huntjunkie Report post Posted November 10, 2013 If this has been already posted its worth repeating. Spread the word! Action Alert As a result of delays caused by the lapse in federal appropriations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced rescheduled dates for the remainder of a series of public hearings on two proposed rules-one to list the Mexican wolf as an endangered subspecies and delist the gray wolf elsewhere, and the other to revise the Nonessential Experimental Population of the Mexican Wolf. The Arizona public information meeting will take place in Pinetop on December 3 at the Hon-Dah Conference Center, 777 Highway 260, Pinetop, Arizona 85935 (3 miles outside of Pinetop at the Junction of Hwy 260 and Hwy 73). The meeting is from 3:30-5:00 PM, followed by a public hearing for recording comments from 6:00-8:30 PM. The comment period deadlines also are extended until December 17, 2013 to allow these hearings to take place within the public comment periods on the proposed rules. Let your voice be heard. Follow the links below and click on the blue "Comment Now" button to share your comments electronically, or follow the instructions to comment by mail. http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FWS-R2-ES-2013-0056-1267 http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FWS-HQ-ES-2013-0073-19350 Jim Unmacht AZSFWC President Mexican Wolf Management, Issues of Concern Lack of Public Involvement Lack of opportunity to ask questions or get answers about issues of concern Short time frame to comment on a myriad of very complicated issues Currently we have multiple plans with different comment timelines that should be bundled together into one complete plan to simplify and improve the planning process Costs of the Recovery Program are Unknown Over $30,000,000 has already been spent on Mexican wolf recovery An additional $3,000,000 is annually being spent on the program How much more will it cost the state of Arizona? Direct loss of big game permits Loss of revenue generated by hunting in rural communities Cost of additional personnel and support to adequately manage the wolf Additional costs to monitor prey populations No program to adequately address loss of livelihood in rural areas No upper target for wolf population numbers Population number identified in the original plan was 100 wolves in the wild. Currently we have no upper population number identified Currently there are 75 wolves, including 20 wild born pups from this year. Either this year or next we will reach the original target goal of 100 No wolf population control mechanism identified to keep the population in check Recovery area expansion comes with huge concerns Wolves in close proximity to human populations Keeping wolves wild? Wolves hybridizing with domestic dogs Wolves decimating existing wildlife populations outside the recovery area by uncontrolled wolf expansion Why not include Mexico in wolf recovery area expansion? 90% of Mexican wolf historic habitat is in Mexico. It is impossible to have a successful recovery without Mexico being included Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife Conservation is a 501-c-3 not-for-profit organization whose mission is to educate and inform sportsmen, wildlife conservation organizations throughout the state and the public at large on important issues related to wildlife and wildlife habitat and to provide, via grants or other sources, funding to conserve Arizona's wildlife populations through habitat enhancement initiatives. The AZSFWC is responsible for managing the conservation license plate program (Wildlife Conservation Habitat Fund). The fund is derived from the sale of wildlife conservation license plates and member organizations as well as non-member organizations are eligible to apply for those funds. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThomC Report post Posted November 10, 2013 Isnt this the org that tried to steal our big game tags? Beware, they are back. Watch out. Danger. Dont trust. Beware of wolves in sheeps clothing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flatlander Report post Posted November 10, 2013 Having lived in Idaho I will say this, anyone trying to beat some common sense into the hippies involved with organizing the wolf reintroduction programs is someone we need to partner with. The fact that there is no goal for the total number of wolves needed to delist the wolves is a huge red flag. In ID it took years of litigation to finally get them delisted, by that time they had completely taken over some areas and its now nearly impossible to even dent their population. And Idaho is a state where steel traps are legal and multiple wolves can be taken each year. Sportsmen need to stick together on this one. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huntjunkie Report post Posted November 10, 2013 Isnt this the org that tried to steal our big game tags? Beware, they are back. Watch out. Danger. Dont trust. Beware of wolves in sheeps clothing. ThomC, your missing the point here. Read past the logo dude. This is about a public meeting about wolf populations not about AZSFWC. Flatlander is correct! "Sportsmen need to stick together on this one." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sam Report post Posted November 10, 2013 Having lived in Idaho I will say this, anyone trying to beat some common sense into the hippies involved with organizing the wolf reintroduction programs is someone we need to partner with. The fact that there is no goal for the total number of wolves needed to delist the wolves is a huge red flag. In ID it took years of litigation to finally get them delisted, by that time they had completely taken over some areas and its now nearly impossible to even dent their population. And Idaho is a state where steel traps are legal and multiple wolves can be taken each year. Sportsmen need to stick together on this one. I agree - no upper limit on population numbers is a major problem. AZGFD and the Feds need to look at other states and learn from their mistakes. This has been a disaster from the beginning. Not to mention the amount of money spent on this whole program is an embarrassment to the Department. On a side note..... I don't agree that hippies are behind this - animal rights activities yes, hippies- not really. Back in the 50s and 60s people were called hippies because of the music they listened. Kind of an off shoot of the Beatniks. Trust me, I know many old "hippies" that hunt and live off the land. And they also vote Republican sometimes. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coues7 Report post Posted November 10, 2013 I didn't see anyone one comment, but "A good wolf is a dead wolf"......just sayin' 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
