S
Salmonfg
Guest
"Marvel says bighorn bill helps his cause the most
Submitted by Rocky Barker on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 10:50am.
Public lands activist Jon Marvel is totally open about his strategy of using bighorn sheep as a surrogate for his campaign to drive domestic sheep ranchers off of public lands.
Marvel, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, passionately believes that the best way to protect the habitat of wild bighorn sheep, sage grouse, salmon and the other species he cares about is to help economics push ranchers off of public lands. And right now the people who are helping him the most are ranching members of the Idaho?s Legislature.
They are pushing a bill, SB 1175, that requires the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to move or kill bighorn sheep that walk on to a grazing allotment on public lands. In my blog yesterday House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, a cattle rancher, said he voted for the bill even though he knows the bill plays into Marvel?s strategy.
But he and other rural lawmakers are backing the bill because they believe Ron Shirts of Weiser and his family were treated unfairly when a 1997 agreement over transplanting bighorn sheep to the Hells Canyon was overruled by a federal court decision. And they want to send a message to the Forest Service, which seems poised to force Shirts and other sheep ranchers in Hells Canyon to permanently quit grazing there.
But they are also sending the message that you either are with them, i.e. a few ranchers, or with bighorn sheep.
?It correctly constructs in the public eye the clash of values we are experiencing,? Marvel said.
Marvel resents being singled out as the voice of thousands of people in and out of Idaho who share his goals and love of native species and places. That's because his open distain for ranchers and especially the cowboy culture undercuts the power of his cause.
But bills like SB1175 easily overcome his own public persona.
?The legislature is creating a trap for ranchers and the state as a whole,? Marvel said. ?The state will begin to lose sovereignty over wildlife.?
First, the bill will eventually drive a stake between hunters and ranchers when the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is forced to kill bighorn sheep on public lands to keep them away from domestic sheep. Some hunters will pay more than $100,000 to for the chance to shoot just one.
?The only thing the bill does is to force Fish and Game to kill native wildlife for a tiny group of ranchers,? Marvel said. ?I wonder if hunters understand that is about to happen.?
Second, the bill will give him a great court challenge based on past Supreme Court decisions that recognize the federal government's right to protect the wildlife on their public land. And third, some of the bighorns on the Payette are native bighorns that always have lived in the Salmon River.
If state law requires that Fish and Game has to move or kill these already low-numbered population from all sheep grazing allotments Environmentalists will have a case for listing the native bighorn under the Endangered Species Act. That not only will force the ranchers out but end bighorn hunting.
That doesn't even get into the treaty rights the Nez Perce tribe has to the bighorn population.
Overall, the rural legislators who dislike him the most help him more than fellow conservation groups like the Idaho Conservation League who seek to find a solution that helps ranchers and protects bighorn sheep. But Marvel doesn't want to alienate them since its true that many of his supporters are their supporters as well.
This makes Bedke and other lawmakers leery of working with the ICL.
Marvel interacts with his local lawmakers who all oppose SB 1175 but doesn't actively lobby the entire Idaho Legislature. He is satisfied -- and his record shows well rewarded -- by dealing with ranchers in front of a federal judge. The ICL, which deals with issues ranging from protecting open space, air quality, water quality, invasive species, renewable energy along with public lands and wildlife, must work with state legislators and leaders.
It has built coalitions around people?s interests instead of their views.
But Marvel is patient. Eventually ranchers and rural lawmakers won't control the Idaho Legislature.
And if they pass laws like SB 1175, he said, ?It's going to happen sooner than they think.?"
Submitted by Rocky Barker on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 10:50am.
Public lands activist Jon Marvel is totally open about his strategy of using bighorn sheep as a surrogate for his campaign to drive domestic sheep ranchers off of public lands.
Marvel, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, passionately believes that the best way to protect the habitat of wild bighorn sheep, sage grouse, salmon and the other species he cares about is to help economics push ranchers off of public lands. And right now the people who are helping him the most are ranching members of the Idaho?s Legislature.
They are pushing a bill, SB 1175, that requires the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to move or kill bighorn sheep that walk on to a grazing allotment on public lands. In my blog yesterday House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, a cattle rancher, said he voted for the bill even though he knows the bill plays into Marvel?s strategy.
But he and other rural lawmakers are backing the bill because they believe Ron Shirts of Weiser and his family were treated unfairly when a 1997 agreement over transplanting bighorn sheep to the Hells Canyon was overruled by a federal court decision. And they want to send a message to the Forest Service, which seems poised to force Shirts and other sheep ranchers in Hells Canyon to permanently quit grazing there.
But they are also sending the message that you either are with them, i.e. a few ranchers, or with bighorn sheep.
?It correctly constructs in the public eye the clash of values we are experiencing,? Marvel said.
Marvel resents being singled out as the voice of thousands of people in and out of Idaho who share his goals and love of native species and places. That's because his open distain for ranchers and especially the cowboy culture undercuts the power of his cause.
But bills like SB1175 easily overcome his own public persona.
?The legislature is creating a trap for ranchers and the state as a whole,? Marvel said. ?The state will begin to lose sovereignty over wildlife.?
First, the bill will eventually drive a stake between hunters and ranchers when the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is forced to kill bighorn sheep on public lands to keep them away from domestic sheep. Some hunters will pay more than $100,000 to for the chance to shoot just one.
?The only thing the bill does is to force Fish and Game to kill native wildlife for a tiny group of ranchers,? Marvel said. ?I wonder if hunters understand that is about to happen.?
Second, the bill will give him a great court challenge based on past Supreme Court decisions that recognize the federal government's right to protect the wildlife on their public land. And third, some of the bighorns on the Payette are native bighorns that always have lived in the Salmon River.
If state law requires that Fish and Game has to move or kill these already low-numbered population from all sheep grazing allotments Environmentalists will have a case for listing the native bighorn under the Endangered Species Act. That not only will force the ranchers out but end bighorn hunting.
That doesn't even get into the treaty rights the Nez Perce tribe has to the bighorn population.
Overall, the rural legislators who dislike him the most help him more than fellow conservation groups like the Idaho Conservation League who seek to find a solution that helps ranchers and protects bighorn sheep. But Marvel doesn't want to alienate them since its true that many of his supporters are their supporters as well.
This makes Bedke and other lawmakers leery of working with the ICL.
Marvel interacts with his local lawmakers who all oppose SB 1175 but doesn't actively lobby the entire Idaho Legislature. He is satisfied -- and his record shows well rewarded -- by dealing with ranchers in front of a federal judge. The ICL, which deals with issues ranging from protecting open space, air quality, water quality, invasive species, renewable energy along with public lands and wildlife, must work with state legislators and leaders.
It has built coalitions around people?s interests instead of their views.
But Marvel is patient. Eventually ranchers and rural lawmakers won't control the Idaho Legislature.
And if they pass laws like SB 1175, he said, ?It's going to happen sooner than they think.?"
