Mr. Ed Bangs
Coordinator, USFWS
Wolf recovery project
Dear Mr. Bangs
I would like to go on record as being nauseas after assessing evidence of the disastrous effects of your wolf reintroduction program. The obvious negative effects and life altering changes to value of human life in the west is depressing. After decades of peace of mind from observing abundant wildlife from the window on my house you and your bloodletting agents have left me staring out at nothing. I am overwhelmed that one man has the authority to devastate such a large herd of god's creatures. You should be proud of such a complete annihilation of such a beautiful species of life sustaining animals. You and your wolf program have left me no reason to rejoice in the season of renewal. There is nothing left but bone piles.
I am of Native American ancestry and feel I am seeing the federal government on a modern day buffalo extermination effort to prepare a people for government domination and transport to a far away reservation. You may say that is absurd in today’s world but I would say to you that it is also absurd that anyone would not rise up and resist any government attempting to totally eliminate its peoples food source. The cultural values placed on the elk in our mountains have been ignored by an overzealous and insensitive govt. policy. I recall as a child the memories of the first load of introduced elk from Yellowstone Park being released in my mother’s front yard. That wonderful day has been a national holiday for my people since 1961. With the deep sorrow and heartbreak felt when observing your wolves totally eradicate a valuable species of game animal. I wonder how long the people are going to stay calm. Your agency’s display of total disrespect for the people and animals of Montana is fueling a mutual feeling for you and your agency. I believe before the people of the west allow you and your blood covered assassins to finally eliminate the last game animals that you will see a resistance of untold proportions. Time is running out to save the deer and elk and you can do nothing to stop the destructive program you started.
With these observations in mind, I would like you to furnish me with some information that I feel I am entitled to know.
1 Is it true that the people of Montana own all game animals in the state?
2 Does an animal on the endangered or threatened list belong to govt. management?
3 Under what authority does the govt. run predators on private property?
4 Under what authority does the govt. introduce a destructive predator to eliminate the wildlife owned by the people of the state?
5 Did someone in the state of Montana give authority to the govt. to introduce the wolves into the state against the wishes of the people of Montana?
6 U.S. Supreme court decision of Printz vs. U.S. states that the govt. has no authority or power to dictate any policy to the states. Where is the authority for the wolf introduction?
7 Decades of investment of sportsmen’s dollars were necessary to raise the number of game animals in our area to make our hunting the best in the nation. What amount of investment did the U.S. govt. have in our high number of wildlife before the wolf plant?
8 What compensation does the U.S. govt. intend to make to the states for all the valuable animals your wolves are eliminating? The high value of sportsmen dollars invested over decades is wiped out by your outrageous program.
9 Where does the funding come from for the required law enforcement for your wolf program? Does Montana sportsmen license money also pay for enforcement of your govt. wolf program?
10 Are violations of your wolf program prosecuted in Montana courts or in federal court?
11 If a legal agreement to introduce the wolves to Montana is on record, could you please furnish me with a copy? If no agreement exists, please let me know.
12 Anyone can shoot a private owned dog threatening a game animal in Montana. What is the difference in which canine takes the last animal in Montana?
13 If it is proven that no authority exists for your govt. wolf plan, is there a plan to eradicate these valueless scavengers from the Montana forests?
14 Have there been any legal contests to the wolf introduction plan to date? If so, please furnish me with court documentation of resolution.
15 Has any court order been issued for the govt. to cease introduction of any more wolves?
16 Does the govt. intend to place a bounty on wolves in the states to balance the number of wolves to wildlife to allow the game animals to survive the extremely high number of predators?
17 If no legal authority for wolves in Montana is determined then a deadline should be established for the govt. to eliminate or eradicate the last bloodsucking predator from our forests. The govt. should bear all cost of this effort. Any wolf observed after a set deadline would establish govt. liability to a severe fine and dismissal of all negligent federal employees.
18 What disease control efforts are being implemented to protect private owned canines from wolf related infections?
19 Wolves have been killed on the Salish Kootenai reservation in northwest Montana without consequences. Is this because there is no agreement with the tribe to allow the wolf to freely feast on their game animals? There is no confusion on the reservation as to the worthless status of any predator that threatens the number of game animals on their lands. These people learned about govt. betrayal with the buffalo. They will not fall for any more govt. programs such as spoiled food.
20 What media initiatives are being use to update the Montana public of the critical situation of our game animals being swiftly wipe out? Or is the media being used to calm the public while the game is being slaughtered by printing an altered picture of the facts in the woods?
How Legal Was The Introduction Of Canadian
Wolves Into The Northern Rockies?
By Toby Bridges, LOBO WATCH
Stephen King would be hard pressed to come up with a blockbuster novel that is more suspenseful than the hate, fear and distrust that plagues the Western Wolf Recovery Project. One thing is for certain, if this story is ever written, based on truth, it will be filled with lies, deceit, secrecy, collusion, theft, threats, massive killings, human endangerment and government failure - all with a touch of international flavor. And that plot thickened on May 16, 2010, in Bozeman, MT, when former Chief of National Wildlife Refuge Operations, Jim Beers, spoke to a crowd of about 300 on the topic of the "Criminal Activities Associated With The Introduction, Protection, And Spread Of Wolves In The Lower 48 States".
Beers, a 32 year veteran of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, went to work with that agency in 1969, as a wildlife biologist banding waterfowl in Minnesota. Through the years, he also served as a special agent, worked the Port of Entry in New York City to curtail the traffic of threatened and endangered wildlife (and the products made from those animals), and eventually worked his way up to Chief of Operations for the National Wildlife Refuge System. During the mid 1990s, he began working with the distribution of the excise taxes collected on firearms, ammunition and fishing tackle back to state wildlife agencies, under the Pittman-Robertson Act. Those funds are to be used exclusively for bankrolling state wildlife habitat and fisheries improvement, to insure hunting and fishing opportunities for sportsmen. And the amount collected annually totals into the hundreds of millions of dollars. (For 2009, the amount distributed back to state wildlife agencies amounted to more than $700-million.)
In his presentation to Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Oregon sportsmen, guides & outfitters, media and politicians, Jim Beers shared how he worked his way up through the ranks. And while working with the Pittman-Robertson funds, he was also appointed to work with U.S. Trade Representative groups and the State Department to address a European Union ban on furs taken with leg hold traps in the U.S. and Russia.
Beers has always considered himself a wildlife manager, holding a Bachelors Degree in Wildlife Resources. He sees the use of leg hold traps as an effective tool for managing furbearers, such as raccoons, foxes, coyotes and mink. And made an all out effort to get the European ban removed from U.S. furs. And thanks largely to his efforts, it was.
He says that he was fully aware of USFWS regularly meeting with "environmental" and "animal rights" groups in secrecy, and entering into under the table agreements with them. After the defeat of the efforts to outlaw the use of leg hold traps in the U.S., he noticed a very different attitude toward him. Beers feels that the outcome was not what USFWS may have agreed to with groups pushing for the elimination of leg hold traps in this country.
Later in the 1990s, while working with the distribution of sportsmen provided excise taxes, he began to question why the amount of Pittman-Robertson funds being distributed to state wildlife agencies had failed to increase over a several year period. This was during the Clinton administration, and a fear that the administration would make it increasingly difficult to buy firearms and ammunition resulted in frenzy buying and stockpiling. With such record sales, Beers rationalized that there should be a parallel increase in the amount of excise taxes collected - but he was not seeing that trend in the amount he had to distribute. His probing of this issue must have hit a nerve or two with upper USFWS management, and he suddenly found himself put on administrative leave, and told to "Go Fishing...With Pay!"
He was also threatened, and told not to discuss the issue with anyone, or he could lose his job and health benefits. However, while Beers was not officially "on the job", co-workers handling the distribution of Pittman-Robertson monies often asked him to take a look at this or that, and for advice. While stepping into the office to "visit" on one opportunity, one of those co-workers asked him to look over a massive print out of the expenditures made with Pittman-Robertson funds, and Jim was surprised to find numerous uses of the taxes collected to fund non-hunting and non-fishing related projects. Those discrepancies included funding for wildlife management lands used for the building of a prison, to fund park improvements, and for purchasing USFWS vehicles. None of which qualify for funding under the Pittman-Robertson Act.
So, what does all of this have to do with wolves? Read on.
Beers blew the whistle on the misappropriation of monies that were supposed to be used exclusively for wildlife habitat and fisheries improvement. And Congress launched an official inquiry.
What they discovered was that USFWS had embezzled as much as $60- to $70-million from the excise taxes collected on sportsman purchases of guns, ammo and fishing tackle. According to Beers, when USFWS Director Jamie Rappaport Clark was questioned about the unauthorized use of these monies, her comment was something to the effect of, "I was told the money was to be used where I felt it was needed."
So, where did USFWS use "your" tax dollars...the money that was supposed to be for funding projects that insure the health of the wildlife and fish resources sportsmen have worked so hard to build? According to Jim Beers, one use was to fund the introduction of those Canadian wolves into the Northern Rockies. That's right, they used "your" money to fund dumping wolves into one of the richest wildlife areas of North America - unleashing the wildlife equivalent of cancer to destroy the past hundred years of sound wildlife conservation efforts (at the cost of hundreds of millions of sportsman dollars). And those wolves are now at out-of-control numbers, and they are dealing a death blow to elk, moose, deer and other big game populations in many areas of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
Beers says another use of "your" excise tax dollars was to construct a new Regional USFWS Office in California.
Congress had already turned down funding for both these projects - so USFWS took it upon themselves to dip deeply into Pittman-Robertson funds to finance these projects...without any authorization whatsoever. And if these two misappropriations of funds is not enough of a slap in the face to the sportsmen who provided those monies, USFWS also used "your" money to establish a "slush fund" to provide bonuses for Director Clark, division chiefs, and managers at federal and regional levels. And they rewarded themselves well. Those who had excelled at their jobs generally received $25,000 to $30,000. But even those who only mustered a mediocre rating in how they performed their responsibilities usually received a bonus of around $5,000. What the heck, it was free money...so why not?
(I followed all of this back in the late 1990s, and I remember that some of the Pittman-Robertson monies that were wrongfully taken from hunters and fishermen were even used to reimburse USFWS employees for relocation expenses. T.B.)
So, what did Jim Beers receive for being so honest and forthright? How about a forced retirement, and once again the threat of losing benefits if he kept the spotlight on this issue. In fact, he was offered a payoff to keep quiet about it for three years. He took the money. Still, he kept researching elements of the Wolf Recovery Project that were handled improperly. Following are some issues which he says are in violation of the law:
*Unauthorized taking of Pittman-Robertson funds to finance projects (and bonuses) that did not qualify.
*That Wolf Recovery Project coordinator Ed Bangs failed to file an appropriate and accurate Environmental Impact Statement. Beers says Bangs purposely ignored all established wolf science and research, dismissing known wolf depredation impact to wildlife & livestock, and he ignored the dangers of the parasites and diseases carried which are a threat to other wildlife, livestock, pets and to humans (Beers claims that wolves carry 30 known parasites & diseases - most of which are a danger to humans). He says Ed Bangs ignored published historic record of wolf impact and health/safety issues.
*Ed Bangs failed to file Form 3-177, which is required for importation of any wildlife or fish species, including wolves. The form requires declaration of the number being brought into the country, and the species/subspecies being brought into the country. Beers says there is no record of the mandatory form ever being filed.
__________________
Blue Ribbon Coalition
Snowmobile Alliance of Western States
WSSA
NRA
RMEF
GO DAWGS!!!
the rest of the article....... One paragraph overlap..
*Ed Bangs failed to file Form 3-177, which is required for importation of any wildlife or fish species, including wolves. The form requires declaration of the number being brought into the country, and the species/subspecies being brought into the country. Beers says there is no record of the mandatory form ever being filed.
*That for USFWS to go ahead and "find funding elsewhere" for constructing the California Regional Office, and to fund the introduction of wolves even after the projects had been turned down by Congress is a violation of the agency's authority.
*That USFWS wrongfully supplemented federal funds with private money to introduce wolves. (Even if approved by Congress, federal budgets cannot by supplemented with private contributions from companies or organizations - or with monies misappropriated from other federal project funds.)
*Beers also claims that for USFWS to allow Defenders of Wildlife to reimburse livestock producers for the loss of stock to wolves, but for them not to reimburse for the loss of wildlife or not to reimburse for the loss of a pet or not to reimburse for losses/injury to humans caused by wolves violates the equal treatment outlined by the Constitution.
While as much as $70-million dollars was robbed from Pittman-Robertson funds, and used to fund non Congress approved projects, very little (nothing) was done to investigate this crime - or exactly where all of that money went. USFWS was, at that time was pushing a non-hunting agenda (and still does today). Likewise, so were most all state wildlife agencies. Beers feels that much of the missing millions ended up funding bird watching areas, hiking trails and like projects in many states - even though the money had been collected from hunting and fishing gear sales, and was supposed to go right back into game and fisheries habitat improvement.
Not one state wildlife agency demanded that USFWS replace the stolen money - and not one person involved was ever tried for such grand theft.
During his Bozeman presentation, Jim Beers did not mesh words when he stated that those responsible for the wolf disaster must be held accountable. And a large number of those in attendance voiced that former USFWS Director Jamie Rappaport Clark (now Executive Vice President of Defenders of Wildlife) and Wolf Recovery Project coordinator Ed Bangs both need to do time behind bars.
Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd sponsored Beers' presentation, which was videoed and will be offered for sale in the near future. More on Jim Beers' talk will be published on the LOBO WATCH website, at www.lobowatch.com, before the end of May, along with details on how to order a copy of the presentation. All money from the sale of this DVD will go into a legal fund. It is the goal of Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd to take USFWS, and others, to court to insure they stand accountable for the theft of $60- to $70-million from Pittman-Robertson funds, the manner in which the money was used, and failure to adhere to many other laws - and USFWS regualtions.
More on Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd can be found at: www.fotnyeh.org
__________________
Blue Ribbon Coalition
Snowmobile Alliance of Western States
WSSA
NRA
RMEF
GO DAWGS!!!
How hard is it to lay the lead to these wolves? What kind of fines if you are caught? 3 things this country can do without.... wolves, most of the government and all of the enviro nuts...
Whoever was behind the reintroduction of wolves to the lower 48 deserves to be fed to them.
haha, nice one!
I was thinking, for the most part the tree huggers who are pro-wolf, many live in NYC or LA and never plan to visit a national park right? I remember hearing a woman on the stock channel saying something like well I don't agree with that, but her next sentence was, well I probably never will visit yellowstone so what do I care?
Plus no one is talking about killing wolves in yellowstone, so they'll always be there for people to visit and see right?
How many of these tree huggers are gonna come out west and venture into the wilderness vs. a national park? way fewer I'm sure...
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 12:12 PM
Subject: Solution to the Wolf War of the West - Missoula Anti-Wolf Rally, June 15th!
Here is where we can all start - on the steps and surrounding the U.S. District Court in Missoula, MT on June 15th...NEXT TUESDAY!
Anyone and everyone who is concerned about the impact wolves have had on our wildlife, our economy, our way of life here in Montana, or the
Northern Rockies for that matter, should construct a protest sign and gather for one hell of a show of force. Our enemies, the Defenders of
Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, the Humane Society of the United States, and other anti-hunting
environmental organizations will be there to plead for Judge Donald Malloy to relist the wolf as an Endangered Species.
Let's show them we are ready to fight...and that we're organizing to get it done. Send this e-mail to all on your mailing list, especially those
who live in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Encourage them to print off a few copies of the attached poster, and get them posted on the bulletin boards
across this region.
A strong showing next Tuesday will be noticed, by all who stand against wolf control, the press, and probably the court. Carpool as many to this protest
rally as possible.
There have been a few very good protest rallies in the Northern Rockies this year, but this is the one that could be the most important. Don't miss
it.
Toby Bridges
LOBO WATCH
406-542-9751
__________________
Blue Ribbon Coalition
Snowmobile Alliance of Western States
WSSA
NRA
RMEF
GO DAWGS!!!
Letter to USFWS on Wolf Introduction
