Wolf Warriors Speak For Wolves – Yellowstone 2014

Jimmy St. Goddard of the Blackfeet Tribe – EESUKYAH

July 1, 2014

It took us 9 hours to drive to the rally. Most of that time was spent stopping for gas, letting the dogs out to stretch their legs and finding something to eat. No seriously, we are just very slow drivers. We got there around 9:30 am Saturday morning, sadly we didn’t make it to Bob Landis’ film on the 06 female Friday night but she was in our thoughts, what a magnificent wolf she was, no wonder everyone called her Rockstar.

Of course the weather was moody. One minute the sun was out and the next rain clouds were hovering overhead. But that’s Montana. If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute 🙂 There was a brief thunderstorm cell that passed through in the afternoon but it was over quickly.

I want to thank Brett again for doing a wonderful job of organizing and planning the rally. The line up of speakers and panelists was amazing. In no particular order: Brett Haverstick,  Bob Landis, Mike Hudak, Doug Peacock, George Wuerthner, Catherine Feher-Elston, Jimmy St. Goddard,  Bill Chamberlain, Mike Mease, Goodshield Agular (guitar), Neil Haverstick (guitar), Brett Haverstick (Organizer Extraordinaire), George Nikas, Louisa Willcox, Nathan Varley, Oliver Starr, Anja Heister, Camilla Fox, Dr. Robert Crabtree, Bill Chamberlain. Hope I didn’t leave anyone out or misspell their names.

Jimmy St. Goddard of the Blackfeet Nation, started the rally on Saturday with a powerful presentation. In ceremonial dress, looking resplendent, he prayed, chanted and spoke for wolves.. Anyone who knows Jimmy or has heard him speak will always come away impressed. He is dedicated to the wolves and buffalo and all wildlife.

We spent Saturday morning and afternoon at Arch Park, listening to the amazing line up of speakers. I was lucky to connect with friends, some whom I haven’t seen in years.

 There were booths set up for most of the sponsors that displayed their educational material, booklets, calendars, bumper stickers, etc. The Buffalo Field Campaign had a beautiful calendar. Everyone was wearing the Speak for Wolves tees!

 We spent the evening at the Gardiner Community Center watching  films with a panel discussion at the end. The film, Exposed: The USDA Secret War on Wildlife, was particularly gruesome, focusing on the agency we’ve all come to hate- Wildlife Services. Their cruelty to animals seems to know no bounds.

In the evening on Saturday we spent the time unwinding and talking wolves.

On Sunday we took a brief trip into the park, which is always spectacular but you can’t forget going thru the Gardiner entrance that buffalo were slaughtered outside the park just a few months ago, as buffalo cows attempted to leave the park and travel to their ancestral calving grounds. Mike Mease, founder of the Buffalo Field Campaign, spoke about this travesty and how important the Yellowstone herd is. These are the last remaining descendants of the millions of wild free roaming buffalo who once covered this land like a blanket, more than 60 million, wiped out in a killing frenzy. It’s truly unbelievable.

While touring around Yellowstone we couldn’t help notice the abundance of elk, they seemed to be around every nook and cranny, many cow elk with their babies. They were  even lounging behind Arch Park in the high school field.  I think they traveled there to support the wolves.  A few people traveled to Lamar Valley and were lucky to see  wolves romping with their pups.

It was a wonderful experience and helped rejuvenate my spirits, which have taken quite the beating these last five years since wolves were delisted by Obama in 2009. Not sure why many people think  2011 was the first year wolves in the Northern Rockies were delisted, Obama removed their ESA protections mere months after he took office, along with his buddy Ken Salazar. There were wolf hunts held in Montana and Idaho starting in the Fall of 2009 and 500 wolves died. So this has been going on a lot longer than 2011, although that was the year Congress shoved Tester’s wolf delisting rider (with no judicial review) into a budget appropriations bill and all Democrats save three voted to strip wolves of the Endangered Species Protections. Quite the travesty.

Brett Haverstick – Event Organizer – Thank you Brett!!!

Gardiner Community Center – Watching Films and Panel Discussion After

 

George Nickas, Executive Director of Wilderness Watch

Doug Peacock

Catherine Feher-Elston

Neil Haverstick

Mike Mease

Well that’s all for tonight. Hope there aren’t too many mistakes but it’s 4:46 am and I’m pretty sleepy. I have lot’s of video on my phone so I’m hoping to upload it soon and share it. Or maybe I’ll put it all together in a YouTube video.

Great experience, we should do it every year and keep the momentum going!

For the wolves, For the wild ones,

Nabeki

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Wolf cheerleaders!! 🙂

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Yellowstone elk Cows and calves on the drive to the Lamar Valley – Speak for Wolves

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Photos Nabeki

Posted in: gray wolf, activism

Tags: Speak for Wolves, Arch Park, Yellowstone National Park, Brett Haverstick, gray wolves, wolf persecution, changing how predators are treated

Speak For Wolves: Yellowstone 2014

Roosevelt Arch – North Entrance Yellowstone National Park (Gardiner, Mt)

Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014 is essentially about hope. It’s an opportunity for the American people to unite and demand wildlife management reform and restore our national heritage. On June 28-29, 2014, thousands of Americans will meet in Arch Park in Gardiner, Montana to hear why we need to reform wildlife management, at both the state and federal level, and how we can do it.

There are five main principles behind reforming wildlife management:

1. No killing of predators–period. The best available science suggest that predators, including wolves, are a self-regulating species. In other words, predators don’t overpopulate; instead their populations naturally fluctuate, as do prey or ungulate populations. “Managing” predators is code word for killing them, and it is not necessary, and no longer to be tolerated. Non-lethal measures can be effective in rare instances where there are actual human/predator conflicts.

2. Removal of all livestock from federal public lands. It is well documented the damage that cows/cattle/livestock cause across our wildlands. They are non-native and invasive and are responsible for soil compaction, a decrease in water retention and aquifer recharge, erosion, destruction of wetlands and riparian areas, flooding, and a net-loss of biodiversity. They enable invasive plant species to proliferate, which effects the West’s historic fire regime.

3. Banning trapping/snaring on all federal public lands. We must evolve as a society and move away from this barbaric, unethical, cruel and tortuous method(s) of killing native wildlife. Leg-hold traps, conibear traps and other devices are indiscriminate killers. In other words, anything and everything can walk into them, including humans and dogs. Trappers are currently required to check their traps once every 72-hours.

4. Abolishing Wildlife Services. Hidden within the US Department of Agriculture, is a rogue agency that is essentially the wildlife killing-arm of the federal government. For over 100-years this federal tax-payer supported agency has largely worked on behalf of the livestock industry and is responsible for the death of tens-of millions of native wildlife. Methods of killing include trapping, poisoning, and aerial gunning of native wildlife.

5. Restructuring the way state Fish & Game agencies operate. Politics: western governors currently appoint agency commissioners, which essentially, tell the state departments what to do. This is cronyism at its worst. Economics: state agencies are mostly funded by the sale of hunting/fishing tags or permits. They are binded into serving the interest of “sportsmen” because it’s the hand that feeds them. Science and democracy are sorely lacking in these departments.

Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014 is about taking an important step towards stopping the wolf slaughter that is currently taking place across the United States. We must look the real problem in the eye, however, and take bold measures. The status quo is broken, in both, how wildlife is being “managed” at the state and federal level, and how the public is dealing with it: public meetings, appeals, litigation, etc. We can continue to attempt to stop the bleeding or instead, address the real causes of the problem, which are the 5 principles.

Come to Arch Park in Gardiner, Montana June 28-29, 2014. The event is family friendly and will feature prominent speakers, live music, video production crews, education and outreach booths, food and drink vendors and the screening of wildlife documentaries. This is going to be the event of the year in the northern Rockies. Together we can make history and restore our wild national heritage!

Brett Haverstick
Organizer
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Posted in: Wolf Warriors, Gray Wolf, Activism, Biodiversity
Photo: Courtesy Brett Haverstick
Tags: Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014, stand up for wolves, effect change, paradigm shift, grass roots movement, Arch Park, Gardiner Mt., North entrance Yellowstone National Park