site, and stop further harm, because protecting public health has to come first."
SB 2668 is scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 8 a.m. The bill was introduced relatively late in the session and is scheduled to receive a public hearing on the same day as a major bill cutoff this session and would require quick action by the Legislature to avoid dying in committee.
The first cutoff for bills in this year's short 60-day legislative session is the same day as the public hearing, Feb. 4. Non-budget bills that have not received a hearing in committee after Wednesday will be considered dead and those that do make it through close to the deadline will need to catch up and be approved by their house of origin no later than Feb. 17 to continue making progress through the Legislature this year.
