As the fallout settles from federal Judge William
Downes’ decision ordering that nearly 200 introduced wolves be
removed from Yellowstone and Idaho, members of the environmental
community who have been at each other’s throats are putting aside
their differences and preparing to appeal the decision (HCN,
12/22/97: Judge says wolf reintroduction was
illegal).
Immediately following this decision,
attorney Doug Honnold of the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, who’d
argued on behalf of the Audubon Society for increased protection
for the wolves in Idaho, found himself under
attack.
On Christmas Day, Earthjustice (formerly
known as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund) got a double whammy in
the form of opinion pieces in newspapers. Thomas McNamee (the
Montana author who wrote The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone)
criticized the case and indirectly chastised Honnold in a column in
The New York Times. Then, in the Missoulian, long-time
reintroduction proponent Renee Askins attacked him
personally.
“Honnold,” Askins writes, “not only
shunned the practical while pursuing the pure, he managed to risk
the lives of nearly 200 animals in the pursuit of his legal
pretensions. As a lawyer he might feel victorious; as a
conservationist a more appropriate emotion might be shame.”
For his part, Honnold tries to make it clear
that he resented being forced to consolidate cases with the Farm
Bureau Federation, a conservative ranchers’ group which tried to
block the reintroduction of the wolves three years ago. The bureau,
he says, was attempting to stop wolves altogether, while Honnold
maintains he simply wanted to make sure wolves which had already
colonized Idaho retained protection under the Endangered Species
Act.
“The only people who are happy about this
decision,” Honnold said, “are the Farm Bureau and the radical
right. The bottom line is we didn’t request the removal of any
wolves.”
The Farm Bureau has also made an effort
to distance itself from Earthjustice and Audubon. “The
environmental community is complaining … because they didn’t get
their remedy, which ultimately would have resulted in full
protection of all wolves,” says Wyoming bureau vice president Larry
Bourret. “Instead they got the Farm Bureau’s remedy – send the
wolves back to Canada.”
Honnold says that he’s
looking forward to getting back in the courtroom, along with
Defenders of Wildlife and others, to ensure that the wolves stay
put.
Copyright
© 1998 HCN and Dan Oko
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Wolf wars enter next round.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
