Dear HCN,
Todd Wilkinson’s sad but
necessary account of grizzly bear politics (HCN, 11/9/98) is as
much an indictment of human nature as it is of organizational and
personal conflict. The early Protestants used to talk about
“speaking truth to power,” and power burned them at the
stake.
Times haven’t changed much. Speaking truth
to power doesn’t mean much unless you yourself have power. That’s
the first rule of politics. We fool ourselves if we think
otherwise.
There’s no doubt in my mind that
government harassment of bear biologist Dave Mattson is a fact. The
same thing happened to me in the military all the time because I
refused to change facts and conclusions or lie, cheat and steal.
Sooner or later, every military officer learns that to survive,
“Duty, Honor, Country” really means “Career, Capitulation,
Cover-up.” We shouldn’t be surprised that the same is true in the
wildlife management bureaucracies, even if the mottos are
different. It’s a fact of life in organizational
culture.
That’s why delisting the grizzly bear
will be a disaster. In Wyoming, I don’t doubt the capabilities and
commitment to grizzly bear conservation by the biologists of the
Game and Fish Department. They are outstanding people. But they
don’t make decisions, and they themselves have been gagged. Both
the G&F Commission and Department are under the thumb of
Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer, a beet farmer, and Department of
Agriculture Director Ron Micheli, a sheep rancher. Both politicos
have an irrational hatred of anything associated with conservation
– particularly carnivore conservation. Geringer was recently
re-elected. What does that mean for
conservation?
In sum, neither the Commission nor
the Department “leadership” has the courage to stand up for
wildlife against the pressure from commercial interests that are
Geringer’s true constituency, whether livestock, oil and gas, or
wealthy landowners who want to start game
ranches.
Wildlife conservation and management in
the West have already taken several mortal hits, most recently from
brucellosis paranoia. If you like what’s happening to bison, you’ll
love what’ll happen to grizzlies if they’re delisted. That’s the
truth.
Robert
Hoskins
Laramie,
Wyoming
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline ‘Speaking truth to power’ about bears.
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