Concerned Citizens Against Resource Exploitation (CCARE) Speaks Out

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Concerned Citizens Against Resource Exploitation (CCARE) is a newly formed pro hunting, Fishing, and Trapping organization. CCARE opposes the recommendation by MI DNRE Wildlife Division to issue 12,300 harvest tags for the 2010 bear-hunting season.

The Natural Resource Commission, at their monthly meeting scheduled for March 4, 2010, will make the final decision.

According to CCARE spokesman, Charles Markham, “This proposal is not based on sound science.” In a letter received by CCARE last month, the lead bear biologist for DNRE stated the MI black bear population was 11,100 prior to the 2009 bear season, a revision from the 19,000 bear estimate in the bear management plan signed by Director Humphries in June 2009. Read more

Interview With Will Graves: Author, “Wolves in Russia: Anxiety Through The Ages”

Below is an interview, moderated by Jim Beers, with Will Graves, author. It took place on January 24, 2010 in response to reports of cystic Hydatid disease from worms that have been reported in wolves in Idaho and Montana.

Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan, Minnesota with his wife of many decades.

Jim Beers is available for consulting or to speak.

Learn more about Will Graves below. Read more

Elk Foundation Funding Tops $190K for Michigan Initiative

MISSOULA, Mont. New grants from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will fund conservation and education projects in eight Michigan counties, and swell total RMEF support for the state?s Pigeon River Habitat Initiative to more than $190,000.

The 2009 RMEF grants will affect Cheboygan, Delta, Montmorency, Muskegon, Oakland, Otsego, Ottawa and Presque Isle counties.

“Our volunteers in Michigan devoted themselves to the 2008 fundraisers that made these grants possible. This is where Elk Foundation banquets, auctions and other events transform into on-the-ground conservation work, and it’s part of the payday for all of our supporters who are passionate about giving something back to the outdoors,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. Read more

Western Great Lakes Gray Wolf Population Goes Back On Endangered List

In a move that is becoming extremely nauseating and utterly ridiculous, void of any science that President Obama promised would return to decisions like this, the government reached an agreement with those groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, who had sued to stop delisting, the gray wolf was returned to government protection. It appears the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not exactly follow the legal steps before they could declare a removal from the Endangered Species Act list.

Before a move such as delisting, the USFWS must provide a 60-day public comment period and evidently this was not done. Because of that, the U.S. Government and the HSUS, et. al., reached an agreement that puts the wolves in Minnesota back under a “threatened” status and the rest of the wolves return as endangered. Wolves in Idaho and Montana that have be removed from the list, are not affected. Read more

Did Feds Address Court Rulings For Wolf Delisting?

Yesterday Deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett announced the intentions of the Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the gray wolf from protection of the Endangered Species Act in the Western Great Lakes region and portions of the Northern Rocky Mountains. Following legal procedures, the USFWS will post the Final Rule in the Federal Registry next week and then 30 days thereafter, the rule takes effect.

The process of attempting to get the wolf delisted has been a confusing mess, mired in lawsuits, twisted out of shape by frustrating and puzzling rulings by judges and just as disturbing was the direction or seemingly lack thereof, the Feds took in dealing with the issue. Read more

Death By Wolves And Misleading Advocacy. The Kenton Carnegie Tragedy

Reprinted with permission from the author.

On November 8th 2005 a 22-year-old honors and scholarship student in Geological Engineering, Kenton Joel Carnegie, from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, was killed in northern Saskatchewan by a pack of wolves. While he was almost certainly not the only victim of wolf predation in North America in the past century, judging from conversations with native people, and a closer review of case histories, this was the best-investigated case to date . In the process of that investigation matters were uncovered that need to be discussed as they have significant policy implications for wildlife conservation and human safety. However, we need to review what happened to Kenton Carnegie, as it is relevant to considerations following. Read more

USFWS Reinstates Protection For Wolves “In Compliance With Court Orders”

On December 11, 2008, recorded in the Federal Register, the Department of Interior, more specifically the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, published the final rule that places the gray wolf in nearly all of the lower 48 states, under federal protection of the Endangered Species Act. What this final rule does, I doubt 99.999999% of Americans understand. Read more

Can We Trust How Wolves Are Being Managed In Montana Or Other States?

If we back up through a regression of what is controlling wolf management, if nothing else we have to scratch our heads. The fate of the gray wolf in the Northern Rocky Mountains as well as the Western Great Lakes region lies in the hands of two judges. One judge in Montana (Donald Molloy) says Wyoming’s wolf management plan isn’t good enough to sustain a wolf population. The same judge says we must continue to protect the wolf because he thinks until sub populations of wolves interbreed there is little hope the wolf will survive.

The judge in Washington, D.C. (Paul Friedman) who ruled to place the wolf in the Great Lakes region back under federal protection says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can’t create Distinct Population Segments because there is no definition of what that is. Read more

Banning Baiting To Stem Chronic Wasting Disease

The state of Michigan discovered one domestically raised whitetail deer infected with chronic wasting disease and one of the things the Department of Natural Resources did in knee-jerk fashion was to ban baiting by hunters in what they believed to be an effort to stop the spread of the disease. This action might be likened best to giving everyone Rain-X for their car windshields in hope that it will stop the rain from coming down.

Before you go getting mad at me, I need to be as forthcoming as I can in order that you better understand where I’m coming from. I don’t bait. I have never baited other than stuffing cheese or peanut butter into a mouse trap. Would I ever use bait in order to harvest a game animal? Perhaps and let me explain why. Read more

The Endangered Species Act Is Now Endangering Our Species

As the courts continue to decide what the Endangered Species Act is for, we have reached a point where it appears now that our wildlife that needs protecting is in eminent danger. Yesterday, Federal Judge Paul L. Friedman, ordered that the gray wolf in the Western Great Lakes region be placed back under protection and management of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That decision and the subsequent ruling of the court I now see as jeopardizing the health and sustainability of our other wildlife and plant species all within specific ecosystems. Read more

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