President's Message
We Are Losing Our Culture
by M David Allen, President and CEO
As I write this column in mid-July, federal Judge Donald Molloy has yet to render his decision on putting wolves back on the Endangered Species List. To some degree it almost doesn’t matter, as animal rights groups will almost certainly appeal his decision if he allows wolves to stay off the List and the state-controlled hunts to continue. It is my belief that for the animal rights crowd this isn’t just about the reintroduction of wolves. It is a war of ideology. This whole wolf debate and subsequent court filings is but one part of the ever growing anti-hunting, anti-grazing and anti-use of public lands mentality. The anti- crowd has discovered that predators are a great tool for them to continually chip away at hunting and ranching—and all that goes with the way of life they so adamantly oppose.
Let’s be real honest: There are two diametrically opposed schools of thought when it comes to wildlife and their habitat and how they should be managed by man. One is a wise, sustainable-use philosophy and the other one says “leave nature alone” and “let the natural way take its course.” I’m definitely in the former camp. With good stewardship, nature has proven to be a renewable resource for a long time now. I believe that “leave nature to itself” thinking is unwise and naive.
The sad part of this whole debate is that the anti-crowd has little besides their emotion to stand on when it comes to how wildlife should be managed. Those who oppose hunting have no sense of what they are really suggesting; nor do they truly understand what would come from a ban on hunting in this country.
As hard as it is for some to comprehend, hunting is one of the primary and most successful tools we have for managing wildlife in North America. It is what sets us apart and above nearly all other countries in the world in wildlife management and wildlife conservation. Yes, it is a fact that hunting is conservation despite all the exaggerated, emotion-based claims from the anti folks.
As a hunter and outdoorsman for nearly 50 years now, I have no shame and make no apologies for my way of life and the culture that I inherited from my family. I am proud of being a part of the most successful conservation movement in modern times, if not all times. But I am disappointed in myself and the entire pro-hunting population. We have let what was once honored even by most of the nonhunting public erode— diminishing the legacy we leave our children and their children. We have let the anti-hunting, animal-rights folks frame the debate for too long. This is not only wrong, it will damage the entire wildlife conservation system if we don’t rectify the situation.
It is time to get back to what has proven successful for over 100 years in wildlife conservation. Hunting not only works, it is essential to sustaining our wildlife system today. If we don’t get our focus back on this and acknowledge what it contributes, the entire wildlife system we know will cease to exist in this country. Now, that is not what the anti- folks want to hear, nor would they ever support such a philosophy, but the pro-hunters and the nonhunters who are still capable of thinking rationally need to understand and embrace our model of wildlife management and acknowledge how it actually works.
We, all of us, are robbing our youth of not only a sporting future outdoors but a future with healthy, sustainable wildlife populations—all for the sake of the anti agenda of the animal rights groups and “environmentalists.” So while we debate things like wolves, we need to keep in mind that the stakes are even bigger and the fight needs to be bigger; we are fighting for the future of this way of life, the culture that you and I grew up with.
That brings me back to the current debate over the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and predators, primarily wolves, that goes on today in states like Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan and is headed for states like Washington, Oregon and Colorado, to name but a few. The animal rights groups have discovered how to manipulate the ESA to serve their agendas. They use the ESA to raise funds, solicit membership, and to diminish and eventually destroy hunting and ranching on public lands. If that isn’t enough, the animal rights folks and the environmentalists are all too often getting their legal fees paid by you and me through federal reimbursement programs.
Everyone who values our hunting heritage and our current system of wildlife management should be compelled to reach out to their congressmen and start letting them know that the ESA needs to be revisited. How can an animal like the wolf be listed as endangered when there are at least 70,000 in Canada and Alaska and at least that many more in Russia? If we are going to demand that wildlife that existed 150 years ago be reintroduced in all the regions where they do not exist today, then we expect the U.S. government to begin elk reintroductions in 13 states tomorrow. How about the woodland caribou that once existed in parts of the U.S.? Shouldn’t it be restored? Buffalo once roamed all over what is now the United States. Where are the reintroductions of the buffalo by Defenders of Wildlife in states like Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, maybe Alabama and the Carolinas too? Absurd.
Federal courts and one-dimensional activists have no business managing wildlife. Just how far are we willing to let activists push us before we start to stand up and demand common sense?
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