HDPM You hunt &fish, your a republican...

Predator politics get ugly in Idaho


Boise Idaho--"In a big bite of predator politics, the director of Idaho's wildlife agency resigned abruptly, under pressure from agriculture interests and Gov. Dirk Kempthorne,R.


Any thoughts?


Article in High Country News Feb. 18

I have not followed the story too closely. There has been a lot of turmoil at Fish & Game the last few years. The director, Rod Sando, who was apparently run out had a good reputation as a manager and biologist when he started. Unlike the last director, he wasn't mooning photographers on boondoggle trips in Hell's Canyon. But he wasn't satisfying some on predator control (in Idaho that means shoot, shovel, shut up, rinse and repeat) and I think some other stuff. There was a bit of a fight in the legislature this week on something to do with the F&G Commission. I know a Senator who is on the relevant committee but I have never talked to him about F&G issues. Maybe I will get to after this session and I can get some dirt.


The rumor is that the Governor forced the Director out. I am on a first name basis with the Governor- at big functions I call him Governor and he looks at my name tag and calls me by my name trying to look like he remembers, so I have not asked him about it.

Your in the minority, those who know the name of their respective states director. Ihang my head in shame. When I worked for the FS I would have known.


I consider myself to be a conservative but find myself at odds with the environmental positions of many other conservatives.


I feel that the ag and ranching interests wield way to much influence in how land management decisions are made, particularly at the state level. Good science should prevail.


According to Max Peterson, executive vice president of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, F&G directors in Western states last an average of just 4 yrs. Sando lasted less than two.

Here in norcal Putah creek used to be a killer smallmouth fishery with a native salmon and steelie run thrown in. The ag folks got their hands on some cement and up went the Solano Diversion Dam and Monticello dam. Now we have Lake Berryessa, a five mile stretch of put and take trout fishing (with some monsters holding over), ten more miles of canal like warm water and then the Putah Creek sink where the water just dries up. No more smallmouth in the middle section and just a few in the lower (too sluggish for them). Not a salmon or steelhead to speak of either, although I will swear on my grandfather's grave that I saw a chromer jump into the Solano Dam output about 6 years ago. Not a run, though, just a lost remnant of a once prolific population.

all for some tomatos and corn.

Yes, in Idaho ag and ranching have the power. A lot like to hunt and fish so it is not all bad, but farms and ranches have priority, period.