By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Missoulian |
Posted: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 5:45 am
KALISPELL - Criticism of federal wolf management rose to a fever pitch at a public hearing Monday night, with ranchers, hunters, elected officials and conservationists all calling for the return of wolf stewardship to the state of Montana.
Around 120 people gathered for the meeting at the Flathead Valley Community College and cried foul in chorus over the restoration of federal protections to wolves, asserting states' rights and challenging federal authority.
Backers of states' rights were particularly galled and objected loudly to a Missoula federal judge's decision to reverse the removal of wolves in Montana and Idaho from protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The decision to delist wolves lifted ESA protections in 2007 and gave Montana and Idaho the ultimate authority to manage wolf populations, with both states sanctioning legal hunts last year.
Wyoming maintained certain ESA restrictions, however, and U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled in August that the federal government couldn't deem wolves "endangered" in one state but "recovered" in others.
Wolf hunts planned for this year were canceled by the ruling.
Flathead Valley residents sounded their objections off of several panelists who headed the public forum, which was sponsored by the nonprofit organization Montanans for Multiple Use.
All of the panelists favored the restoration of wolf management authority to individual states.
"We've got a monster on our hands," said state Sen. Greg Hinkle, R-Thompson Falls. "I know from firsthand experience. I have seen the devastation that is caused by the wolf."
Hinkle told of seeing blood splotches in the snow throughout a two-mile winter area near his home, and ample evidence of wolf kills.
Kirk Murphy, a panelist representing the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, said Montana's wolf populations should be maintained by "hunter-stewards," not the federal government. Murphy praised the wolf hunts as a long overdue landmark, and necessary for maintaining healthy but manageable populations.
"By every standard, wolves are recovered. More than recovered," Murphy said.
Biologists and environmentalists say the hunts would jeopardize recovery efforts, though none were on hand Monday night, and no one in the audience spoke in favor of federal protections.
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The loudest disapproval rang out from rankled members of the public, who complained that Montana's large and growing wolf population was leading to depredation of livestock and game animals such as elk, and that environmentalists have repeatedly raised the bar for how many wolves constitute a sustainable population.
The original target goal was 300 wolves spread across the three states. Officials now estimate there are more than 1,700 wolves, with conservationists arguing that about 2,000 animals are necessary for full recovery.
Larry Anderson, U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg's field officer in Montana, was among the panelists, and said Montana's lone congressman is working on a rare piece of legislation that takes aim at the ESA and restores wolf management to the state of Montana.
"Montanans are paying the price for ongoing federal bungling," Sanders said, reading a statement from Rehberg.
State Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell, who spoke at the hearing, said Rehberg's legislation was the most efficient road to delisting because of competing camps of science between environmental groups and states' rights advocates.
"This is going to have to be a political decision," he said. "Their science says one thing and ours says another."
Derek Skees, a Republican candidate for House District 4, went a step further, and called on Rehberg to do away with federal judges like Molloy, who serve on lifetime appointments. The sentiment was met with raucous applause.
"Mr. Molloy should not be in office any more. Your job is to rein in judges for bad behavior," Skees said. "We need to eliminate lifetime appointments for district judges."
Calling wolves in Montana an "emergency," Montanans for Multiple Use president Fred Hodgeboom said wolf populations posed a threat to the livelihood of ranchers and the welfare of Montana families.
"This is the worst-case scenario," he said. "What's happening is exactly what the ranchers and biologists who know the reproductive capacity of wolves said would happen. And here we are."
Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached 1-800-366-7186 or at tscott@missoulian.com.
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