Montana's Epitaph...Unless Sportsmen Take Back MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks
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This blog site is simply the old LOBO WATCH blog that was published under the name of "Wolf Hunt Update". That blog served its purpose, helping to get the word out when it was time to organize protest rallies at federal court houses...to attend sportsmen rallies calling for far more stringent wolf and other predator control...to take over pro-wolf rallies...to announce important state wildlife commission meetings...and to bring together sportsmen any time there was a need to have our voices heard when it comes to how poorly wildlife is now being managed in the Northern Rockies.Here in Montana, we had high hopes that a new Governor would appoint a new Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks director who would take charge, and turn the agency around. What newly elected Governor Steve Bullock gave us is former FWP Director Jeff Hagener, who headed the agency from 2001 to 2008 - until Governor Brian Schweitzer replaced him with ol' school buddy Joe Maurier. Hagener's appointment to head MT FWP is now being met with very mixed emotions. Many sportsmen in the state still associate him with the far less than adequate stand against major predators during his previous stay in the Director's office.
Robert Fanning, of Pray, MT recently pointed out that Hagener presided over years and years of litigation abuse by animal rights and eco fascists, who whistled the tune to which Hagener danced.He said that groups like Defenders of Wildlife, the Natural Resources Defense Council, EarthJustice, and others repeatedly stalled wolf delisting, and milked the legal system through the Equal Access to Justice Act (for millions of dollars). Fanning acknowledges that, as FWP Director, Hagener's legal department enabled all of this, and did nothing to fight back. During all of this political jockeying, wolf populations grew 30-percent per anum (compounded) - and Western Montana's big game herds went into a nose-dive spiral.
Fanning presented three Ph.D's in wildlife ecology to the Governor's office that warned how Montana's ungulate herds would be pushed into a "predator pit", and how a $237-million per anum hunting industry would be destroyed. Today, the western one-third of Montana has become a big game wasteland, with barely 15- to 20-percent of the elk, moose and other big game found in this region before Jeff Hagener's first go around as Director of FWP.
Bob Fanning says, "Hagener ignored the warnings and licked the boots of his federal overseers. Now, Bullock and his Agenda 21 keepers just served up another dish of hot steaming wolf scat to Montana sportsmen."
During Bullock's campaign for office, opponents repeatedly spotlighted his close ties with radical environmental groups, who do indeed push hard for the rewilding of the West...which means moving people off the land. While Bullock regularly reverts back to the chorus line "openning up more public access for Montanan's", the fact remains that the agendas of those radical environmental friends he keeps is to revert much of this state back to wilderness areas, effectively shutting out most state residents.
Bullock's appointment of Jeff Hagener as the once again Director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks likely comes out of pure convenience. Hagener is already in step with what it takes to destroy huntable populations of big game, making Montana a less desireable place to live. Fewer people, far fewer people, is indeed the goal of Agenda 21. Now we have a governor who just may be positioning himself to be an even greater threat to Montana's outdoor lifestyle than the extremely lame governor he replaces.Sportsmen of Montana, if there ever was a time when pulling together was needed...it's right now. For the next four years, this state must be run through the legislature...not the Governor's office. And that includes any and all legislation regarding Fish, Wildlife and Parks issues. Now is the time for all hunters and anglers to become extremely politically active, and to dominate FWP Commission meetings. Learn who's your State Representative and State Senator, get their e-mail address, and inundate them with your opinions when it comes to legislation that will make it easier for the likes of Steve Bullock and Jeff Hagener to further destroy the wildlife resources of this state.
The new direction of this blog will become the FWP Watch Dog. Anytime that any one of you catch wind of anything related to FWP that's either unethical or illegal, drop me an e-mail at lobowatch2@gmail.com .
Toby Bridges
LOBO WATCH
www.lobowatch.com
