After unsuccessfully trying for over a month to set up a time for USFWS Director Dan Ashe to join us to discuss the ever changing landscape regarding wolves in our great country, I agreed to discuss the issues of concern with Press Secretary Tollefson. Well, looks like he nor Director Ashe have the stomach for tough questions either. Just more of the same from an agency with no accountability to the people they work (you and me).
My response to Press Secretary Tollefson:
Mr. Tollefson,
You work for us (the public) and your division’s refusal to take responsibility and step up and answer the tough questions regarding the wolf issue is unacceptable. You keep directing me to old information/press releases when the wolf issue is an ever changing forum. They are constantly increasing their numbers and expanding their ranges and yet you offer up the same tired jargon that your department has been trying to dupe the public with for years. It’s a mess and you have an entire country of sportsmen and women who are tired of being deceived.
I know that the USWFS had good intentions in the beginning but here we are 20 years after wolf reintroduction and your department keeps digging the hole deeper. Deception, lack of sound science and and the USFWS’ unwillingness to take responsibility for previous actions is infuriating. The gross mishandling of wolf reintroduction could single handily destroy the efforts and successes of a hundred plus years of conservation in this country. Wolves are now thriving in states that never agreed to wolf reintroduction to begin with. What recourse are they afforded?
This is what happens when an organization has no one to answer to. Your agency is the biggest hit and run artist that exists. You knock on a state’s door and promise them control if they agree to go along with the USFWS. Then like a thief in the night, you drop off a bunch of wolves and crawfish on the agreement after the state (in good faith) upholds it’s end of the bargain. I came to you to offer a public forum to discuss how the USFWS plans to deal with wolves in the future and how you can hopefully alleviate some of the concerns from the sportsmen and women who fund the conservation effort in this country. Despite your mismanagement of our resources, we will continue to buy licenses, purchase ammo, fishing tackle and the like and do our part to protect the resources we hold so dear. I think it’s high time you joined us.
Sincerely,
-Cable Smith
Leave A Comment