Ithaca 37
New member
I love the last line!
Jim Fisher
Lewiston Morning Tribune
August 14, 2003
Idahoans tempted to contribute to Stanley outfitter Ron Gillett's proposed lawsuit to exterminate Idaho's recently reintroduced wolves might want to consider what one federal official says of its prospects:
"The wolves are here to stay."
That was Clearwater National Forest Supervisor Larry Dawson speaking on Idaho Public Television's "Dialogue" in a program about management of the forest.
But Dawson wasn't the first person on the program to make that statement. He merely repeated the same words used by Lewiston sportsman Ted Zmak to show agreement.
Dawson and Zmak both recognize what Gillett refuses to acknowledge: that the reintroduction of gray wolves to Idaho's backcountry as an "experimental, nonessential" population is not about to be reversed. Wolves are as much a part of the Clearwater and other national forests as are other predators, including coyotes, cougars and eagles.
Gillett, who has renamed his Central-Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition, peddles hysteria to make wolves look worse than the predators to which Idaho outdoors people have grown accustomed. Calling them "land piranhas and wildlife terrorists," Gillett makes it sound as if wolves are not historic denizens of Idaho forests. He says, in contradiction of professional biologists, the wolves imported from Canada are a different species from those that once roamed the Gem State. He also calls them cannibals that kill for sport.
Worst of all, Gillett talks as if there is no limit to the growing population of wolves, which he estimates at between 700 and 1,000. But as Curt Mack, who directed wolf recovery for the Nez Perce Tribe after the state of Idaho refused to have anything to do with it, points out, wolves and other animals find their own population balance, which then remains mostly stable. The tribe's 2002 estimate of the wolf population in Idaho places it at about 284 members of about 19 packs.
None of this will matter to some of those from whom Gillett wants to raise $100,000. They think the fight is worth waging.
People expecting some return on their investment, however, would be just as wise to put their money in the defense fund for Enron executives.
Jim Fisher
Lewiston Morning Tribune
August 14, 2003
Idahoans tempted to contribute to Stanley outfitter Ron Gillett's proposed lawsuit to exterminate Idaho's recently reintroduced wolves might want to consider what one federal official says of its prospects:
"The wolves are here to stay."
That was Clearwater National Forest Supervisor Larry Dawson speaking on Idaho Public Television's "Dialogue" in a program about management of the forest.
But Dawson wasn't the first person on the program to make that statement. He merely repeated the same words used by Lewiston sportsman Ted Zmak to show agreement.
Dawson and Zmak both recognize what Gillett refuses to acknowledge: that the reintroduction of gray wolves to Idaho's backcountry as an "experimental, nonessential" population is not about to be reversed. Wolves are as much a part of the Clearwater and other national forests as are other predators, including coyotes, cougars and eagles.
Gillett, who has renamed his Central-Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition, peddles hysteria to make wolves look worse than the predators to which Idaho outdoors people have grown accustomed. Calling them "land piranhas and wildlife terrorists," Gillett makes it sound as if wolves are not historic denizens of Idaho forests. He says, in contradiction of professional biologists, the wolves imported from Canada are a different species from those that once roamed the Gem State. He also calls them cannibals that kill for sport.
Worst of all, Gillett talks as if there is no limit to the growing population of wolves, which he estimates at between 700 and 1,000. But as Curt Mack, who directed wolf recovery for the Nez Perce Tribe after the state of Idaho refused to have anything to do with it, points out, wolves and other animals find their own population balance, which then remains mostly stable. The tribe's 2002 estimate of the wolf population in Idaho places it at about 284 members of about 19 packs.
None of this will matter to some of those from whom Gillett wants to raise $100,000. They think the fight is worth waging.
People expecting some return on their investment, however, would be just as wise to put their money in the defense fund for Enron executives.
