Wolves and FWS in Montana - 3 articles from Julie Smithson

[Liberty Belle]

Opponents highly critical of program management

Note: There are three articles listed here. The first is far more fairly reported than the other two. Not counting the agency oversight committee members and other Helena officials, there were 84 in attendance at the meeting: 77 that understand the use of large predators, including but not limited to Canadian gray wolves, is to steal property rights, and 7 who were paid by their self-proclaimed "environmental organization" employers to make the trip and employ platitudes and pabulum.

How does the presence of unknown but vast numbers of large predators steal property rights, you ask? It does so by severely restricting personal freedom to travel and recreate as well as the reasonable and normal use of one's property, from walking out to the mailbox to walking the family pets or simply allowing children to play on the porch or in the yard. Gone is the ability to go places without weapons, for self-defense comes to the forefront of peoples' psyche when they've seen calves, lambs, foals, dogs, horses, cattle, sheep, etc., torn to pieces and eaten alive. For those wondering how people can identify which large predator species does this, it is not difficult: wolves eat bones.

Wolves eat their meals while their meals are still alive and struggling. Kim and Lori Carnegie of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, will never see their beloved son, Kenton Joel Carnegie, again -- or hold the grandchildren he might have fathered -- because last fall wolves in Saskatchewan viewed this healthy 22-year-old as a meal, and partook of him for over thirty minutes, until his horrified friends drove them away. Kenton Joel Carnegie ran for his life. The wolves pulled him down and he somehow got back up twice before they pulled him down for the third and final time.

Those in appointed, i.e., unelected positions like Ed Bangs [email protected], Mike Jimenez [email protected], et al, do not care about other people's private property, freedom, peace of mind, or any of the things that made America great. They are not concerned, contrary to popular belief, with the health or well being of wolves and other large predators. Their job seems not to be to "save" anything that's truly "endangered," but rather to make endangered the rural private property owners and their families and ways of life. Their interest appears to lie solely in their own profit motive. This is often called "job security."

 

[Liberty Belle]

August 12, 2006
By Nick Gevock of the Montana Standard
[email protected].

Ennis, Montana - Ranchers and wolf opponents, who packed a special meeting in Ennis Friday, blasted state wildlife officials for the way they have handled wolf management since taking over from the federal government last year.

Officials with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks have been too slow to authorize the killing of problem wolves and at times have hampered federal trappers from lethal control on state lands, more than a dozen people told members of the agency oversight committee of the Environmental Quality Council.

"It's like a guy's robbing a bank and you have to go get an arrest warrant," committee member Sen. Jim Shockley, R-Victor, said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense." More than 50 people showed up for the meeting that drew FWP Director Jeff Hagener, agency biologists and several state legislators. The meeting also drew people from Idaho and Wyoming [as well as South Dakota and California], ranchers and members of anti-wolf groups pushing for indiscriminate killing of the predators.

A few members of conservation groups also showed up and praised FWP for the job it's done since taking over wolf management from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year.

"FWP is doing an excellent job balancing the needs of wildlife, livestock producers and sportsmen," said Tim Border with the Montana Wildlife Federation.

But the majority of the crowd ripped FWP, saying the agency's reluctance to decide to kill a wolf has let too many problem animals get away.

Shockley said when ranchers were dealing directly with federal officials, problem wolves could be taken care of quickly. But since the state has taken over, things take too long.

"It was working, why didn't we just leave it the way it was?" he said.
Critics were particularly incensed by FWP's policy of approving any control measures before they take place on state game ranges.

"We're concerned that the wildlife management areas will become sanctuaries," said sheep rancher Joe Helle, who lives near Dillon.

But Kurt Alt, FWP Southwest Montana wildlife manager, said that's the last thing biologists want to happen. FWP, as the manager of game ranges, merely wants to inspect any potential livestock kills to ensure it can back up killing problem wolves when it's needed.

Alt said that's crucial because people have criticized grazing on the game ranges and would rather see cattle removed. But the rotational grazing is important for improving grass and he doesn't want that jeopardized.

"We'll be able to support our actions to our worst critics and our biggest supporters," he said. "It does not mean that WMAs will become safe havens for wolves that kill livestock." The misconception that FWP was banning lethal control on game ranges came about because of a misunderstanding between the state agency and Wildlife Services, said Carolyn Sime, FWP wolf program coordinator. She agreed both agencies need to communicate better.

But although FWP decides when a wolf can be killed, it can't give Wildlife Services permission to trespass on other lands such as U.S. Forest Service or private lands, Sime said.

Larry Handegard, a trapper with Wildlife Services, said his agency has always had to have permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to kill wolves, and now needs it from FWP.

Some people criticized the entire wolf program and said it was illegal to begin with. They urged the committee to recommend the Legislature pass a bill to sue the federal government so wolves can be taken off the federal Endangered Species List.

"Fish, Wildlife and Parks has forfeited their right to manage these predators," said Bob Fanning, president of Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd, an anti-wolf group. "We need this in order to get this out-of-control bureaucratic nightmare under control." FWP is anxious to get wolves delisted so it can begin to use hunting and trapping to manage the population, Hagener said. The agency has been frustrated by the federal government's unwillingness to delist wolves in Montana and Idaho, whose management plans have been accepted, because of Wyoming's plan that was rejected.

But Hagener said even once wolves are delisted, biologists will manage them to keep a sustainable population.

"We view wolves as part of the wildlife of the state," he said. "We're going to have to learn how to live with them." State Rep. Diane Rice, R-Harrison, said at the end of the meeting that she would like the EQC to pursue legislative action, which could include joining lawsuits to get wolves delisted in Montana.

Copyright 2006, The Montana Standard.

 

[Liberty Belle]

(Note: This is typical AP "story writing:" never mention that there were 77 folks in attendance who were there to see that the property rights stealing agenda of siccing large predators on rural America was "on the record" and made public, and 7 from self-proclaimed "environmental" groups. No mention of the attendees that came from California, Idaho, and South Dakota with the same message: those using large predators are destroying our custom and culture and economic base. No surprises in this story; after all, the AP has an agenda to "report." Bold red indicates the use of Language Deception. These comments/note were submitted as a comment in the Casper Star-Tribune, but have not yet been posted with the story.

Please be sure to check The Prairie Star http://www.ThePrairieStar.com of Great Falls, Montana, and Agri-News
http://www.cattleplus.com/NewCattleplus/pages/agri.html of Billings, Montana, next week for decidedly more accurate articles.

Please consider traveling in these areas by road, bicycle, horseback, foot, ski, snowmobile, etc., and that walking with your dogs, or having a breakdown and having to walk for help, puts you into sights of large predators. Those that "re" introduced large predators were/are fully aware of these infringements to your property rights, freedom to travel and recreate, etc.)


Ranchers criticize state over wolf management
August 12, 3006
Casper, Wyoming
http://www.casperstartribune.net
To submit a Letter to the Editor: [email protected]

Ennis, Montana - State wildlife officials take too long to authorize the killing of problem wolves, ranchers and others said Friday at a meeting of the agency oversight committee of the Environmental Quality Council.

"It's like a guy's robbing a bank and you have to go get an arrest warrant," committee member Sen. Jim Shockley, R-Victor, said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense."

More than 50 people attended the meeting that drew Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Jeff Hagener, agency biologists and several state legislators. People from Idaho and Wyoming [plus California, South Dakota and Montana] and members of anti-wolf groups pushing for indiscriminate killing of the predators also attended.

A few members of conservation groups praised FWP for the job it has done since it took over wolf management from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year.

However, the majority complained that FWP's reluctance to decide to kill a wolf has let too many problem animals get away. Others say the state has at times made it difficult for federal trappers to kill wolves on state land.

Shockley said when ranchers were dealing directly with federal officials, problem wolves could be taken care of quickly. But since the state has taken over, things take too long.

"It was working. Why didn't we just leave it the way it was?" he asked.

Sheep rancher Joe Helle of the Dillon area was among those who complained about FWP's policy of approving any control measures before they take place on state game ranges.

"We're concerned that wildlife management areas will become sanctuaries," Helle said.

But Kurt Alt, FWP Southwest Montana wildlife manager, said the agency, as manager of the game ranges, wants to inspect any potential livestock kills to ensure it can defend killing problem wolves when it's needed.

Alt said that's important because some people have criticized grazing on the game ranges and would rather see livestock removed. He noted the rotational grazing is important for improving grass and he doesn't want to see the grazing end.

"We'll be able to support our actions to our worst critics and our biggest supporters," Alt said. "It does not mean that WMAs will become safe havens for wolves that kill livestock."

The misconception that FWP was banning lethal control on game ranges was the result of a misunderstanding between the state agency and Wildlife Services, said Carolyn Sime, FWP wolf program coordinator. She agreed both agencies need to communicate better.

But although FWP decides when a wolf can be killed, it can't give Wildlife Services permission to trespass on U.S. Forest Service or private lands, Sime said.

Larry Handegard, a federal trapper, said his agency has always had to have permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to kill wolves and now needs it from FWP.

Some people urged the committee to recommend the Legislature pass a bill to sue the federal government so wolves can be taken off the federal Endangered Species List.

"Fish, Wildlife and Parks has forfeited their right to manage these predators," said Bob Fanning, president of Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd, an anti-wolf group. "We need this in order to get this out-of-control bureaucratic nightmare under control."

FWP wants to see wolves delisted so it can begin to use hunting and trapping to manage the population, Hagener said. The agency has been frustrated by the federal government's unwillingness to delist wolves in Montana and Idaho, where management plans have been accepted, because Wyoming's management plan has been rejected.

But Hagener said even once wolves are delisted, biologists will manage them to keep a sustainable population.

"We view wolves as part of the wildlife of the state," he said. "We're going to have to learn how to live with them."

The Casper Star-Tribune.

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/08/12/ap-state-wy/d8jekfm00.txt

 

[Liberty Belle]

(Note: This article is better than the Star-Tribune version, but still has a long way to go to achieve accuracy. Once again, those two-legged, agenda-driven, faceless ones that set The Wildlands Project into motion to depopulate most of America -- and the world -- of its rural private property owners and resource providers, are never mentioned. Nope, the wolf is used as the scapegoat, as though the wolf had a choice, being hand-raised, a variety never native to these places, radio-collared and tracked and "re" introduced into the wilds of the United States under the guise of the "Endangered Species" Act.)

Ranchers sound off a (sic) wolf meeting
By Scott McMillion [email protected]
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
August 12, 2006

Ennis, Montana - More than a decade after wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho, fear and loathing of the big predators remains strong among some Westerners.

That much was made clear during a five-hour meeting here Friday.
One Wyoming rancher said she's afraid to take her grandchildren camping in some places.

"I can't take them camping where their father went, because of the wolves and grizzlies," a tearful Lois Herbst, president of the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association, told a subcommittee of the Montana Environmental Quality Council, a group of lawmakers and legislators.

"I have not set foot in the woods in three months," said Scott Richards, a Grangeville, Idaho, man who watched wolves kill his hunting dog. He said his wife now carries a gun to walk on country roads. "The peace of mind we've all had here is gone."

There have been no wolf attacks on people in the Northern Rockies since reintroduction, although some wolves have acted boldly around humans and there have been attacks on people in Canada and Alaska in the past several months.

Many of the comments at the meeting echoed what wolf opponents were saying during the 1995 reintroduction.

But there was one major difference: nobody called for eradicating the big carnivores.

"We're forced with maintaining a certain level of wolves forever," said Joe Helle, a Dillon sheep rancher who has suffered repeated losses of sheep and guard dogs to wolves.

He sounded resigned to the fact, but not happy.

The meeting was held to let people comment on how the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is doing, one year after that agency took over most wolf-management duties from the federal government.

The Madison Valley has been the scene of a number of attacks on livestock, most recently in July, in the southern end of the valley.

John Crumley, who ranches in that area, urged state and federal agencies to communicate better.

"We wouldn't be here today if there wasn't some miscommunication," he said, adding that there has been "some fuel added to the fire by some of the people involved."

He's part of a group of ranchers that has hired extra range riders and taken other steps to prevent wolf attacks. Though it's expensive and time consuming, the riders do a good job, he said.

But when wolf numbers grow, depredations are inevitable.

FWP and Wildlife Services, the federal agency that kills wolves when they attack livestock, are negotiating an agreement on jurisdiction over wildlife-management areas, state-owned lands administered by FWP.

"We don't need confusion," about boundaries and jurisdictions, Crumley said.

Other local ranchers said they don't have a problem with FWP taking the lead in wolf management, as long as problems are dealt with quickly.

For wolves to fit in a working landscape populated by humans, "a lot of them have to die," said Kurt Alt, FWP regional wildlife biologist.

"It's the wrong characterization for this committee to hear that we are reluctant to kill wolves," he said.

Last year, about 12 percent of the state's wolf population was killed legally, Rep. Chris Harris, D-Bozeman noted.

The meeting was held here at the request of Rep. Diane Rice, R-Harrison. She said she will urge the Montana Legislature to examine its options in January. Those options could include filing lawsuits to force delisting or changing which state agency manages wolves, she said.

To submit a Letter to the Editor: [email protected]

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2006/08/12/breakingnews/30wolves.txt

 

[ranchwife]

LB----hubby wishes that he had known about the meeting in ennis....I know he would have gone as he has a thing or two to add!! Neighboring ranchers lost a yearling steer and the family dog to wolves last year.....only about 100 yards from the house where their children reside!! Another ranch south of here just had to shoot a wolf caught in the act of taking down a cow!! they are getting bolder and bolder and do not seem as afraid of human contact as they should be!! :shock:

 

[Ranchy]

It's just rediculous................... :roll:

Why can't people understand that there was a REASON THEY WERE ALMOST EXTINCT? :roll: They are dangerous to have around, but this just goes along with the Agenda 21.........Wildlands Project. You can find out a lot about what's in store for us in the west (and even some in the east) at http://www.twp.org/cms/index.cfm?group_id=1000

This is what their Welcome is:

In North America, there is hope that our animals, our wild places, and our spirit of adventure will continue forever.

Our vision is Room to Roam, and lots of it. We must connect parks and protected areas from Canada to Mexico, from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

The Wildlands Project, along with an international network of passionate people, is making it happen.

Another informative site is http://www.wildlandsprojectrevealed.org/

And yet another: http://www.takingliberty.us/

These were 1 - 10 of about 448,000 for The Wildlands Project.........it's an evil, evil plot to undermine everything America is about......and our government is letting it happen, and even helping it along................ :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[IL Rancher]

I picked up the 2006 hunting regulations for Illinois today.. Actually had a section on wolves (Guessing they put this here when the original plan was to delist the wolf from the upper midwest protected list).. Well, they said don't shoot them if you see them as they are federally and state protected (First time they have ever been listed as state protected as far as I know) and that they are no danger to livestock, pets or people :roll: While I highly doubt that a single wolf would be much danger against people single coyotes have beent aking lambs, calves and small pets for the past 10-15 years in Illinois, what makes them think migrating wolves wouldn't have the same modus operendi? Slim to zero chance I will ever see on in Illinois but you never know..