Another four-year contract approved for controversial Kentucky Fish and Wildlife chief

Rich Storm oversees a $100 million budget as commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. He was just reappointed to another four-year contract. (KDFWR photo)

The board overseeing Kentucky’s wildlife management agency has reappointed its chief executive Rich Storm, including board members appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear who in the past has clashed with Storm and the department.

With no discussion, the state Fish and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously on Aug. 30 to give Storm a new four-year contract as commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR). 

The new contract begins July 1, 2025. Storm’s current base salary of $155,820.48 will remain the same. No other details from the contract were available. A KDFWR spokesperson said the contract is still being finalized and will have to be approved by the legislature’s Government Contract Review Committee

Storm’s salary is slightly higher than statewide Republican constitutional officers ($152,551.92) but less than Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander ($160,364.16) and Beshear ($179,442.96), according to the state’s salary database. 

The commission by law is made up of nine volunteer hunters and anglers and directed to keep a “watchful eye” over an agency whose wide ranging duties include enforcing hunting and wildlife regulations. KDFWR manages a $100 million annual operating budget with revenue coming fromhunting and fishing license fees, boat registration fees and federal grants.

The commission met behind closed doors for almost two hours in executive session to discuss Storm’s contract and some land purchases. Back in open session, commission members didn’t mention Storm by name or discuss his reappointment. Commission members contacted by the Lantern said they decided to renew Storm’s contract because he has been a good leader for the department. They declined to talk or offered few details about the discussions in the executive session. 

Lisa Jackson, a KDFWR spokesperson, in a statement said Storm was “honored to be reappointed and entrusted with continued leadership.” Contract negotiations began in March, Jackson said. “The negotiations were productive and he looks forward to continuing his public service on behalf of the sportsmen and sportswomen of the Commonwealth and to help the Department achieve its mission,” Jackson said. 

Robin Floyd, the 1st District commission member representing Western Kentucky and a Beshear appointee, told the Lantern that Storm had a “rough start,” referencing how Storm became the department’s chief executive.

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In 2019, the commission controversially hired Storm when he was serving as chair of the commission which had already interviewed eight candidates for the top post, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. Storm asked to be considered for the job after the commission named three finalists and recused himself as chair. The newspaper reported Storm wasn’t on the search committee seeking a commissioner, according to the department’s human resources director.

But Floyd said Storm has done an “exemplary job” since then with duties that go beyond “just fish and wildlife.” 

“You need somebody that actually is pretty good at business, someone that’s really good at interacting with the legislature, and Commissioner Storm just checked all the boxes,” Floyd said. “That’s why you saw a unanimous vote to reappoint him.” 

Under Storm, the KDFWR and the Beshear administration have clashed numerous times, including over the length of Storm’s contract and executive branch oversight of procurement and conservation easements. Storm has powerful allies in the Republican-controlled legislature. And this year, the Democratic governor pushed back against the state Senate’s failure in recent years to hold confirmation votes on his appointments to the commission. Beshear also criticized an unsuccessful bill that would have given the governor’s power to appoint Fish and Wildlife Commission members to the agriculture commissioner and administratively attach the KDFWR to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. 

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Beshear told reporters in March that senators had to “stop protecting leadership of what I think is the most corrupt part of state government.” When a Lantern reporter asked Beshear to explain his comments later that month, the governor pointed to the controversial way that Storm was hired and also cited a 2018 special examination from then-Auditor Mike Harmon, a Republican, who called for a “change in culture” at the agency when Storm was a member of the commission. 

Beshear’s criticism of the Senate for rejecting commission appointments echoed concerns from some hunters and anglers including the Kentucky League of Sportsmen, an organization representing thousands of hunters around the state. 

Adam Mullins, president of the League of Sportsmen, told the Lantern the organization didn’t have an immediate statement on Storm’s reappointment. 

The Senate ultimately confirmed nearly all of Beshear’s appointments to the commission this year. Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, told the Lantern the appointments were confirmed after “lots of discussion, lots of review, lots of research.” Protecting Storm, who was doing a “really good job” he said, from a “type of retaliatory appointment” that would remove the commissioner was a priority. 

Those appointment confirmations left one vacancy on the commission. The rest of the commission seats are filled by Beshear appointments including Floyd, who joined the board in 2021.  

“If you’re in a position like Mr. Storm is, you have to work with everyone. And I think he does a good job of that,” Floyd said. 

The governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment asking about the reappointment of Storm.