Speak For Wolves 2015 – Come Join Us!

We hope you can join us on August 7-9, 2015 at the historic Union Pacific Dining Lodge in West Yellowstone, Montana for Speak for Wolves!

www.speakforwolves.org
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Friday August 7

6:00pm doors open with music by Neil Haverstick.

7:00pm Screening of OR-7 the Journey with filmmaker Clemens Schenk. Amaroq Weiss of the Center for Biological Diversity will be part of the Q&A session following the film. Tickets cost $10 and can be bought online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1634194

They can also be purchased at the door-cash only.
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Saturday August 8

11:30am doors open.

12:00pm opening remarks.

12:30pm Kim Wheeler, Executive Director of the Red Wolf Coalition, will discuss the plight of red wolves and the USFWS Red Wolf Recovery Program.

2:00pm activist Oliver Starr will discuss the reasons for the sharp decline in gray wolf populations in Denali National Park in Alaska and offer remedies.

3:00pm Brian Ertz, founder and Board President of Wildlands Defense, will discuss the failure of the controversial McKittrick Policy and why it needs to be reformed.

BREAK

6:30pm doors open with live music by Matt Stone.

7:00pm Camilla Fox, founder and Executive Director of Project Coyote, will discuss current efforts to end wildlife killing contests on public and private lands.

A panel discussion will follow with Amaroq Weiss, West Coast Wolf Organizer of the Center for Biological Diversity, Kevin Bixby, founder and Executive Director of the Southwest Environmental Center, and author/ecologist George Wuerthner.

The entire program on Saturday is free.
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Sunday August 9

9:00am doors open with music by Goodshield Aguilar.

9:30am Mike Mease, co-founder and Board President of Buffalo Field Campaign, will discuss the continued hazing and slaughter of wild buffalo in/around Yellowstone National Park and efforts to list the species under the Endangered Species Act.

10:30am Louisa Willcox, wildlife advocate and long-time conservationist, will discuss the government’s ill-conceived push to remove federal protections for grizzly bears and examine the role that states play in wildlife management.

11:15am Interpretive dance by choreographer MaryLee Sanders.

11:30am Inspirational talk by Jimmy St. Goddard of Blackfeet Nation.

12:00pm closing remarks.

The entire program on Sunday is free.

To learn more visit www.speakforwolves.org

Remembering Yellowstone’s O6 Female 

Speak For Wolves – August 7-9 – Come Howl With Us!

This year marks the 2nd Annual Speak for Wolves near Yellowstone National Park. On August 7-9, 2015 people will gather in the Union Pacific Dining Lodge in West Yellowstone, Montana to hear about the need to reform wildlife management in America. The 3-day family friendly event will feature speakers, panelists, live music, children’s activities and wildlife documentaries. The Friday night screening of OR7-The Journey cost $10 and the rest of the event is free.

 

Filmmaker Clemens Schenk will be in attendance on Friday August 7 for the screening of the award-winning documentary, OR7-The Journey: The Epic Journey of a lone wolf from Oregon To California. http://www.or7themovie.com/ Amaroq Weiss with the Center for Biological Diversity will be accompanying Clemens to answer questions at the end of the film. Doors open at 6pm with music by Neil Haverstick. Film begins at 7:00 pm. Tickets can be purchased on-line at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1634194

 

The Saturday August 8 afternoon program will run from 12:00 – 4:00 pm. Kim Wheeler of the Red Wolf Coalition will be delivering a program about the plight of the red wolf and the need to continue the US Fish & Wildlife Service Red Wolf Recovery program. http://redwolves.com/wp/. Wolf activist Oliver Starr will be delivering a program about the decline of gray wolves in Denali National Park and the need to re-establish a park boundary buffer zone to better protect wolves from hunting and trapping. Brian Ertz of Wildlands Defense will speak about the need to reform the controversial McKittrick Policy and equip the Department of Justice with tools to prosecute killers of threatened/endangered species. Live music by Neil Haverstick and Matt Stone. Children’s activities offered by Marilyn McGee and Gail McDiarmid of the children’s book, Running for Home. http://www.amazon.com/Running-Home-Gail-S-McDiarmid/dp/0985467703

 

The Saturday evening program will feature an exciting panel discussion led by Camilla Fox of Project Coyote.  http://projectcoyote.org/. Joining her will be Amaroq Weiss of the Center for Biological Diversity, Kevin Bixby of the Southwest Environmental Center and author George Wuerthner. The group will discuss wildlife killing contests targeting wolves, coyotes, bobcats, and other species for prizes and inducements and efforts to ban them on public and private lands in the U.S. Doors open at 6:00 pm with music by Matt Stone. Panel discussion begins at 7:00 pm.

 

On Sunday August 9 Mary Lee Sanders will wake us up at 10:00 am with an interpretive dance of the wild wolf. Music and song by Goodshield Aguilar will follow. Mike Mease and other members of the Buffalo Field Campaign will end the program by giving a presentation about the hazing and senseless killing of bison in and outside of Yellowstone National Park in order to appease the livestock industry. The group will offer a vision for a new management plan of America’s last and only genetically pure wild bison herd and speak about the efforts to list buffalo under the Endangered Species Act.

 

Speak for Wolves is an opportunity for the American people to unite and demand wildlife management reform and take steps to restore our national heritage. The five principles to management reform can be found at http://www.speakforwolves.org/about/

 

We hope you and your family can join us on August 7-9, 2015 in the historic Union Pacific Dining Lodge of West Yellowstone, Montana! Send questions to info@speakforwolves.org

Photo: Courtesy Speak for Wolves

Posted in: gray wolf, Activism

Tags: Speak for Wolves,  2nd annual event,  West Yellowstone, gray wolf, Brett Haverstick

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

Wolf Slaughter Continues in the Rocky Mountains by James William Gibson (Earth Island Journal)

Hunters operating just west of Yellowstone National Park killed seven radio-collared wolves from
October through December, including the famous, often photographed 832F, the majestic female
alpha of the Lamar Canyon pack. Photo Flickr/CC BY 2.0 Earth Island Journal

January 31, 2013

Fantasies of killing become increasingly bizarre

Lynne Stone, longtime wolf advocate and executive director of Northern Idaho’s Boulder White Cloud Council in Ketchum, couldn’t help but laugh. For the last two years she has routinely petitioned the Idaho Dept of Fish and Game for every single “ Big Game Mortality Report” filed on wolves killed by hunters —several hundred of them since the animals lost Endangered Species Act protect. Hunters and trappers are required to send in the report along with the skull and pelt for examination. In mid-January Stone ran across a November 2012 report that stated, “DNA came back as a domestic dog,” a light-skinned one.

“Buy a wolf tag, shoot a dog, claim it was a wolf, get bragging rights and a dog-skin rug,” she chuckled “Life is wonderful in 3rd world Idaho. Is anyone missing a light-colored mutt? Maybe it’s time folks put orange vests and hats on their dogs.”

Gallows humor is all wolf supporters have left. In February 2011, Congress removed gray wolves in the northern Rockies from protection by the Endangered Species Act, the first time a species has ever been delisted for political reasons. Before that, the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s reintroduction of wolves to the northern Rockies in the mid-1990s appeared to be one of the greatest conservation successes in decades. Wolves had been killed off in the West in the late nineteenth and early centuries. But while tourists from all over the country came to Yellowstone in hopes of seeing “Cinderella” or “Limpy” — many of the wolves became named — in the Rockies a reactionary political movement developed against the animals.

Click HERE To Read More

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Photo:  Courtesy Earth Island Journal ( Photo Flickr/CC BY 2.0)

Posted in: Wolf Wars

Tags: Earth Island Journal, James William Gibson, Lynne Stone, Friends of the Clearwater, Brett Haverstick,Wolf Wars, right-wing crazies, wolf delisting political, wolf slaughter, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park, O6 Female killed, Wolf delisting rider, Jon Tester D-MT