Trapped by greed: George Meyer, Secretary of the Wisconsin DNR, has been working to change USFWS regulations to avoid prosecution for baiting fields. State departments of natural resources throughout the country cut forests and plant fields of crops for the explicit purpose of baiting wildlife for the benefit of a special interest group, hunters. These "state game farms" provide Canada Geese and ducks for hunting, and the revenues accrue through hunting licenses to the DNR and to private individuals who allow hunters to trespass on their private property for $50-$200 per day.

This has recently become an issue in Wisconsin because the Wisconsin DNR Urban Waterfowl Task Force has recently recommended the slaughter of "urban waterfowl".

Press releases by Project:Gideon have blanketed the mid west to alert the public that George and colleagues are concerned about being hauled off to the hoosgow unless federal regulations are changed.

Please let George and the feds know how you feel. Should the public demand that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act be enforced, some people can put their nickels in a legal defense fund for George. A CC for the Coalition coordinator is provided below. That way, if the bureaucrats hit the trash button there will be a surviving copy of your letter for the public records. Some points to consider: adherence to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, prosecute violators of baited fields, don't legalize baiting, don't support the DNR slaughter of waterfowl specifically propagated by the DNR.

TO:

john_rogers@fws.gov
steve_wilds@mail.fws.gov
bruce_babbitt@ios.doi.gov
bmanning@dnrmail.state.il.us
burgoyng@wildlife.dnr.state.mi.us
meyerg@dnr.state.wi.us
Russell_Feingold@Feingold.Senate.Gov
info@dnr.state.mn.us
Senator_kohl@kohl.senate.gov
president@whitehouse.gov
vicepresident@whitehouse.gov

CC each message to the Coalition Coordinator: fan46@execpc.com

Letter from the Coalition's National Coordinator

John Rogers
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1849 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Mr. Rogers:

Recently the Wisconsin DNR Urban Waterfowl Task Force has recommended the slaughter of Canada Geese in their communities because SOME PEOPLE THINK there are too many.

Now recently we have been made aware of the proposal of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies to not consider their baiting of Canada Geese and other wildlife as violations of law http://dnr. state.il.us/baiting/default.htm and http://dnr.state.il.us/baiting/final.htm. Although I am not aware of any recent prosecutions of George Meyer, Secretary of the WI DNR and Vice Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Baiting, or Brent Manning, Secretary of the Illinois DNR and Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Baiting they are now in fear of perpetual prosecution because of their extensive baited fields in their respective states.

I note that Roger Holmes Minnesota DNR is the Chair-Executive of this baiting body. Under Holmes leadership, University of Minnesota Master Goose Killer James Cooper just last year rounded up and killed 1,847 Canada Geese because there were "too many!"

Just the composition of this body makes me suspicious that there is something unpalatable about these recommendations.

The present regulations exempt bona fide agricultural fields from consideration as baited fields. However, Meyer, Manning and Holmes want us to change "bona fide" to "accepted" agricultural fields (that is, "accepted" by the DNR and US Fish and Wildlife Service) in order to continue growing geese.

The Coalition to Protect Canada Geese has maintained that if there are too many geese, the DNRs should stop growing them.

We request an Environmental Impact Statement on this action and full public disclosures. Citizens who suffer from the slaughter of their geese want a full and public confession that in fact the DNR is the source of the very problem the DNR seeks to correct.

Under 5 USC 552, the Freedom of Information Act, I request a copy of the report and all supporting documents, including the names of all task force members and any information about them from the public record.

Sincerely,

Ann Frisch, Ph.D.

cc:
Steve Wilds, Region 3 USFWS
Hon. Bruce Babbitt, US Secretary of the Interior
Brent Manning, Director IL DNR
George Burgoyne, Wildlife Division, Michigan DNR
George Meyer, Secretary, WI DNR
Senator Herb Kohl
Senator Russell Feingold
President Bill Clinton
Vice President Al Gore

Back to Action Alerts Index

CALLS, FAXES, AND E-MAILS URGENTLY NEEDED:

On April 1, the Wisconsin DNR (Department of Natural Resources) task force on Canada geese failed to get the necessary votes to approve the killing of Canada geese in Wisconsin. Not surprisingly, they are bringing up the "goose kill" issue again. The vote will be on Tuesday evening, May 13th.

If you haven't called the mayors of two cities yet regarding this latest effort, please do so.

1. The City of Lake Mills, potential site of next summer's Wisconsin Canada Goose killings, has a representative on the DNR Urban Waterfowl Task Force. Please call Lake Mills Mayor and ask that the city vote be to "NOT KILL THE CANADA GEESE".

Mayor Vernon Johnson:
TEL: (414) 648 2344
FAX: (414) 648 2347

2. Mayor Norquist "request your representative please continue to abstain or vote NO KILL" on the DNR Urban Waterfowl Taskforce.