[Vision2020] Wolves (was Re: Legislative Update II from Rep. Trail)

Sat Jan 13 22:49:51 PST 2007

Hi Paul & Visionaries,

For some more interesting reading about this issue (and the MORON we elected
as our governor), you might want to read:

http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/article/idaho_governor_declares_wolf_p
ublic_enemy_number_one/C136/L136/
OR
http://tinyurl.com/yy2sqq

http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/article/idaho_doesnt_deserve_delisting
/C136/L136/
OR
http://tinyurl.com/y2kus3

Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.
- Edmund Burke

***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2006, Saundra Lund.
Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum
without the express written permission of the author.*****

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Paul Rumelhart
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 10:15 PM
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Wolves (was Re: Legislative Update II from Rep.
Trail)

So the problem is that the wolves are killing the elk before we are able to
get to them, thus fewer hunters wish to buy permits to go hunting because
there is less game available.  Is that basically it?

I had assumed it had to do with the wolves posing a danger to hunters or
something.  I understand the money involved in our hunting industry, but is
it reasonable to reduce a species to so few numbers in this area just to
sell a few more permits and day-glo orange hats?  

Hunters that I talk to routinely realize the beauty of a pre-dawn morning
just before the sun comes up, with the serene calm and the cold and the
feeling of expectancy.  Surely they can also realize the beauty of a lithe,
powerful animal like the gray wolf.

I'm not a hunter myself, but I understand the draw of it.  If the wolves are
severely decimating the elk population, then I could see the need for some
kind of controls to be put in place.  That seems like it's practical.
However, this seems like we are using sledgehammer when a screwdriver might
do.

Couldn't a compromise be reached that is far above the 100 wolf number?
Instead of dropping directly from 1200 to 100, why not sell three or four
hundred wolf tags and see if the problem improves?  Done correctly, money
lost to elk hunting could be made up by wolf hunting (at higher prices),
with the number of tags printed each year dependent upon population counts
of both species - thus achieving a sustainable balance.  

I would like to keep the population above the number 100 not because
dropping to 99 puts them on the endangered species list, but because an
epidemic, a fire, or some other catastrophe could wipe them out entirely if
the population is too small.

Paul

Tom Hansen wrote: 

	>From the January 12, 2007 edition of the Sioux City Journal (Sioux
City,
	Iowa) at:

http://siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/01/12/news/latest_news/b1139d550ae
	6766e86257261001b7fb1.txt 

	(Subscription required)

	It is pretty bad when you have to go out of state to learn the truth
about
	your own governor.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Governor wants to kill all but 100 gray wolves 
	1:15 AM 

	BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Idaho's governor said Thursday he will support
public
	hunts to kill all but 100 of the state's gray wolves after the
federal
	government strips them of protection under the Endangered Species
Act.

	Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter told The Associated Press that he wants
hunters to
	kill about 550 gray wolves. That would leave about 100 wolves, or 10
packs,
	according to a population estimate by state wildlife officials.

	The 100 surviving wolves would be the minimum before the animals
could again
	be considered endangered.

	"I'm prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself,"
Otter
	said earlier Thursday during a rally of about 300 hunters.

	Otter complained that wolves are rapidly killing elk and other
animals
	essential to Idaho's multimillion-dollar hunting industry. The
hunters, many
	wearing camouflage clothing and blaze-orange caps, applauded wildly
during
	his comments.

	Suzanne Stone, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Defenders of
Wildlife in
	Boise, said Otter's proposal would return wolves to the verge of
	eradication.

	"Essentially he has confirmed our worst fears for the state of
Idaho: That
	this would be a political rather than a biological management of the
wolf
	population," Stone said. "There's no economic or ecological reason
for
	maintaining such low numbers. It's simple persecution."

	Wolves were reintroduced to the northern Rocky Mountains a decade
ago after
	being hunted to near-extinction. More than 1,200 now live in the
region.

	The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to start removing federal
	protections from gray wolves in Montana and Idaho in the next few
weeks.

	A plan drafted by Idaho's wildlife agency calls for maintaining a
minimum of
	15 wolf packs -- higher than Otter's proposal of 10 packs.

	Jeff Allen, a policy adviser for the state Office of Species
Conservation,
	said 15 wolf packs would allow "a cushion" between the surviving
wolf
	population and the minimum number that federal biologists would
allow before
	the animals are again considered endangered.

	Allen said Otter and state wildlife officials agree on wolf strategy
and
	will be able to reach a consensus on specific numbers.

	"You don't want to be too close to 10 because all of a sudden when
one
	(wolf) is hit by a car or taken in defense of property, you're back
on the
	list," Allen said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Seeya round town, Moscow.

	Tom Hansen
	Moscow, Idaho

	"If not us, who?
	If not now, when?"

	- Unknown

	-----Original Message-----
	From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
	On Behalf Of Paul Rumelhart
	Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 2:48 PM
	To: vision2020 at moscow.com
	Subject: [Vision2020] Wolves (was Re: Legislative Update II from
Rep. Trail)

	ttrail at moscow.com wrote:

		... 
		Sportsmen gathered on the step of the Capitol and applauded
the Governor
		for signing a resolution to endorse the delisting of wolves
and putting
		them under state control. ...

	Could someone present the arguments behind this?  I assume it's more

	than just some sportsmen wanting a wolf's skin cloak or to feed on
wolf 
	meat.  Is the current population of wolves causing problems of some 
	kind?  What would be the result if that population was reduced 
	significantly?

	Paul

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