By Brett Haverstick On February 8, 2014
Over the years, I have come to realize that the current wildlife management model in America, at the federal level, and particularly, the state level, is broken. The system is such, in which, politics trumps the best-available science, the special interest-minority overwhelms the democratic-majority and the almighty dollar is more powerful than ethics, heritage and legacy. Can this be found throughout the American political landscape? Of course, the answer is yes. But when applied to the current wolf slaughter taking place in the West, and in the Great Lakes, it fits perfectly. In fact, it embodies it.
During my brief time working in the conservation community, I have sadly concluded that both grassroots and national conservation groups, and every-day citizens, are limited to the degree, in which, they can enforce public lands laws, ensure that the best-available science is used and entrust that public sentiment is reflected in wildlife policy and management decisions. Recent examples of this include–with all, unfortunately, taking place in Idaho–are the Wolf-Coyote Derby in Salmon, the killing of two wolf packs in the Frank-Church River of No Return Wilderness by a 21st Century bounty hunter and the efforts of Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter to launch a predominantly tax-payer funded, $2-million dollar independent wolf control board to wipe out another 500-grey wolves. If this were to occur, wolves would be reduced to the bare-minimum of 150-wolves in Idaho (federally mandated), would not be able to fulfill their ecological niche, and most importantly, could be on the precipice of yet, another extinction.
The conservation community, and the American people at-large, is now approaching the crossroads. Do we continue to take the band-aid approach (attending public meetings, issuing action alerts, circulating petitions, and filing appeals/lawsuits) or do we step out-of-the-box and confront the root causes of the problem? While some may respectfully disagree with me, or question the feasibility of such a challenge, I advocate for the latter.
So what solutions do I offer? The 5 Keys to Reforming Wildlife Management in America, are as follows:
1.Restructuring the way state Fish & Game departments operate. Politics: western governors appoint agency commissioners, which essentially, tell the state departments what to do. This is cronyism at its worst. Economics: state departments are mostly funded by the sale of hunting/fishing tags or permits. These agencies are bound into serving the interest of “sportsmen” because it’s the hand that feeds them. Modern funding mechanisms, the application of best-available science and genuine public involvement are sorely lacking in these institutions and it must be addressed. Another option would be to empower the federal government to manage wildlife on federal public lands.
2.Removing grazing from all federal public lands. The “management” or “control” of native wildlife to benefit the livestock industry is ground zero. It is also well documented the damage that grazing causes when livestock infests wildlands. Livestock are non-native and largely responsible for soil compaction, a decrease in water retention and aquifer recharge, erosion, destruction of wetlands and riparian areas, flooding and a net-loss of biodiversity. Grazing enables invasive plant species to proliferate, which greatly affects the West’s historic fire regime.
3.Abolishing Wildlife Services. Hidden within the US Department of Agriculture, is a rogue agency that is essentially the wildlife killing-arm of the federal government. For over 100-years, this federal tax-payer supported agency has largely worked on behalf of the livestock industry and is responsible for the death of tens-of millions of native wildlife. Methods of killing include trapping, poisoning and aerial gunning. Conservation efforts are currently culminating into a potential Congressional investigation of this corrupt agency.
4.Banning trapping/snaring on all federal public lands. We must evolve as a society and move away from this barbaric, unethical, cruel and tortuous method(s) of killing native wildlife. Leg-hold traps, conibear traps and other devices are indiscriminate killers. Over the past couple years, there has been an increase in the number of dogs caught/killed by traps when recreating with their owners on public lands. When is an adult or child going to step into a leg-hold or body-gripping trap? Some states currently require individuals to check their traps every 72-hours, while other states only recommend that trappers check them, at all.
5.No killing of predators, except for extreme circumstances. For example, an aggressive and/or habituated bear may need to be killed after non-lethal measures have failed. Otherwise, non-lethal measures should be implemented in rare instances where there are actual human/predator conflicts. The best available science suggests that predators, including wolves, are a self-regulating species. In other words, predators don’t overpopulate. Instead, their populations naturally fluctuate, as do prey or ungulate populations. We need to better understand and embrace the trophic cascade effect predators have within ecosystems.
How do we take that ever-so-important first step, you may ask? We embark on this journey, together, on June 28 – 29, 2014 at Arch Park in Gardiner, Montana.
Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014 is an opportunity for the American people to unite and demand wildlife management reform. It’s about taking a critical step towards stopping the grey wolf slaughter. It’s about hope, our collective-future and restoring our national heritage and legacy. The weekend-long event is family friendly and will feature prominent speakers, live music, education and outreach booths, children’s activities, food and drink vendors, video production crews and the screening of wildlife documentaries.
On June 28-29, 2014, Americans from all walks-of-life will converge at Arch Park in Gardiner, Montana to tell the government we need to reform wildlife management, at both the state and federal level. With your support and participation, this will be the event of the year in the northern Rockies. Together, we can make history and embark on restoring our wild national heritage. The time to be bold is now.
Exposing the Big Game 
Finally, someone else is getting to the core problem: we need to boldly challenge, and demand an end to public lands grazing, get rid of the infamous serial-killing “Wildlife Services,” and perhaps, we should even go a bit farther, and rethink the whole concept of “wildlife management” which is merely human control, manipulation, and has nothing to do with natural science: it is a “political science” which encompasses not only politics, but economics. Hence, wild animals have become commodities, resources, to be “used” by humans. I would also challenge the idea of any kind of “lethal control” of any “predator.” Let us also rethink the humanist term “aggressive,” when describing another animal. Is this non-human animal really behaving aggressively? Or is this how this animal is perceived by some humans. It is exciting that we can now, finally begin to “de-humanize ourselves,” our Humanist Ideology, and try to shed these antiquated concepts of other life. We humans have to challenge, rethink our whole system of of how we define the other animals. Wonderful article!
Absolutely! We need to take back what has been stolen from us, and allow nature to balance herself whenever and wherever possible.
Totally agree! It is a national disaster being perpetuated on our wild ones
The people need to go up against this with a strong voice a coalition of folks.
We are killing our earth, literally !
Thanks Brett for your very thoughtful analysis
Obama hasn’t been the strong thinking environmental leader we need and I think America fell under the spell of thinking all is good. In fact, nothing could be further ftom the truth as he systematically scrapes our lands for his ” energy independence” mantra believing in fossil fuels .. We all end up in the tar pit Mr President. It is a dangerous road he has taken!
We must say no to this fiasco being carried out in our names!
Dept of Interior under Salazar and Jewell have been atrocious ! Dept of Ag ditto !
It’s old school backward thinking
America’s demands better now !
Reblogged this on Wolf Is My Soul.
If ranchers would do better management of herds with regard to wolves and other predators they could actually make more money per one study referenced below. Killing wolves in general, driving down the population, rather than dealing with chronic, specific offenders, probably does more harm than good. We should also all be aware that many ranchers having wolf problems are grazing on public land and crying wolf. There are 772 permits to graze on national forest lands in MT and 3776 permits to graze on BLM land. Ranchers encroach on wildlife in a huge way but feel entitled to do so as they have a history with the US government of doing so. Also, the number of cattle killed by wolves is greatly exaggerated, 65 out of 5.2 million in 2012 and less in 2013 in Montana, which is 0.002% for which the rancher is reimbursed. Oregon has the most sensible wolf policy: Nonlethal means have to be in place, at least two, and tried, and then only chronic offenders are dealt with in a lethal way. We can live with wolves and true wilderness. But it seems that most ranchers are viscerally anti-wolf and that sportsmen and state wildlife agencies in some states, like MT, want to farm elk in the wilderness and eliminate or marginalize predators and thereby ruin true wilderness of which wolves are a vital part. Older wolves teach the young, most often to stay away from man, and we kill the teachers, leaving juveniles unschooled.
References:
http://go.takepart.com/ct/17484010:18777977085:m:1:486146059:338CF0EAB26947FBBBA126412C80AD2E:r:www.takepart.com/article/2014/01/31/getting-ranchers-tolerate-wolves–its-too-late:2014-02-03
Click to access Oregon_Wolf_Conservation_and_Management_Plan_2010.pdf
Thanks for the comments and all the links and references Roger.
State management of wolves is a political process and a license for a jihad on wolves driven by ancient fears, folklore, lies, myths of the groups that state and federal political leaders and wildlife agencies listen to because they are of the same mindset, the same ilk. The reasons for the jihad are based on a couple of lies that keep getting repeated by these groups and then at the state and federal wildlife agencies and state legislature levels about stock depredation and elk predation. There is no talk of the benefit of wolves to ecology, to the wilderness, to tourism dollars. Those myth perpetuating groups are sportsmen groups, ranchers, yokels, and conservative politicians. The wolf and all predators should stay protected indefinitely because of the bias of these groups and politicians toward minimizing and marginalizing them and essentially engaging in elk or other game farming, another unnecessary myth of these groups. Wildlife agencies are more tuned in to pleasing and sharing the beliefs of the mythologizers.
References:
http://missoulian.com/news/local/documents-states-pushed-feds-to-delist-wolves/article_1329553a-df43-11e2-a46e-001a4bcf887a.html
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/states-pressed-for-limits-on-gray-wolf-protections/article_d93d260f-9123-510f-96a6-a1f0c9a6c843.html
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/viewart/20130627/NEWS01/306270011/States-pressed-limits-gray-wolf-protections
How much proof does USFWS need to prove that wolves should not be delisted? What we have is political management of a species, particularly in MT-WY-ID-WI. Wyoming has them classified as varmints in most of the state. Montana’s new rules allow ranchers to shoot any wolf they see as “threatening”, which means any wolf they see, and proposes to have year around trapping. Idaho is having wolf and coyote contests for cash and has hired a hunter to kill a couple of packs deep in a wilderness area arguing that it is in defense of elk herds. The Governor of ID wants to set aside 2 million dollars to drive down the wolf population to marginal, delisting levels. Wisconsin is using dogs. MT-WY-ID-WI are obviously marginalizing this apex predator which is not good ecology for trophic cascade of effects; with hunters (sports killing) and ranchers and these state wildlife agencies having unhealthy effects on ecology. We are rapidly getting back to the 1800’s in wolf massacring states. Wolf management–they do not generally need management, should be out of the states’ hands. The states mentioned are way too hostile, and controlled by historic hostile elements. They are promoting two myths despite contrary evidence: Wolves do not kill too many elk and their impact on cattle is less than 0.002%. These states are run by rancher and hunter folklore, myths and lies and their ilk in the state wildlife agencies and legislatures, with so far the only exception being OR and somewhat WA. OR is the model wolf management state, allowing the killing of only chronic offenders, not general wolf killing, and requiring that nonlethal management be in place and tried. The throwback (1800’s) wolf massacre states are mismanaging wolves. If the states, particularly the ones mentioned, were forced to live with wolves for a number years and focus on nonlethal management, per the Oregon model, they might get use to the idea and wolves would have a chance, but not at the present time.
References:
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/management_plan.asp
http://missoulian.com/news/local/environmentalists-ask-idaho-judge-to-halt-wolf-derby/article_85ec58d2-6c34-11e3-be5c-001a4bcf887a.html
http://missoulian.com/news/local/idaho-group-sponsors-youth-wolf-coyote-derby/article_de89fb6e-6781-11e3-9a45-0019bb2963f4.html
https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/oregon-panel-oks-last-resort-wolf-killing-rule/
Thank you very much for sharing this essay!
You’re welcome–thank you for writing it, and for speaking up for wolves!