More "Mexican" Wolves into Arizona

[Lv2hnt]

Hard for me to comment succinctly on this (I'll accept responsibility for the italics in the thread title). We've known this was coming (and I know I'm preaching to the choir here), but again, bit by bit, Washington does what it wants, regardless of how it directly affects those living there on the front lines. Nope, NOT a happy camper --- I've spent my entire adult years hunting the Mogollon Rim. FYI, Jim O'Haco's ranch encompasses prime antelope/elk country ...

http://www.mogollonrimnews.com/more-wolf-releases-planned-for-west-of-heber-overgaard/

 

[mtmiller]

LV2hnt, I have no "dog" in this fight and do not know the issues, but here is a link to the EIS and ROD for the Mexican Wolf release. Might be some info of interest.

The planning process started nine years ago.

http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/nepa_713.cfm

 

[Lv2hnt]

Miller:

You're correct, it's not a new issue (I just posted the newest relevant article). Thx for adding the link so others can see the progression of things over the years.

Arizona (and New Mexico) has been making the best of an unwanted situation, but without having the amount of non-arid habitat sustaining the numbers of wildlife that western states up north do, the expanded range for these free-roaming USFWS "pets" doesn't bid well for Arizona wildlife ...

 

[Big Fin]

My biggest worry about all of this is that no matter what number the USFWS comes up with for a final delisting target, a really high number or a really low number, it is not going to satisfy those who find great profit and pleasure in litigating these issues. And it is not like the wolves decide to stop breeding while the court battles are ongoing.

And so much of this nonsense of litigation just plays to the hands of the groups who are looking for examples of what they call "government overreach." Really it is judicial overreach that gets blamed on the government officials.

The more of the litigation that goes on, the harder the case for us trying to show the value in Federal public lands. Right now, the playing field is structured such that litigators have all the incentives to litigate and get paid, with no accountability for their actions. The frustration gets vented at the managing agencies and that is exactly how the litigators want it.

I have no problem with groups litigating from their own pocket book or litigating issues that actually will make a difference for landscapes and species. Right now, I have no confidence that is the motivation for any litigation on these issues.

End result, rural Arizonans bear the impacts of these decisions that they seem to have less and less say in, while the urban litigators go back to Tucson and enjoy their cushy lives, sleeping well in knowing they have a paycheck coming tomorrow.

Personally, I am tired of the way the table is slanted, how it results in no accountability to the litigators, and how it just adds to the arguments the "land transfer" crowd can use about lack of agency concern. AZ G&F and Jim DeVos are good guys. They are being put in the crosshairs.

 

[Lv2hnt]

Randy, you express so well what so many others and I have in our hearts. Thanks again as you (and all of us) continue to fight the good fight ...

 

[sagebrush]

Anyone that wants to recreate in AZ should find this disturbing:

Here’s something from the Federal Register/Vol. 80, No. 11/Friday, January 16, 2015/Rules and Regulations that was passed out at the meeting. “Disturbance-causing land-use activity means any activity on Federal lands within a 1-mi radius around release pens when Mexican wolves are in them, around active dens between April 1 and July 31, and around active Mexican wolf rendezvous sites between June 1 and September 30, which the Service determines could adversely affect reproductive success, natural behavior or persistence of Mexican wolves. Such activities may include, but are not limited to, timber or wood harvesting, prescribed fire, mining or mine development, camping outside designated campgrounds, livestock husbandry activities (e.g., livestock drives, roundups, branding, vaccinating, etc.), off-road vehicle use, hunting and any other use or activity with the potential to disturb wolves…I wrote that so the reader understands there will be forest closures involved as well.

That means no early elk hunts in 4A, 4B, 3A/C and when they do the next batch of releases below the rim, in 22 and 23. If the wolves move west, you can add 5A, 5B and 6A to that as well. It also means no OTC archery deer hunting and no family camping in the cool pines for Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day. Family camping in 3A/C is a huge activity with people coming from the valley to escape the heat. What about the impact to those businesses?

When this whole process was started, the USFWS refused to accept the input from AZGFD as part of the initial proposal. And people wonder why there is such disdain for the the federal government in AZ.

Dang typo's.

 

[sagebrush]

I will be very interested to hear how the crowd that was so adamant about having the ranchers remove cattle from "their" public lands will respond to that same federal government that now wants to remove their bodies from federally managed lands.

"camping outside designated campgrounds"
"hunting and any other use or activity with the potential to disturb wolves"

This could make for some very strange bedfellows.