/* Written 9:20 AM Mar 12, 1995 by dyurman in igc:western.lands */
/* ---------- "Guns & Wolves in Idaho Forests" ---------- */
TOPIC: Wolves & Guns in Idaho Forests
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USFWS Plays a Heavy Hand in Wolf Recovery
Armed Agents Serve Search Warrant
Six Idaho Forests Reprieved, Again, for Now
Federal District Court Judge Again Lifts His Injunction
Idaho to Feds - Back Off
Hundreds of Wise Use Advocates Gather in Protest
Confrontation v. Reconciliation
Custer and Lemhi County Split Over Control of Federal Lands
WHAT BIG TEETH YOU HAVE GRANDMA?
Dateline Challis, ID (3/8/95) -- This week Challis, ID, rancher Gene
Hussey, age 74, got another shock to his system over the death of a wolf
on his land. Three armed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agents (USFWS) served a
search warrant on Hussey seeking the bullet that killed the wolf which
had earlier been reintroduced to Idaho's Frank Church Wilderness Area.
The action by the USFWS produced a storm of protest. Lemhi County
Sheriff Brett Barsalou told the news media, "sending three armed agents
to serve a warrant on a 74-year old man is inappropriate, heavy handed,
and dangerously close to excessive force." On Friday Sheriff Barsalou
and rancher Hussey were treated as heroes before a cheering crowd of 300
organized by People of the West and other wise use groups who flocked to
Challis, ID, after the Wednesday incident with the USFWS.
TERMINATOR TO FORESTS - I'LL BE BACK
In a separate development, Federal District Court Judge Ezra lifted a
pending injunction which would have closed six national forests in Idaho
stopping all ranching, logging, and mining activities. This is the
second time the injunction has been lifted pending the outcome of a
review of U.S. Forest Serve management plans over habitat protection for
endangered salmon. The action defused a potentially dangerous situation
in the Challis area. Earlier this week citizens militia members had
attempted to organize armed opposition to the injunction.
A spokesman for the Wilderness Society, which brought the original suit
that resulted in the injunction, said that if further consultations with
the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Forest Service over
endangered salmon do not go well it might provoke future litigation.
WISE USE TO FEDS - WE'RE NOT WACKY, ER, WACO
Hundreds of people gathered in Challis and in nearby Salmon, Idaho, this
week to protest the actions by environmental groups and the actions of
the USFWS. The Idaho Falls Post Register reports that Idaho State
Representative Lenore Barrett, of Challis, told a crowd of more than 200
people in Challis, and 300 in Salmon, "We are not Waco. We are not Ruby
Ridge. We are exercising our constitutional rights.' She told the
crowd the feds must "back off."
In Washington, DC, reaction to the protests reached the Idaho
Congressional Delegation. Responding to criticisms of the USFWS by
Idaho Congressman Mike Crapo, USFWS Director Mollie Beattie said she
would not have approved the search if asked and would not let it happen
again. A USFWS spokesman said the search was called for because the
results of the autopsy of the wolf indicated that the dead wolf did not
kill the calf it was found next to.
DON'T EVEN THINK OF PARKING HERE
Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department is taking legal action against
Nye County, NV, which claims the state, and not the Federal government,
own national forests. Nye County Commissioner Dick Carver spoke to a
crowd of 600 people last week in Challis, ID, urging similar resolutions
asserting control over Federal lands.
While Carver's confrontational politics were well received in Custer
County, ID, they were not accepted in nearby Lemhi County. In Salmon,
ID, Dennis Hawley, Lemhi County Commissioner, told the Idaho Falls Post
Register that his commission held a meeting with Justice Department
Attorney Margo Miller to remove Lemhi County from the list of entities
challenging federal government ownership of public land. "We don't even
want to get involved in that at this time," Hawley said.
Western Lands Gopher Service
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Host=gopher.igc.apc.org
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