Controversy Heats Up Over Game Warden

[P Joe]

Controversy Heats Up Over Game Warden

A state official says South Dakota will quit cooperating on enforcement of federal hunting and wildlife laws if a controversial federal game warden in Pierre is not fired or transferred to another state.

The warning comes from Rob Skjonsberg, who is chief of staff to Governor Rounds. Skjonsberg has set a May 25th deadline for the US Fish and Wildlife Service to take action on Bob Prieksat.

The federal game warden has been criticized for heavy-handed law enforcement tactics.

Almost 700 sportsmen and others have signed a petition that demands reassignment of Prieksat. Sixty people have signed specific complaints.

Skjonsberg says federal officials came to South Dakota in March to look into the issue but did not interview any of those who complained about Prieksat.

[Oldtimer]

[Liberty Belle]

Here's more on the Prieksat story from the Rapid City Journal:

State may end agreements over game warden dispute 'I want him gone, and that's it'
By Kevin Woster, Journal staff

The top aide to Gov. Mike Rounds is threatening to cancel agreements with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service giving state officers enforcement authority for federal laws on aerial hunting and the protection of endangered species if a controversial game warden isn’t fired or transferred to another state.

Chief of Staff Rob Skjonsberg said Wednesday that he has given U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials until May 25 to agree to fire or reassign federal warden Bob Prieksat, who has been criticized for alleged heavy handed law-enforcement tactics. If that deadline passes without federal action, Skjonsberg plans to begin dismantling a framework of cooperation – called memorandums of agreement - between the Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Game, Fish & Parks Department.

Those MOAs delegate to state officers federal enforcement authority for a variety of outdoors-related laws, including regulation of aerial hunting, the interstate transportation of illegally taken wildlife or wildlife parts and the protection of migratory birds, endangered species, marine and archaeological resources.

“Everything will come under review. I’m not flinching. I want him gone, and that’s it,” Skjonsberg said. “We do lots and lots of things with the Fish and Wildlife Service. And if there are areas where we can do business without them, they will find out they need us more than we need them.”

Skjonsberg said he would start with MOAs involving wildlife law enforcement but could go beyond those to examine other agreements with the Fish and Wildlife Service for resource management. Skjonsberg said he made his intentions clear Wednesday to Benito Perez, chief of law enforcement for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Arlington, Va., and will take action on the MOAs if nothing is done by the deadline.

“If May 25th comes and goes, the cooperative law-enforcement agreement is the first thing to get scratched,” Skjonsberg said. “That agreement is meant to provide mutual benefit and the sharing of resources. Frankly, I don’t want or need that kind of input or their kind of human resources.”

That was a reference to Prieksat, a seasoned law-enforcement officer who supervises federal wildlife agents in South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska. Named conservation officer of the year when he was a state GF&P employee in 1985, Prieksat has come under increasing fire in recent years for alleged bullying and intimidation of hunters and landowners.

Almost 700 people have signed a petition asking for Prieksat’s reassignment and more than 60 have signed specific complaints against him, Skjonsberg said. Rounds and Skjonsberg say the issue isn’t new. More than three years ago they took their concerns to Gary Mowad, Prieksat’s regional supervisor in Lakewood, Colo. Skjonsberg said he and the governor were assured things would improve.

But complaints continued, and in February Skjonsberg ordered GF&P officers to quit working with Prieksat except in emergency situations approved by GF&P Secretary Jeff Vonk. At that time Skjonsberg also called for Prieksat to be fired or reassigned.

Prieksat hasn’t responded to most interview requests. Mowad is off the job temporarily recovering from surgery. And other officials at his office in Lakewood didn’t respond to interview requests Wednesday.

Skjonsberg met in March with a member of a special Fish and Wildlife Service unit that responds to personnel complaints. He said Wednesday he was disappointed that members of the unit apparently came to South Dakota without interviewing key sportsmen who had signed complaints against Prieksat.

Prieksat is scheduled to be in court next week in a case involving a Pierre outfitter and game processor charged with possessing untagged waterfowl. Caleb Gilkerson has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is scheduled for trial at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 22, in federal court in Pierre.

Gilkerson contends that he was wrongly charged and bullied by Prieksat, who was working with a state conservation officer in the case. Gilkerson said Prieksat and federal prosecutors have “been all over the board” in deciding what exactly to charge him with.

None of the charges are justified, Gilkerson said.

“The problem with the federal game warden is there are no big poaching rings to take down, so they have to make them,” he said. “I’m not a criminal, so he tried to turn me into one.”

Mowad said in an earlier interview with the Journal that Prieksat was a high-quality law-enforcement agent.

“Bob is one of my finest supervisors, best field agents and absolutely one of the most knowledgeable agents when it comes to the law and case history,” Mowad said.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a number of GF&P officers have supported Prieksat, calling him an honest, high-quality law-enforcement agent who is not gifted in public relations.

Skjonsberg said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director Dale Hall also is “versed and involved” in the state’s grievances against Prieksat. But Skjonsberg also said it will take action and not simply awareness to maintain the state’s cooperative arrangements with the federal agency.

If Prieksat is still in his position by the fall, Skjonsberg also will recommend that hunters in the Pierre area carry video cameras to document the agent’s behavior.

“And we’ll catch him,” he said.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com
May 17, 2007

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/05/17/news/top/doc464bba8f8f65a440808744.txt

[SJ]

[P Joe]

Hey, LB, do you suppose if the feds don't cooperate, that you will be able to fly your plane and shoot as many coyotes as you want?

I'm not trying to get at anything, so don't worry. But in the article it mentions the aviation laws, since their won't be anyone to enforce them, does it mean we can do whatever we want? It would be kinda of fun to scout out deer with one of those handy dandy 3-wheelers and a parachute!

[publichunter]

And it wouldnt even be tresspassing........

[Jinglebob]

[publichunter]

not if there is no one to enforce the laws.

[Jinglebob]

[publichunter]

JIngle: My friend, boost my butt? I thought we were buddies?

[Jinglebob]

[publichunter]

Such hostility....All because I dont think like you and we have different opinions. I have never been disrespectful or ever even called you jingle b**ch