Town hall meeting centers on wolves
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RONAN — “This is a big deal; this is about families; this is about generations,” Terry Murphy, president of the Western Montana Stockmen’s Association said in his opening remarks.
Murphy was talking about the re-listing of the gray wolf on the endangered species list and the impact that will have on the agricultural way of life.
The WMSMA hosted a town hall meeting at the Ronan Community Center on Nov. 8 inviting hunters, sportsmen, ranchers, farmers, anyone who raises livestock, cares about wildlife or was interested in wolves. Clarice Ryan from Montanans for Multiple Use also asked to speak to the group.
Joining Murphy at the head table were Jack Stivers, secretary of WMSMA, Ryan, Ted North, Wildlife Services Trapper, and Jay Bodner, Montana Stockgrowers Association Director of Natural Resources.
About 100 area people filled the hall to listen and discuss the wolf issue, including some from Irvine Flats, Niarada and Hot Springs.
Johnson asked meeting attendees to mull over three policy issues during the meeting.
1. Should Montana take the same tack as Idaho and Wyoming and tell the “feds” to go away.
(At the end of the meeting, nearly everyone held up his or her hand.)
2. Should Montana earmark some of the fees from wolf tags and
a. give 25 percent of the money to Wildlife Services
b. give 25 percent to the Livestock Compensation fund
c. both
At the end of the meeting, not many folks held up their hand for either, but more hands shot up to support both.
One hunter said, “I’ll pay $20 for a wolf tag, but I don’t want to pay more on my hunting license.”
3. When Judge Molloy’s decision is appealed, the Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco may ask the parties in the lawsuit to see if they can’t settle it. Should the stockgrowers and sportsmen aggressively negotiate with the Defenders of Wildlife or not?
About three quarters of the room held their hands u p at the end of the meeting against this policy issue.
Other issues Bodner mentioned included:
• treating wolves the same whether they are on private land or government land.
“A depredating wolf is a depredating wolf and needs to be controlled,” Bodner explained.
• instead of different rules for different regions, one set of rules for the whole state of Montana
• whether Montana or the U.S. should be in control of wolves. The MSA thinks Montana should be in charge because state personnel are more reachable than federal representatives.
• Senator Tester’s bill to help pay for livestock loss, also a provision for proactive measures. Montana received $140,000.
• A research project on livestock weaning weights in conjunction with Montana State University. Even though weaning weights and pregnancy rates are down, it’s hard to prove these issues are wolf-related. This program would collect data.
• National bills to consider are HR 60-28, SB 39-19 and SB 38-64.
Although he said he doesn’t like to speak in front of groups, North shared some data. He does bear, lion, coyote and wolf trapping work over five-and-a-half counties so he covers a wide area and spends a lot of time traveling.
In 2009 42 wolves were removed, North said, and 72 wolves were taken during the general hunting season. North spent 72.5 hours in the air. In 2010 the livestock losses have doubled, North said, with $42,000 worth of confirmed losses.
North was asked what he thought the effect had been on wildlife.
He qualified his answer by saying he’s not a biologist, but he doesn’t see as much game as he did before.
Comments and questions from the crowd went from support of pursuing a lawsuit to asking how many wolves were hybrids. A meat processor said his business was down 50 percent. A taxidermist said his deer business is down from 75 deer about 10 years ago to seven this year. Others suggested uniting forces and sending congressional delegations a message.
For more information on Ryan’s message, see the Montanans for Multiple Use website.
After the meeting, Johnson said WMSMA members are considering which direction to take in order to be most effective. He added that more discussion will probably take place at the organization’s annual meeting in January.
