<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Courtesy of today's (March 6, 2016) Spokesman-Review with special thanks to Brett Haverstick.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">---------------------------------</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><p class="paragraph" style="text-align: start; margin: 10px 20px; padding: 0px;"><span area="36,1188,138,1175" style="font-weight: bold; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Stop the elk farming</span></p><p class="paragraph" style="text-align: start; margin: 10px 20px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Fid_6" area="36,1175,205,823" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Idaho Department of Fish and Game, in conjunction with the USDA Wildlife Services, despicably gunned down 20 wolves over the Clearwater National Forest in north-central Idaho earlier this month. Helicopter gunning of wolves, or any other species, should not be a “tool in the toolbox” in 21st-century wildlife management. It’s barbaric, immoral, expensive and is not grounded in science.</span></p><p class="paragraph" style="text-align: start; margin: 10px 20px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Fid_6" area="36,1175,205,823" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Lolo Zone of the Clearwater National Forest provides the best habitat for large carnivores in the Lower 48. The rugged slopes and vast roadless terrain of the North Fork Clearwater and the Upper Lochsa River drainage provide crucial habitat for gray wolves, Canada lynx, wolverines, fishers and historically grizzly bears.</span></p><p class="paragraph" style="text-align: start; margin: 10px 20px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Fid_6" area="36,1175,205,823" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Stand-replacing wildfires and the eradication of predators in the 20th century created good habitat for elk in the Lolo Zone. Elk numbers reached 16,000 in the 1980s. Those numbers have since declined for two main reasons: Harsh winters in the 1990s killed thousands of elk, and the complete suppression of fires over the past century has led to forest succession and a change in forest type or habitat.</span></p><p class="paragraph" style="text-align: start; margin: 10px 20px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Fid_6" area="36,1175,205,823" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is a laughingstock and lacks credibility. Stop the elk farming and keep Idaho wild.</span></p><p class="paragraph" style="text-align: start; margin: 10px 20px; padding: 0px;"><span area="139,824,207,814" style="font-weight: bold; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Brett Haverstick</span></p><p class="paragraph" style="text-align: start; margin: 10px 20px; padding: 0px;"><span area="182,815,207,805" style="font-style: italic; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow</span></p></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">---------------------------------</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Here is a simple suggestion for Idaho's Department of Fish and Game . . .</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><b><i>"<u>GIVE A DAMN!</u>"</i></b><br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div> </div></div></body></html>