Big Fin, the Big Apple (NYT) & the big, bad woof

[Ben Lamb]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/u...uccess-story-not-without-detractors.html?_r=1

It's an 11 minute long video and Randy does a fantastic job representing why we fought so hard for delisting. Hal Herring does an equally awesome job showing the frustration so many of us had dealing with this issue. As Wyoming continues their wolf war, the wisdom of the Simpson/Tester delisting rider is shining a little brighter today.

While the piece still misrepresents what the rider did (It didn't congressional delist anything and it didn't touch the ESA), it's one of the most balanced pieces I've seen on the issue.

Thanks Randy, for standing up for common sense.

 

[Big Fin]

It is probably one of the more balanced pieces I've seen on the topic, especially by a large media group such as the NY Times. Hard to take a topic with this many moving storylines and get it into an eleven minute piece.

 

[MT_elk]

Good article. The debate will never end. Each side has very heated arguments as to why they're right. In my humble opinion, the best route is to allow each local state to regulate and manage their own game.

 

[Big Foot]

I watched the piece this morning and felt it was balanced. Nice job representing us sportsman. Thanks Randy!

 

[sra61]

This topic hits right where I live. I can tell you, I have been spending a lot of time in an area that has been hit hard by the wolves. I haven't found one person that actually lives in that country that thinks it was a good thing. I was talking with the Region 1 wolf Biologist and he did tell me that in an area that I have hunted deer and elk for years, the resident pack was pretty much wiped out last hunting season. I was heartened to know that hey, maybe we can make a difference by hunting them. I realize that they are here and that isn't going to change, but for everyone to have sat back and just watch while all of the big game populations were all but wiped out, proves to me forever, in my mind, that any time a government agency wants to take charge of anything it should be resisted as strenuously as possible. To be honest I had my doubts as to how successful we could be in knocking their numbers down. People need to get out there and get after them! You guys on the eastern side of the state take a trip west and put a wolf on your wall.

 

[Sytes]

Just watched the piece. Thanks Ben for posting the link. Thanks Randy for representing! It is great to see a well represented position versus the extremes of both continuing the havoc. No matter how short the piece, for NY Times... that is a fair amount. A good grounded topic shared.

 

[Lv2hnt]

Ben, thanks for posting this! As a native Arizonan, I've been following this issue from afar these last 20 years. For an abbreviated video of such an expansive issue, I thought it was a pretty good presentation.

It gets old when the "powers that be" dictate we stick to the straight and narrow regarding legal agreements, yet seemingly not so much for those holding opposing views. Thumbs up, Randy, for everything you've done slugging it out over the years!

We now get to wait and see how everything plays out with the "Mexican" wolf re-intro here in the Southwest ...

 

[RobG]

While the piece still misrepresents what the rider did (It didn't congressional delist anything and it didn't touch the ESA), it's one of the most balanced pieces I've seen on the issue.

Ben - I realize it didn't touch the EDA, but I guess I don't understand the rider if it didn't delist the wolves. What is the correct interpretation of what it did?

 

[Ben Lamb]

Ben - I realize it didn't touch the EDA, but I guess I don't understand the rider if it didn't delist the wolves. What is the correct interpretation of what it did?

The Simpson/Tester delisting rider simply forced the USFWS to reissue the delisting decision of 2009 which split Wyoming off and delisted MT, ID, and parts of OR, WA & UT. It also shielded the delisting rule from judicial review.

it may sound semantic, but it did not delist wolves. It directed an agency to make an action.