From Where I Sit

I am ashamed of our country's politicians.

Notice that I did not say congressmen-no-they have all become immured by politics. They trade favors like kids trade baseball cards, without due process and without the opportunity for the voters to voice their opinion. What prompted this less than savory opinion? Last Friday, as our government faced a shut down, certain deals were made in order for a temporary stay. Frances Beinecke, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council made the following statement:

“This stealth attack on wolves — which circumvents the will of the courts and good science — was inserted by Representative Mike Simpson (R, ID) and Senator Jon Tester (D, MT). It was approved by the leadership of both the House and the Senate, and it was okayed by the White House. It is a shameful day for this nation when both parties unite behind the slaughter of an endangered species — without public hearing or debate” (1).

 The rider on the proposed budget states that the wolves of the Rocky Mountains will be stripped of their protected status under the Endangered Species Act. And no one asked me if it was okay to do this. No asked you either.

Not only will the right to destroy these wolves be given to the states of Montana and Idaho, but these states' politicians are puppets of the rich ranchers who are the instigators of the forthcoming slaughter. A little known fact--these ranchers were offered government compensation for their livestock losses from the indigenous wolves, but they REFUSED  it, preferring instead to eradicate a species that the government and private groups and institutions have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars to save from extinction.

No small wonder that last week a federal judge refused to remove the status of endangered from the Rocky Mountain wolves. His act, perhaps, fostered a better opinion for himself, but do not be fooled. That judge knew what he was doing and did what he was advised to do. He bypassed the problem so that the rider could be attached to the budget, giving the ranchers from Montana and Idaho carte blanche to kill anything they deemed undesirable and to gain control of their home states. Those ranchers, no doubt, would withdraw funding and support for those politicians that did not play nice. And no one involved in this insidious and malicious scheme has a conscience worth a farthing.

Greg Costello, the executive director of the Western Environmental Law Center states, “In general, it’s not a good idea to use the budget process to to change substantive law, particularly when it’s something dramatic like removing protection for a listed species.That’s never been done before. The Endangered Species Act has provisions for delisting a species, including an emergency process, and they’ve gone and circumvented all that. It’s pretty outrageous” (2).

That's right. This entire debacle is outrageous. Not only will the wolves be slaughtered, but the Endangered Species Act will be weakened beyond its current state of effectiveness. Anyone could take a shot at any animal that interfered with the particular interest of a rich constituent.

Do you know how hard it is to gain protection for any species? When two administrations turned a deaf ear on the legitimate request for 17 species of penguins to be protected, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the United States Government. I helped a little by providing 500 signatures in support. The first attempt failed, but the second succeeded in providing protection for 7 of the original 17 penguin species. And still we are working to gain protections for the rest of them.

And what of the wolves; What goes up in smoke are the time, money, and work involved by so many people that have invested themselves fully in order to re-establish these wolves to their native habitat. Gone as if it nothing had ever been accomplished.

The Christian Science Monitor remarked:

Writing in the journal Biological Con­servation, researchers William Rip­ple and Robert Beschta at Oregon State University in Corvallis say they’ve document­ed “the first significant growth of aspen in over half a century” in Yel­low­stone. “Wolves appear to represent a key component in helping to passively restore these complex and wild ecosystems,” they write. This has made rivers and streams healthier, leading to better habitats for beaver, songbirds, and native trout. Wolves also have reduced the coyote population and improved the health of elk and deer herds by removing diseased animals (3).

Ripple and Beschta's research is further supported in a recent scientific paper; Gary E. Belovsky, Angela Nardoni Laws,  and Jennifer B. Slade show that Prey changes behavior with predation threat  (Ecology Letters, 2011; 14 (4): 335 DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01591.x ). This concept further enhances the reality of Carrying Capacity, which is defined as the maximum population size of a species that an environment can sustain indefinitely, given that food, habitat, water and other necessities are available in the environment.The dynamic of a predator-prey relationship sustains and balances the Carrying Capacity of a particular habitat. As the prey population decreases, the predator population will also decrease, and vice versa. This undulation of populations follows a bell curve, which shows the limits of growth or Carrying Capacity of any environment. This natural process has been occurring successfully throughout all populations for millenia, without interference by power hungry ranchers.

One of the world's best-studied predator-prey relationships is the moose and wolf population of Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. Without the wolves, the moose would overgraze the island's vegetation. Without the moose, the wolves would die. Therefore, a symbiotic relationship has developed. The first scientists who studied the issue thought that the wolves would eventually overpopulate and kill all the moose calves, then die from famine^. This has not occurred as inbreeding, disease and environmental factors have limited the wolf population naturally (4).

Wolves also have a lesser known enemy in this political diorama: "Congressional budget cuts have defanged the federal wolf-control program in Minnesota, stunning state officials who say they aren't allowed to trap, kill or remove wolves that prey on livestock or pets" (5). In other words, so long as wolves are protected under the aegis of the Endangered Species program, trigger happy Minnesotans cannot eradicate wolves in their own state. You can bet that that a few Minnesota congressmen are siding with the Idaho and Montana politicians in their bid to remove the endangered status from wolves.

We have a great deal of work to do and time is working against us. The fate of the wolves of the US will be decided this Friday. We need your help. Please contact your congressmen asap and add your voice to the fight against undemocratic and sneaky tactics by government officials. By doing so, you will have accomplished two goals. First, you will help save the wolves and secondly, you will not allow our congressional representatives to circumvent the law.

Here are some links that will help:

Defenders of Wildlife Petition to Save America's Wolves

The Center for Biological Diversity Wolf Petition Page

Please do what you can. The fate of an endangered species will be determined by whether you speak out or not. Thank you.

Lin Kerns

(1) Beinecke, Frances. "A Tragic Day for American Wildlife." insideawake. April 11, 2011. http://insideawake.posterous.com/a-tragic-day-for-american-wildlife

(2) Bloom, Jeremy. "Budget deal kills gray wolves AND the endangered species act." Red Green and Blue. April 11, 2011. http://redgreenandblue.org/2011/04/11/budget-deal-kills-gray-wolves/

(3) Knickerbocker, Brad. "Delisting of wolves raises hackles." The Christian Science Monitor. May 28, 2008. http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Wildlife/2008/0528/delisting-of-wolves-raises-hackles

(4)  Vucetich, J.A., and Peterson R.O. "Long-term population and predation dynamics of wolves on Isle Royale." Biology and Conservation of Wild Canids. Macdonald, D. and Sillero-Zubiri, C. (eds) OUP, 281-292. (2004).

(5) Smith, Doug. "Cuts defang federal wolf-control program, stun Minnesota officials." Star Tribune. April 12, 2011. http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/12/2164443/cuts-defang-federal-wolf-control.html