KING

Rocky Spencer

SELAH, Wash. - A veteran biologist for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife was killed in a helicopter accident in Eastern Washington on Saturday.

Officials say Rocky Spencer accidentally walked into the rotating blades of a sitting helicopter on Saturday afternoon in the Yakima River canyon.

Department spokesman Craig Bartlett said Spencer was with a team assigned to relocate bighorn sheep from private property in the canyon to a research facility for Washington State University in Pullman.

Bartlett said Spencer had flown on wildlife helicopters before, but this time the craft came to rest on slanted ground, causing the rotor blades to point downward more than usual, and they hit him when he stepped out of the helicopter.

Spencer was based in King County, and had worked for the agency since 1978.

"The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has lost a dedicated biologist and the state has lost a skilled steward of wildlife resources with the death of Rocky Spencer yesterday," Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Jeff Koenings, Ph.D. said in a statement.

"Rocky was highly skilled and passionately committed to wildlife fieldwork, particularly work with cougars. His advice and assistance helped residents and local communities, especially in suburban King County, co-exist with wildlife in a rapidly changing environment. His countless contributions to the Department during his 29-year career will be long remembered, and he will be greatly missed."