A once-proud conservation group has lost its way - More articles about the background of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundations efforts to see more wolves killed - while alienating themselves from the conservation community. The foundations director is quoted, To keep wolf populations controlled, states will have to hold hunts, shoot wolves from the air and gas their dens” hcn.org/wotr/a-once-proud-conservation-group-has-lost-its-way thewildlifenews/2012/07/18/murie-demands-david-allen-change-rocky-mountain-elk-foundations-wolf-policy/ Quotes from the articles: The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has changed its position 180 degrees on the matter of wolves in recent years. The change corresponds almost exactly with hiring of David Allen as the President and CEO of the Foundation. Allen has not only taken a strongly anti-wolf position, but he has done it taking an “in your face” way to traditional conservation organizations such as those supported by Olaus Murie, which he now calls “extremist.” Allen has also expressed contempt for many of the concepts of ecology, as he seemed to be moving the RMEF toward a single species, single value of elk (hunting) approach. Some critics have also accused Allen of failure to support the concept of public lands. Recently, the family of Olaus J. Murie demanded that the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation cancel the organization’s Olaus J. Murie Award. The surprising reason? The foundation’s all-out war against wolves is anathema to the entire Murie family... “We are not a hunting organization supporting conservation; we are a conservation organization supported by hunters,” former foundation director Gary Wolfe used to say. But starting in 2000, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s board of directors changed, many staff members were fired, and the nonprofit group went through a string of short-term directors. Then in 2007, the foundation board hired David Allen, a former marketer for NASCAR and the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association, as its director. At first, it seemed that Allen would follow a path similar to former leaders. “We are not a hunting club. We don’t intend to be a hunting club. We are a membership organization that has an overwhelming number of hunters … but we’re not doing wildlife conservation to improve our hunting,” Allen said when he took on the job. That approach did not last long. “Wolf reintroduction is the worst ecological disaster since the decimation of bison herds,” Allen said recently, as he claimed that wolves are “decimating” and “annihilating” elk herds. To keep wolf populations controlled, states will have to hold hunts, shoot wolves from the air and gas their dens,” he said.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 18:17:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015