Friday, August 17, 2012

Thoughtful Op-Ed On Flawed, Politicized Wolf Hunt

I recommend one concerned hunter's op-ed in today's Journal Sentinel about perceived flaws in the wolf hunt the Legislature forced the DNR to implement, and about what the writer calls political interference in natural resource management:

This legislation and others affecting our natural resources are part of what I see as a well-planned coup carried out over the past six years or so. Wisconsin Bear Hunters' Association, Wisconsin Hunters Rights Coalition, Wisconsin Bowhunters Association and other organizations have aligned themselves with key legislators and bureaucrats...

The leaderships of the various organizations learned that the best way to forward their policies and agendas was to go straight to their allies in the Legislature. The election of Gov. Scott Walker apparently sealed the deal.

With the moves Walker has made within the Legislature, the Department of Natural Resources and Natural Resources Board, the groups now have a formidable amount of political pull. If it wasn't so ugly, I'd say it was really a thing of beauty the way they orchestrated this power grab.

Politically, the well-being of our natural resources have never been in worse hands in my lifetime. I don't say that as a Republican or Democrat because, to be honest with you, I don't have much faith in either party.


2 comments:

Stepp on the DNR said...

“Well-planned coup”? The one issue which convinced legislators that they had to take control of the DNR was the earn-a-buck fiasco. Any system which results in this type of law is truly flawed and needs to be taken apart and put back together with the wishes of people as the primary concern.

Wolves are not an essential part of the ecosystem as is constantly repeated. The ecosystem couldn’t care less if wolves are present or not and our wildlife prey specie populations were much healthier when wolves were absent. Wolves were restored in Wisconsin more as a performance art project more than
anything else; a main purpose being to give some wildlife managers something to do. They have now increased in numbers to the point of being a nuisance and people in the north are now shooting them at every opportunity with the full blessings of everyone around them.

When your laws and your ideologies do not work, people just take matters into their own hands. The DNR has failed to serve the people for far too long and is now being dismantled and this will not have any negative effect on the environment but it will have a positive effect on peoples lives.

As a side note to your site here: the word verification system is becoming very annoying and unreadable.

James Rowen said...

I have no control over the word verification system. They are annoying everywhere. I used to have open comments, but the comments automatically getting posted were libelous, violent and worse. Sorry.