Attention Juneau Mudflatters!
Photo by Florian Schultz
OK, Juneau… Are you ready to rally?
Remember how much fun you had last fall standing in the rain with your fellow rational humans protesting the nomination of Sarah Palin to become our Vice President? The surest cure for frustration is to get out and do something, so here’s your chance to howl a bit and protest Alaska’s newly enacted extreme predator control practices. Things are changing fast, and we MUST take action.
The world’s eyes turned to Juneau, as Alaska’s capital last fall when people wanted to know how Alaskans were feeling about Sarah Palin. The extreme practices, and unqualified people who are being put on boards and commissions with a specific narrow agenda mean that all eyes will once again be on Juneau. Already there are organizations in the Lower 48 who are organizing boycotts for Alaska travel. We cannot afford that, and we can’t afford politicians who cannot understand this, or who simply do not care. Alaska is more than what you can kill and eat, or kill and hang on your wall. We need balance, and we do not have it.
So it’s up to you again Juneau-ites. What you do has an impact far beyond what happens anywhere else. Do us proud. Make signs, take pictures and stand up.
Alaska Wildlife Alliance is hosting an event and rally that looks like it’s going to be really amazing. Here are the details, and as always, photos and write-ups of the event are welcome from boots on the ground!
Managing Wildlife in Alaska:
Predators, Prey & Politics
THE EVENT: Hosted by Dr. Alex Simon, Professor of Sociology at UAS Friday, March 26, 7:00pm, Juneau Arts & Humanities Center
Talk and slide show by Nick Jans: Alaska’s Wolves: The Essence of Wilderness
Presentation by Greg Brown: Want to Run a Billion Dollar Business? Look at Wildlife!
Additional presentations by Vic Van Ballenberghe and John Toppenberg
Come early for book signings by Nick Jans, Vic Van Ballenberghe, Mary Willson, and Bob Armstrong, including the release of Bob’s new book Photographing Nature in Alaska, and a wildlife slide show by Jos Bakker.
Premiere event to view a Tongass Partners Documentary Trailer Alaska’s Tongass Rainforest. This film will immerse you in the cultural and ecological issues surrounding the Tongass.
Be a part of a living solution – Come see our presentation: Introduced via tape by the International Spokesperson – Jim Fowler … and meet Naturalist/Film Maker/Author Jim Valentine
Hollis French, state senator and Democratic candidate for Governor, will be making a special appearance at both the Event and the Rally
THE RALLY: Saturday, March 27, noon in front of the Capitol
Free hot dogs for the first 100 people!
Masks, costumes, and signs are encouraged!
Door prizes!
Singing with Juneau’s own Kit Petersen!
Blessing of the Animals by Reverend Kim Poole of Northern Light United Church
Speakers include Joel Bennett, Greg Brown, Andrea Doll, Alex Simon, John Toppenberg, Vic Van Ballenberghe, Rep. Beth Kerttula, and Sen. Hollis French
For more information: info@akwildlife.org or call Tina at 523-5402.
The Alaska Wildlife Alliance is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
www.akwildlife.org
The Alaska Wildlife Alliance Presents
how i wish i could be there…good luck !!
Way to go, Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Juneau!!!
Education is always an important piece of the puzzle. This sounds like smart “strategery” to me.
I’m still trying to wrap my mind around *how* the Game Board’s vote on the issue is valid. With the tie-breaking vote being cast by a ‘member’ who had *not* been confirmed by the Legislature, *how* can the vote stand?
Could someone, please, explain to me the mechanics of how his vote is all peachy-keen from a legal standpoint? Thanks. beth.
Go Juneau! We’ll all be here cheering you on. Hope there’s a great turnout! Sounds like a great event.
Thank you for posting this! I’ll pass it around.
Nice. Now if we could get Alaskans for Truth reactivated, that would be sweet.
Just wanted to say that I love the photo!
I’ll be at the rally in Juneau – yeah, Alaska Wildlife Alliance.
Mudflatters everywhere – please write or call Governor Parnell (907-465-3500
sean.parnell@alaska.gov) and Fish and Game Commissioner Denby Lloyd 907-465-6141 denby.lloyd@alaska.gov) to express your outrage over the demotion of professional wildlife biologist and politically moderate Wildlife Conservation Director Doug Larsen, who was replaced with Corey Rossi, an extreme predator control advocate who reportedly does not even have a post-high school degree of any sort.
You can read more in this article at the Alaska Wildlife Alliance website http://www.akwildlife.org/content/view/148/61/
Good on Hollis French. Two antlers up.
so very sorry to hear of that fatal wolf attack in Chignik Lake
The latest issue of National Geo addresses the wolf issue in Yellowstone. It is a fascinating read and I encourage everyone that does not subscribe to pick it up.
Beth…I was asking the same question after the vote. Turns out Barrette, the appointee to whom you refer, is an acting board member (until his approval by the Legislature) and thus has full voting powers. Barrette is rather…interesting. He manufactures a wolf trap here in Fairbanks and also has a fur tannery, so any decision he makes as a board member will likely be highly colored by his lines of business. This apparent conflict doesn’t seem to bother Parnell, who appointed him.
However, Barrette still has to go through the approval procedure which will take a little while and is a point of vulnerability. Contact your legislators and let them know you do not want yet another wolf-killer (Barrette is very proud of the fact he was issued the first aerial hunting permit) on the board.
As a member of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance board I have been following his “career” as an acting BOG member and hope to get the word out to enough concerned Alaskans to prevent his approval. It would be a grand message to send the “Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife” as well as the “Alaska Outdoor Council” that they don’t quite control all our wildlife management 100% as they wish to do.
…Art Greenwalt, Fairbanks
(And be sure to attend the rally! Our people there have put a lot of time and effort into making it something not only fun but very worthwhile!!)
re @ 10 – here’s a link to the “Wolf Wars” text and photos of the 8-page spread in the March issue of National Geographic Magazine: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/wolf-wars/chadwick-text
Golly, (as my brother would say) I love that magazine! Every month, new places to explore, new things to learn, new things to see… beth.
My favorite part of this was the “Blessing of the Animals.”
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We got the latest issue of National Geographic too — with the Wolf story. I agree, it’s excellent — highly recommended. Really makes one think.
Same issue also has a great story on the Nasca Lines of Peru — and you might be surprised to hear what it has to say. (No, sorry folks, no aliens …..)
My mother-in-law always gives us a subscription to Natl Geo for Christmas. Great gift.
Oh, almost forgot –
Nick Jans is an incredible outdoors writer!
Art Greenwalt @ 12 says: [snip] “Turns out Barrette, the appointee to whom you refer, is an acting board member (until his approval by the Legislature) and thus has full voting powers.” [/snip]
Sooooooooo, by the ‘logic’ of the AK Constitution [or whatever] the Gov can –and does!– *appoint* anyone to any board, authority, and/or position and that person has *complete* powers as a *full-fledged member* before they are confirmed by the Legislature?
IOW, the Gov can appoint someone to specifically vote one way or another, knowing full well that that person will *not* be [later] confirmed by the Legislature, and that is still totally legal?
And the Gov can keep appointing folks for *votes* [made by the board, authority, whatever, on which they sit as an *unconfirmed* but full-fledged VOTING member] and then, when *that person* is NOT confirmed, appointing another person for another *vote*, ad infinitum, *until* the Legislature *does* confirm an *appointee*? Doesn’t sound quite kosher to me…
[But I bet POTUS wishes he had the same 'power' to *appoint* people to positions/departments/bureaus, etc. and have *them* act *as if* they had FULL authority to carry on every aspect of the *appointed-to* business, *W/O* confirmation...]
How in the world do the folks in AK put up with this ginormous loophole in the law re: “appointed” personnel given such power(s) *before* their [legal/mandated] confirmation? Does no one see the inherent flaw in it? beth.
Art,
Glad to see AWA heading up a coordinated effort on the Barette confirmation.
Keep us all posted. We have a thread going in the forum if you want to contribute to that.