Today Show this morning - Wolf Nuts

[mthunter]

The "pro wolf" group was on the Today show in New York. Made me sick!

National Wildlife Federation said -

"wolves don't attack people"

"wolves are only found in a couple of spots in North America"

"the elk were eating all the plants in Yellowstone, so the wolves balanced the elk herd"

"America is killing the wolves for oil"

WOW!

 

[idnative1948]

A bunch of nitwits.....

 

[devon deer]

A bunch of nitwits.....

That is one of the best replies i have seen on this forum!
I just watched it http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/46758369#46758369 do they ever have an opposing view?

Cheers

Richard

 

[Topgun 30-06]

All that BS was going on while those two ladies were holding pets. Too bad someone couldn't have come on with an opposing view, especially showing those darling creatures tearing the shit out of an ungulate and eating it alive!

 

[Big Fin]

Certainly a "made for urban America" piece. They ought to bring a herd of elk on the show and talk about what is happening to them. Not that many in urban America would care.

Here is a piece that FOX News did last month about wolves. Not sure when it will air, but I think it is a more balanced view. I may be a little biased about this piece, compared to the NBC piece.

http://vimeo.com/36581236

The FOX News reporter, Alex Schwier is from Bozeman and we had a couple "ins" with her. First, her boyfriend works for our production company, and second, she is a high school friend of my son.

She was kind enough to provide this link of the piece that will air. Her co-producer, Kyle, is a hunter from Kalispell. Alex stated that NY office of FOX News notified her yesterday that it will air on the national network.

She used the more "toned down" clips from my interview. Wish they could have went into more detail and used some of the more pointed comments, but you are only allowed three minutes.

If there is one thing that is hard to get across in these short interviews, it is the numbrs that triggered delisting (100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs) as compared to the minimums we outlined in our management plan (not to get below 150 and 15 breeding pairs). It is a complicated point to make, when you think about the opposite point who says something so simple as "They are killing them into extinction."

Notice that the wolf watcher guy completely deferred on anything related to the reintroduction agreement. He wants more wolves and has a plan to accomplish that, inspite of the deal the USFWS made with the states. He makes no mention of management as agreed to or concern of the other species affected.

Hope Crittergetter doesn't mind being on national FOX News.

 

[WV Hunter]

Certainly a "made for urban America" piece. They ought to bring a herd of elk on the show and talk about what is happening to them. Not that many in urban America would care.

Here is a piece that FOX News did last month about wolves. Not sure when it will air, but I think it is a more balanced view. I may be a little biased about this piece, compared to the NBC piece.

http://vimeo.com/36581236

The FOX News reporter, Alex Schwier is from Bozeman and we had a couple "ins" with her. First, her boyfriend works for our production company, and second, she is a high school friend of my son.

She was kind enough to provide this link of the piece that will air. Her co-producer, Kyle, is a hunter from Kalispell. Alex stated that NY office of FOX News notified her yesterday that it will air on the national network.

She used the more "toned down" clips from my interview. Wish they could have went into more detail and used some of the more pointed comments, but you are only allowed three minutes.

If there is one thing that is hard to get across in these short interviews, it is the numbrs that triggered delisting (100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs) as compared to the minimums we outlined in our management plan (not to get below 150 and 15 breeding pairs). It is a complicated point to make, when you think about the opposite point who says something so simple as "They are killing them into extinction."

Notice that the wolf watcher guy completely deferred on anything related to the reintroduction agreement. He wants more wolves and has a plan to accomplish that, inspite of the deal the USFWS made with the states. He makes no mention of management as agreed to or concern of the other species affected.

Hope Crittergetter doesn't mind being on national FOX News.

Good stuff Randy. I hope they air it. Maybe Jose will have something decent to say about Fox News now ........ I doubt it.

Let us know if and when it airs.

WV

 

[Topgun 30-06]

For such a short conversation with you, I think your statement on numbers, along with the map showing the way wolves have vastly expanded beyond the agreed upon number and area was about as good as you could do! At least that 3 minute shorty gave both sides compared to the live wolf BS that was on the Today Show recently with only the NWF spokesman..

 

[Big Fin]

Let us know if and when it airs.

WV

It is going to air. Got that confirmation yesterday. Just not sure of the time and date. Will give the heads up, when I know the dates and times.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Here's the segment, accompanied with a blog post: http://blog.nwf.org/2012/03/nwf-on-nbc-dont-poison-tar-sands-wolves/

I have a great deal of respect for a lot of the folks who work at National, and believe that they hold true to their 75 year old mission of protecting all wildlife. On the wolf issue though, we have a difference of opinion.

They weren't litigants on delisting of wolves, one side or the other. The have repeatedly said that hunting and trapping are viable management tools for wolves, and they believe wolves are recovered and should be delisted. Their senior scientist, Sterling Miller, was an Alaska Game and Fish biologist for years working on large carnivores and feels no need to baby wolves or grizz. NW is also the lead intervenor on the side of delisting of Grizz for the Yellowstone population. That position has cost them a lot of money, but it was the right thing to do.

As to the statements made, there is a plan to poison wolves in the tar sands of Canada because that development is playing hell with the caribou herd. I thinks it's reprehensible to destroy one wildlife population because of oil and gas development. That goes for wolves as much as it does for elk, deer and caribou. We'd be up in arms, storming the capitol, if they wanted to poison elk to increase development, no? Maybe not. So in essence, the developments in Canada, which actually won't be helpful to the US in terms of energy supply as the Keystone pipeline will take the oil to Texas, where it will be refined and shipped to other nations, aren't for Americans, but to further the goals of multi-national oil companies.

Wolves are only in a small portion of their historic range, which was coast to coast. Does that mean wolves are appropriate every where they once were? Hell no. Although I've always supported wolves in Central Park and Yosemite.

There is a lot science behind the concept of Trophic Cascades, but I don't think the verdict is in yet as to how it all works. There are some folks working on this up in Glacier who should be coming out with some new science shortly. Elk were severely overpopulated in Yellowstone, which is why we shot the hell out of the Northern Herd year after year. The reintroduction EIS lays out the fact that hunting opportunity for the Gardiner Gut Hunt would be reduced by wolves as well as the late hunt, and it recommended that FWP reduce harvest by hunters slightly to make up for the predation so the population would come down slower. Aspen and cottonwoods are coming back to riparian areas in Yellowstone, which in turn creates more moose habitat as beavers and other riparian critters move back in to those areas.

As Fin said, that was a piece for an urban, disconnected populace. Would have been great to have someone else who could speak to the truth of what living with wolves is like. There is a real cost to people who live with these critters, and all other wildlife. Until people who advocate for one species over the other realize that, we're always going to have conflict based bullshit flying around.


Of course the piece with Randy and Critter was much better.

 

[shoots-straight]

Myer's Ranch (Shinning Mountain) is in the French Basin in the East Fork of the Root. It's where the Fires of 2000 ripped through. It enhanced thousands of acres of winter range for elk. The sad thing is still the fact that we are maxed out according to the elk plan for that area. Doesn't matter how many wolves live there, we're not going to increase that population without twinking the EMP. BTW, it's the most open ground in the Root we have.

 

[jlmatthew]

Werent Wolves native to the northeast at one time? Central Park would be a lovely place for an experimental population dontcha think

 

[nube]

"
As to the statements made, there is a plan to poison wolves in the tar sands of Canada because that development is playing hell with the caribou herd. I thinks it's reprehensible to destroy one wildlife population because of oil and gas development. "

Have you ever been up to northern Alberta? The BS floating around about Canadian oilsands is mindbogling. The caribou numbers have always been low in Alberta. There is a huge increase in wolf numbers in the areas the caribou are in. Oil and gas is not killing off the herd numbers. It is the wolf numbers. Heck I have hunted in caribou country for years in Alberta and never even seen a caribou that is how low the population is. oil and gas has been going on for a very long time and if it hurts the caribou that bad they wouldn't be here now with us. It is the wolves killing them off plain and simple. You should know the wolves you have in Yellowstone came directly from this area where the caribou live and as you can see they are very good killers!

 

[Ten Bears]

Mark Cooke is a kook, that's about as much as I can say.

 

[the nikster]

Werent Wolves native to the northeast at one time? Central Park would be a lovely place for an experimental population dontcha think

I'm with you. California, whose state animal is the griz has not had one for many years (according to my source/wife).
Let's set a few free in beverly hills or down on the campus at Santa Monica and see how quickly the libs take up arms and rid themselves of the menace.

More to Randy's point, There was an agreement to introduce and then manage the wolves. They were introduced and now the whiny wolf lovers-not to be confused with those of us who love the wolves but don't whine-wish to change the agreement after the fact.
To renegotiate we must go back to the start. Remove the wolves then come up with a plan, stick to the plan.
During the initial stages of introduction there was not an element of emotional attachment. Now there is and folks have a hard time being rational when emotions begin to rule. .02

 

[Ben Lamb]

"
As to the statements made, there is a plan to poison wolves in the tar sands of Canada because that development is playing hell with the caribou herd. I thinks it's reprehensible to destroy one wildlife population because of oil and gas development. "

Have you ever been up to northern Alberta? The BS floating around about Canadian oilsands is mindbogling. The caribou numbers have always been low in Alberta. There is a huge increase in wolf numbers in the areas the caribou are in. Oil and gas is not killing off the herd numbers. It is the wolf numbers. Heck I have hunted in caribou country for years in Alberta and never even seen a caribou that is how low the population is. oil and gas has been going on for a very long time and if it hurts the caribou that bad they wouldn't be here now with us. It is the wolves killing them off plain and simple. You should know the wolves you have in Yellowstone came directly from this area where the caribou live and as you can see they are very good killers!

The science says otherwise: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/22/science-caribou-oilsands.html

 

[Ben Lamb]

Here's the study from the mouth of the industry funded researchers: http://conservationbiology.net/research-programs/impacts-of-oil-exploration/

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Meanwhile back in real world, Oregon just paid out almost $90,000 for wolf depredation....

 

[nube]

The science says otherwise: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/22/science-caribou-oilsands.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/22/science-caribou-oilsands.html

Read the comments from the bottom of the page. Pretty well sums it up.
Research is U.S. based as well. Wonder why that is? Pretty easy to figure out. Easy to bash things when you don't live there.
I also find it funny how there is this Bad oil thing going on against Alberta oil yet the U.S is begging for us to sell it to them. Can't have oil industry and not affect animals to some extent. Can't buy oil from us and at the same time tell us to shut it down.

 

[Ben Lamb]

The research was done on the ground, does it matter where the company was from that performed it?

It's also funded by industry, so they don't have much to gain in PR from letting this out. BTW - the Keystone pipeline to bring that oil to America isn't going to stay in America, it's getting shipped overseas where it's being sold for a much higher price.

I think you might be confusing all Americans as one giant conglomerate. I get that, as I see all Canadians as flannel wearing lumberjacks who love sleeping with other men and eating side pork, but call it bacon.

You can have an oil industry that mitigates it's own impacts on wildlife without causing the destruction of other critters. It's called utilizing best management practices. Yes there will be some impacts, but if done right, those can be mitigated. Unfortunately, that effects the bottom line, which is the most important aspect to life for these companies.

BTW - I'm not saying don't develop, I'm just saying let's be honest about what we're giving up to feed Europe's thirst for gas.

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Oil Rigs in Gulf would ruin fishing---where do charter boats go? To oil rigs.
Drilling in Prudhoe Bay would ruin Caribou hunting---where is bigger herd?
Building a dam will ruin Grand Canyon----where do most tourist go?
Exploration for uranium will decimate antelope in SD---they increased because of more water ponds

Wind turbines kill 100's of thousands of birds, large solar panel displays destroy ground water reserves, ethanol has caused 1000's of marginal lands to be turned to crops destroying migratory bird habitats and food prices to go up.....but that is okay----it is not evil oil!