Our Bison Guy

[RobG]

After 30 years working for MFWP, bison expert Arnie Dood has been functionally fired. By functional I mean he has been offered another position but it is a couple of pay grades below him. I guess Arnie is pretty insulted. As I understand it, this is a pretty big hit for bison expansion in MT since Arnie was the only real force bringing the people together and working on a plan forward.

There is an article in today's paper:http://www.bozemandailychronicle.co...cle_9b1df8fd-20e7-52ea-a8e7-2615bfe79388.html

Glenn Hockett sent out an alert asking people to call the governor and have Arnie reinstated. If anyone has questions he said to feel free to call him at (406) 586-1729.

How do you guys feel about this?

A long time wildlife professional with the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Arnie Dood, has been wrongfully fired because the Helena Bureaucracy doesn’t believe bison restoration and conservation in Montana is an important issue. Unless we speak up, Arnie’s last day will be June 30th.

Apparently, the governor’s office and FWP administrators haven’t read the 119,000 plus public comments they received on the importance of bison restoration right here in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Furthermore, the State of Montana is involved in what should be two monumental bison planning processes:

1. Development of a new interagency Greater Yellowstone Bison Management Plan that aims to stop the unjust confinement, harassment and slaughter of native bison that attempt to enter Montana each year from Yellowstone National Park; and

2. A comprehensive State-wide bison management plan that will look to restore and conserve bison within historic habitat such as the vast landscape in and around the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in north central Montana.

Bison Conservation isn’t a priority in Montana?

Please call the governor’s office today (406-444-3111) and ask why Arnie Dood’s Bison Planning position was terminated. Please also demand that Arnie be immediately reinstated to his original position and ask this administration to recognize that native bison restoration and conservation in Montana is indeed a critically important issue that is not going away.

If the line is busy you can also call this toll free number at 1-855-318-1330 or email the governor at [email protected]. Thanks to everyone for weighing in.

This is very important and I am asking you to please make this call.

Sincerely,

Glenn Hockett
Volunteer President, Gallatin Wildlife Association
P.O. Box 5317
Bozeman, MT 59717
(406) 586-1729
www.gallatinwildlifeassociation.org

 

[Straight Arrow]

To cut to the chase, I think Senate FWP chair Brenden and his bison-hating paranoid anti-wildlife crowd have unjustly imposed their political will on our state wildlife agency. I am appalled that Brenden brought the issue to this end and it's particularly disgusting to see FWP's lack of support and appreciation for the many decades of dedication and hard work of Arnie Dood.

 

[mtlion]

To cut to the chase, I think Senate FWP chair Brenden and his bison-hating paranoid anti-wildlife crowd have unjustly imposed their political will on our state wildlife agency. I am appalled that Brenden brought the issue to this end and it's particularly disgusting to see FWP's lack of support and appreciation for the many decades of dedication and hard work of Arnie Dood.

Nailed it.

 

[LopeHunter]

Soviet Union visits Montana, eh? I guess his picture and name will disappear soon from all F&G documents. Pesky biologists are screwing up Montana politics, dang it.

 

[RobG]

Another article: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.co...cle_cc0ccefc-dd38-5f70-80f3-e22a85b83ba0.html

A longtime Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist who was asked to accept a new job and a pay cut said Thursday he was surprised by the move.

“It obviously came as a huge shock,” said Arnie Dood, a biologist focused on bison planning. “And after dedicating my life to the agency, I didn’t think they would treat someone like this.”

Last week Dood was told his bison planning position would be eliminated due to budget cuts required by the Montana Legislature. FWP offered him a lower paying job as a brucellosis technician, a job that would focus on reducing the risk of transmitting the disease to livestock. He said he hasn’t decided whether to accept the offer.

No reason to understand the needs of some of those larger upland birds either.

In the wildlife division, three upland bird biologists are going to be cut back to three-quarters time from full-time, according to the division’s head, Ken McDonald.

 

[RobG]

Maybe someone is back from vacation and has something to add.

 

[ingomar]

While people are keying in on bison as the reason for Arnie Dood being dismissed, in reality it goes far deeper!!

One only has to look at the leadership within FWP in Helena to get a better understanding of the prevailing mindset. Arnie is extremely knowledgeable and the best endangered species biologist within the Dept. In Montana we are currently dealing with grizzly delisting, lynx issues, wolverine issues, sage grouse issues and yet they fire the best person they have to deal with these issues????? Should we not want the best and the brightest leading us through these minefields??

The problem starts and ends with the FWP leadership in Helena.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I'm in the camp that's scratching their heads over this.

Arnie wasn't fired, he was demoted and offered a pay cut, which was still a bad move, and if it were me, I'd be insulted too, IMO.

FWP had to make cuts based on what the legislature did in HB 140 and the standard 4% reduction in budgets that every agency has been tasked with in HB 2, the budget bill. They have to let a large number of people go as well as cut programs, and I don't think any of us want to see those cuts - yet due to the Legislature, they have too.

If you want to get out the pitchforks, tar & feathers, direct your ire to the people who mandated a 4% cut to the agency and then screwed up HB 140 to the point where we lost $1 million a year in funding as well as the Helena guys who made the decision.

 

[RobG]

If you want to get out the pitchforks, tar & feathers, direct your ire to the people who mandated a 4% cut to the agency and then screwed up HB 140 to the point where we lost $1 million a year in funding as well as the Helena guys who made the decision.

Are you going to let us know who those people are?

 

[Ben Lamb]

http://leg.mt.gov/css/Sessions/64th/roster.asp?HouseID=0&SessionID=109

It takes 150 people to make a session. HB 2 is the main budget bill where this stuff is ladled on, it goes through a long process both in terms of joint subcommittees, House appropriations and Senate Finance and claims.

Your best bet is to reach out to your individual legislator and let them know how you feel about the agency's budget, and that you are watching their votes and rhetoric about it, and how disappointed you are that an agency funded from sportsmen's dollars was unilaterally cut without much thought as to what that does to our economy or our wildlife.

As for HB 140, those legislators that really made the bill bad were in Senate Fish & Game. Senator Brenden in particular due to his reluctance to let good Block Management bills out of committee and supporting an amendment that stole $600,000 from the increased revenue to the general license account and sending it over to block management instead. FWP tried to work with Senator Brenden, but in the end, no deals were honored.

 

[tjones]

If you want to get out the pitchforks, tar & feathers, direct your ire to the people who mandated a 4% cut to the agency and then screwed up HB 140 to the point where we lost $1 million a year in funding as well as the Helena guys who made the decision.

And then send them a thank you for the couple good things they did.

 

[Ben Lamb]

And then send them a thank you for the couple good things they did.

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have - the facts of life.

 

[Nameless Range]

http://leg.mt.gov/css/Sessions/64th/roster.asp?HouseID=0&SessionID=109


As for HB 140, those legislators that really made the bill bad were in Senate Fish & Game.

How did/did not Chas Vincent contribute to the "badness" of that bill? I ask because he was on that committee, has a history of bad fish and wildlife related bills, and was given an award by sportsman groups recently.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Chas spoke in favor of an amendment to lower the age of reduced price licenses to seniors from 67 to 62 on HB 140 based on concerns from people he heard from back home. That had a nominal effect on the bottom line, IIRC. I don't remember how he voted on the amendment for the Block Management funding shift, but the bill passed out of committee on a 9-1 vote with only Senator Fielder voting against better funding for the agency. Overall, HB 140 still represents a net-positive for the Agency considering what not passing the bill would have done to their budget and our hunting/fishing opportunity.

Vincent's award was for his work on the transfer of public land issue as well as his championing of the CSKT water compact. It's not realistic to think you will get a legislator 100% of the time and in the process of building champions, we need to celebrate their successes while holding them accountable for bad votes.

The 4% reduction in HB 2 is a party line issue - one party wants it in every budget, the other doesn't. Majority wins.

 

[Nameless Range]

Thanks for the info Ben.

 

[Ben Lamb]

You bet.

It's also important to note that Senator Brenden held on to the bill until it was almost too late to get it passed. So there was a lot of politics being played on the issue, and leverage was being exerted for a few other things, that ultimately died like the good block management bills or were passed and vetoed like the bad bison bill.

 

[kansasdad]

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have - the facts of life.

Thanks Ben, now I can't get it out of my head. With visions of Charlotte Rae.

 

[RobG]

FWP had to make cuts based on what the legislature did in HB 140 and the standard 4% reduction in budgets that every agency has been tasked with in HB 2, the budget bill. They have to let a large number of people go as well as cut programs, and I don't think any of us want to see those cuts - yet due to the Legislature, they have too.

There were a lot of lower profile people that could have been axed.

 

[Ben Lamb]

There were a lot of lower profile people that could have been axed.

I don't disagree, just making sure we have the correct context. Arnie Dood is a great asset to Montana.

 

[Nameless Range]

There were a lot of lower profile people that could have been axed.

I don't know the specifics of this instance, but I have worked in a couple state agencies and seen a few people be RIF'd (Reduction in Force) due to budget issues.

Much of the time axing lower level people is not the way to go because doing so provides the least bang for your buck. You can ax someone making 60 grand a year or two admin assistants making 30 grand a year. And, contrary to popular belief, the admin assistants may be the more critical positions when it comes to continuing business practices.

Yes, there is some waste and inefficiencies inherent in State Govt, but there is also innovation and important public services being provided by hard-working people who really do give a damn. A fair number of State Govt Departments are being starved to death, and it's bullchit. The result being they will simply have to provide less services to the public. In this instance Bison, a subject which possibly has more risk than reward, was on the chopping block.