Let the experts make the decisions

Dec. 10, 2006

In the Dec. 8 edition of the paper, Frontiersman Managing Editor Mark Kelsey wrote a piece which, in essence, said the current limited predator-management programs in Alaska were unnecessary and elitist. He said these programs flew in the face of two public votes where the practice of sport-hunting wolves from airplanes was made illegal.

According to Kelsey, the &#8220balance of nature” will solve all our wildlife issues and that anything man does will just upset the apple cart. He states that the minority of hunters is dictating the wildlife management programs in this state and that Gov. Palin might be wise to listen to the majority.

Where to begin? Let's start with the &#8220elitist” label.

Using Kelsey's logic, if I needed to build a publicly accessed building, I would hire the first five guys I passed on the street. It wouldn't matter that none of them were carpenters, plumbers, electricians, stone masons, concrete specialists, or any of the other specialty trades critical to the proper and safe construction of a building used by the public.

Apparently, if he needed surgery, he'd hire the first person he met who didn't become violently ill at the sight of blood!! Personally, I'd want to see some medical credentials and hear how skilled the surgeon was performing the specific operation I needed. I would also hire a contractor who was licensed, bonded and who specialized in the particular type of building I needed built.

Similarly, I want my wildlife managed by specialists who have studied the science, researched the issues, and are prepared to deal with the problems. These specialists have found that man's historical influence on the natural order has dictated the need to manage all animal populations, since all the populations within an ecosystem, including man, influence one another.

That means predator, as well as prey species and man's use of the animal populations, too. According to Kelsey, that is &#8220elitist.”

As I recall the aerial hunting votes, the practice that was outlawed was aerial sport hunting of wolves. That means the average hunting license holder can no longer go shoot wolves from his buddy's plane during a general open season.

However, the current predator-management use of aerial wolf hunting is different in the way it is administered. Pilots and their gunners are specially permitted and restricted in where they can harvest wolves. They are prosecuted if they don't follow the strict guidelines. Not just anybody can participate.

If the state did the same control work as the specially permitted pilots and crews, the cost would have been between a half to one million dollars last year. Who would pay for that? Right now, the private sector is footing these costs, since the pilots get no compensation from the state for this work.

Interestingly enough, virtually all the funding for wildlife management nationwide comes from the hunters themselves. Since the hunters are paying the bills, maybe they should have the &#8220say” in how things are done!

In a perfect world where man has no influence, the &#8220balance of nature” would work just fine. Since man is not a factor, if nature gets out of balance and it takes 500 years to re-establish that balance, who cares? The balance will, eventually, be re-established.

Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world, and man has already had a major influence on the entire ecosystem with all its animal populations. If man has a dependency on certain populations of those animals for his survival, as many Alaska villages do, the &#8220balance of nature” time frame could use some help.

Any management strategy is, by definition, a temporary situation. The predator management currently happening is not a &#8220forever” thing. It will all end in a few years, if enough predators are removed to allow the moose and caribou to rebound in their population numbers. The time frame will be shorter if the most efficient methods of population control

are used.

Kelsey uses computers, sophisticated software programs, automated printing presses, digital cameras and all the most modern equipment to produce this newspaper. These tools allow him to market a product in the most cost- and time-efficient manner possible. He would not go back to hand-setting type and manually printing newspaper sheets, one at a time.

Why handcuff the wildlife managers in using the most cost and time efficient tools they have to perform their job?

Just as Kelsey doesn't personally agree with every opinion appearing in this newspaper, the wildlife managers don't all agree on how best to manage our wildlife resources. Many don't like killing wolves, but they understand how, in the big and long-term picture, this can benefit all the animals and the

environment.

I hope Gov. Palin does listen to the discussion. I also hope she orders the wildlife managers to do what is in the best interest of the resource, based on science, not emotion. I hope the voters also start looking at science and not the emotion of the animal rights leftists, who seem to think we all should live as they do.

Former Fish and Game biologist Howard Delo is a free-lance journalist who writes a weekly Outdoors column for the Frontiersman.