Salazar's legacy: historical first state-sanctioned hunt of Northern Rockies gray wolves

Salazar is part of the West’s landed nobility-

Salazar’s legacy: historical first state-sanctioned hunt of Northern Rockies gray wolves. Seattle Environmental Policy Examiner. By Jean Williams

“The state’s [that is, Idaho] object is to reduce the current wolf population by half.  This is a species that was removed prematurely from ESA protection, under authority by Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar.  The Secretary is considered by many conservations, to have a personal bias, due to the fact that he is also a landowner, rancher, and member of the Cattlemen’s association.”


Posted

in

, ,

by

Comments

  1. Richard Giallanzo Avatar
    Richard Giallanzo

    This really stinks in plain english, in 1998 I thought the end goal of the government was to have a hunt of the reintroduced wolves. This would bring in hunters and the money follows. So in the end the only one who suffers are the wolves and second the ones who loves them.

  2. steph Avatar
    steph

    This is a very sad week for me to know the guns are pointed at wolves in Idaho. The hunt is set to start here in Montana on Sept. 15. I hope Judge Molloy makes his decision quickly and upholds the injunction. I worry about the wolf packs and how they’ll recover? What they think about being hunted? The never ending battle to protect these magnificent animals continues it’s spin like a mouse wheel, always going forward but never reaching it’s destination.

  3. kt Avatar
    kt

    Ken Salazar needs to be sent home to spend time with his cattle. Time for a replacement. Now that Obama got him out of the Senate, and someone perhaps less conservative seated there – Boot Salazar back to Colorado.

  4. montucky Avatar

    It’s now becoming apparent that Salazar is just another part of the big Obama lie.

  5. Ralph Maughan Avatar

    I don’t see any big Obama lie. I think I see someone who has not chosen very good advisers, and is adverse to rough and tumble political negotiations. This is not what I expected given the reputation of Chicago politics from which he came. At any rate, I think this is clearly a weakness for him given the current situation.

    While he is a great speaker, and is very appealing to the well educated, there are big gaps in his knowledge (like George Bush, but in a different way).

  6. Richard Giallanzo Avatar
    Richard Giallanzo

    Does anyone remember Bruce Babbit the ex president of the wilderness society ? President Clinton picked him for secretary of Interior and some say Clinton was the best president for the environment. Well Obama in this respect sides with big bussiness, he should ask Clinton for advice on this matter. I canceled my trip out west because of this, most people who go to Yellowstone, go for the bears and wolves, this will hurt the tourist industry in the Yellowstone area. When they kill enough wolves then the judge will step in, all politics!!!!!!! Richard E. Giallanzo

  7. Ralph Maughan Avatar

    Richard,

    Bruce Babbit had been governor of Arizona. Then he became the head of the League of Conservation Voters before secretary of Interior.

    Back in the days of Jimmy Carter, Rupert Cutler held the position of Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment. Cutler had been prominent in the Wilderness Society.

    I think Jimmy Carter was the best President on the environment, although Clinton improved a lot in his second term. At the end of his [Clinton] Administration he created an astonishingly large number of new national monuments. He also instituted the ban on building new roads (other than some temporary) into the roadless areas of the National Forests. Under his Administration there was a huge reduction in timber cutting on the national forests. Road building and timber cutting used to be the issues that seemed to occupy western conservationists the most. Now they have become much less of a problem.

    Had Al Gore been elected in 2000, I think the world of conservation would look a lot different than it does today.

Author

Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.

Subscribe to get new posts right in your Inbox

×