A rider to the finally adopted federal budget by Idaho Representative Mike Simpson has negated Saturday's rejection of a settlement between environmental groups and the administration which would have removed wolves from the endangered species list and allowed Idaho and Montana to resume state management of wolf populations. Saturday, U.S. District Donald Malloy rejected the settlement, saying all the parties to the original suit did not agree to the settlement. Simpson's budget rider, however, reinstates the 2009 decision by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the gray wolf in Idaho and Montana. Pro-wolf organizations had agreed to the settlement in an attempt to head off the reinstatement of that decision based on the claims of hunters, ranchers and state officials that the wolf was a recovered population. Representative Simpson, as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee on Interior and the Environment, had included the wolf provision in the original House budget resolution. Montana Senator Jon Tester supported Simpson's rider saying it, "isn't about one party's agenda, it's about what's right for Montana and the West."
From Headwater News:
Congressional action on wolves may leave Wyoming out of luck
With a rider attached to the budget bill that will remove wolves in Montana and Idaho from endangered species protection, Wyoming appears to be left to go it alone, a situation for which the state is to blame.
Casper Star-Tribune; April 11
For the first 26 years of his career, the author of "Wolfer, A Memoir" was the man behind the gun who killed predators that threatened livestock.
This week, Niemeyer will tell that part of his story in appearances around Missoula.
He'll also let people know how he learned to appreciate the need to bring wolves back to the American West.
Right out of college, Niemeyer moved to Montana from his home state of Iowa and used trapping skills perfected from childhood to kill coyotes, foxes and black bears as a government trapper for a little-known agency called Animal Damage Control.
When wolves began crossing from Canada into Montana and ranchers started complaining about predation of sheep and cattle, Niemeyer was called upon to investigate livestock deaths.
A nonprofit group called Defenders of Wildlife compensated livestock owners for animals that officials like Niemeyer confirmed were killed by wolves.
Livestock producers wouldn't be paid without confirmation.
The results of the investigations were often the difference between life and death for wolves.
That conflict often led to face-to-face confrontations with people on both sides of the wolf issue.
Niemeyer was not a rubber-stamp kind of guy.
His detailed forensic investigations with their meticulous scientific notes and refusal to back down from furious landowners and environmentalists caught the attention of officials preparing to reintroduce wolves into Yellowstone National Park in 1995.
Niemeyer became part of the team that captured the Canadian wolves that became the nucleus of the packs that roam the Northern Rockies today.
Along the way, he gained respect and understanding about the predator and the polarizing effect it had on the human population.
From Headwater News:
Congressional action on wolves may leave Wyoming out of luck
With a rider attached to the budget bill that will remove wolves in Montana and Idaho from endangered species protection, Wyoming appears to be left to go it alone, a situation for which the state is to blame.
Casper Star-Tribune; April 11
'Wolfer' author to discuss hunting predators, appreciation for reintroduction
HAMILTON - Carter Niemeyer didn't set out to become an expert on wolves.
For the first 26 years of his career, the author of "Wolfer, A Memoir" was the man behind the gun who killed predators that threatened livestock.
This week, Niemeyer will tell that part of his story in appearances around Missoula.
He'll also let people know how he learned to appreciate the need to bring wolves back to the American West.
Right out of college, Niemeyer moved to Montana from his home state of Iowa and used trapping skills perfected from childhood to kill coyotes, foxes and black bears as a government trapper for a little-known agency called Animal Damage Control.
When wolves began crossing from Canada into Montana and ranchers started complaining about predation of sheep and cattle, Niemeyer was called upon to investigate livestock deaths.
A nonprofit group called Defenders of Wildlife compensated livestock owners for animals that officials like Niemeyer confirmed were killed by wolves.
Livestock producers wouldn't be paid without confirmation.
The results of the investigations were often the difference between life and death for wolves.
That conflict often led to face-to-face confrontations with people on both sides of the wolf issue.
Niemeyer was not a rubber-stamp kind of guy.
His detailed forensic investigations with their meticulous scientific notes and refusal to back down from furious landowners and environmentalists caught the attention of officials preparing to reintroduce wolves into Yellowstone National Park in 1995.
Niemeyer became part of the team that captured the Canadian wolves that became the nucleus of the packs that roam the Northern Rockies today.
Along the way, he gained respect and understanding about the predator and the polarizing effect it had on the human population.
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