My beaver friends in Oregon must LOVE this article. Its a nice summary of how the department of fish and game are actually the wildlife stewards for the entire state.
Oregon wildlife commission poised to make the most consequential decision in a decade
On May 10, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission is scheduled to decide who to hire to lead the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department as its new director pushed back an initially aggressive hiring timeline.
“Hearing people is more important than speed,” Chair Mary Wahl said at the February 16 meeting in support of the decision. This process comes as Curt Melcher, who has been director for the last 10 years, prepares to retire.
The new director should be someone with a conservation background, not an old-school “wildlife management” degree who looks to the best science to guide policy. For instance, we now know and appreciate the presence of wolves, mountain lions and other predators in our ecosystems. They help control disease among ungulates, plant-eating hoofed animals like elkand mule deer, and provide for safer meat consumption for humans. We know now that hatchery programs are harmful to wild fish populations in all cases where wild fish are present in a system.
Oh get me some popcorn, this is going to be a fun read. I am pretty sure that every trapper and hunter in the Pacific North west just had an aneurysm. Lets keep reading because I think this is going to get even better…
Hunters and anglers no longer represent the majority. And that’s OK. The new director must speak up on behalf of all wildlife, including predators, and advocate for ethical hunting practices, all of which the public reasonably demands. In my estimation, the greatest threat to hunting and angling privileges, aside from dwindling habitat and species loss, is public support and tolerance.
Too often, the “hook and bullet” crowd feels the need to dig in their heels fearing a slippery slope when new restrictions are proposed. For instance, beaver hunting and trapping restrictions are fiercely opposed by entrenched trapping interests. The 200 or so beaver trappers in the state must not be allowed to deprive our 4.4 million residents of the ecosystem services having healthy beaver populations provides. We must protect beavers for the expansive wetland habitats they create that foster natural fire breaks, water storage, water filtration, carbon capture and more. We need a new director who will be unafraid to advocate for hunting and trapping closures of beavers on public lands to gain these ecological services and benefits.
Yup. There it is. Except Adam beavers are not a “for instance”. They are in a class all their own. No other species can do for us what beavers can.
The commission must select a new director who can navigate the inevitable resistance from the status quo as they embark on implementing necessary changes. I hope that the commission will take a serious look at qualified external applicants. Sometimes, the change that is needed has to come from the outside. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife should consider hiring a new director who is democratic and represents the broad interests of the public and not a select few.
Well said Adam. Wildlife is not just there for the people who hunt it. It is also there for the people that like to watch it with binoculars, or photograph it. or see it while they are hiking, or tell their children stories about it while they are tucked safe in their beds.
It is for everyone.
