Wildlife manager or exterminator?

Alaskan wildlife biologists are questioning the new head of the linkurl:Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation at the Department of Fish and Game;http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/ (ADFG) -- both his qualifications (or lack thereof) and his pro-hunter management strategies. A group of nearly 40 retired state biologists wrote a linkurl:letter;http://media.newsminer.com/docs/2010/rossiletter.pdf last month to linkurl:Denby Lloyd,;http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/commissioner/commissioner.php commissioner of ADFG, asking for a reconsideration of the recent appointment of Corey Rossi as the new department head. The letter argues that Rossi is a single issue advocate for hunting, and lacks basic qualifications to be an entry-level scientist with the department, and that the appointment "marks a departure from a science-based approach" to wildlife management.

Image: Wikimedia commons,
Carl Chapman

"Wildlife is a public trust resource belonging to all Alaskans and, as such, there are additional management and conservation needs along with hunting," John Schoen, primary author of the letter to Lloyd, said in an email to The Scientist. ADFG's Lloyd has defended the decision to hire Rossi, a long-time family friend of former Governor Sarah Palin. Specifically, some worry that Rossi is putting too much focus on "abundance management," or predation control -- strategies that call for eliminating predatory species, such as bears and wolves, to inflate the numbers of hunted species, such as moose and caribou. "While there is a place in an integrated scientific wildlife management approach for focused and short-term predation control, it should not be given the primary emphasis that Mr. Rossi envisions," Harry Reynolds, wildlife research biologist and an author of the letter against Rossi's appointment, said in an email. Rossi has been active in a program to reduce the black bear population within a region of the Alaskan management division. The reduction would reduce the population from a "science-based estimate of 2,200 to no more than 800," said Reynolds. Rossi supported the use of helicopters by the public for hunting, in addition to legalizing the snaring of bears. In addition to disagreeing with his management approach, many have taken issue with Rossi's apparent lack of higher education. While Rossi has the required 30 college credit hours for a federal technician position, he lacks a university degree. "Higher level professional positions" -- including Rossi's appointment -- "require additional education such as a master's or PhD and/or experience in a professional level position," said Ken Whitten, a retired research coordinator with the ADFG. Prior to accepting his new position, Rossi spent 10 years with the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, where his was primarily involved in "animal damage control," said Reynolds, which involved removing nuisance wildlife. Basically, he was "acting as a government exterminator" -- a position that earned him the nickname of "gopher choker," said linkurl:Nick Jans,;http://www.nickjans.com/ an Alaskan hunter in opposition to Rossi's appointment. But Lloyd stands by his decision to appoint Rossi, saying in a linkurl:written response;http://media.newsminer.com/docs/2010/denbylloydresponse.pdf to Schoen (provided to The Scientist by ADFG) that he is confident in Rossi's knowledge of Alaskan wildlife issues. While Lloyd admitted that Rossi's limited education caused him to "pause," he wrote, and that Rossi has earned his "trust and respect" over the past year since Rossi first joined the department as assistant commissioner for abundance management -- a position reportedly created by the Sarah Palin administration specifically for Rossi. (According to an linkurl:op-ed by Mark Richards;http://www.adn.com/2010/03/24/1197979/wildlife-conservation-director.html in the Anchorage Daily News, Rossi even lists Palin's parents, Chuck and Sally Heath as the first reference on his resume.) Rossi is also supported by linkurl:Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife;http://www.sfwsfh.org/ (SFW), a non-profit wildlife conservation organization for which Rossi has served as a board member that supports "abundance strategies" to manage wildlife populations traditionally hunted by humans. "With Director Rossi at the wheel, we at SFW look forward to some real positive changes with the department that are long overdue," Dane Crawley, executive director of SFW, said in a press release regarding Rossi's appointment. The SFW had not backed Doug Larsen -- Rossi's predecessor as head of the conservation division of ADFW, even creating an e-mail campaign for his removal, Jans said. Larsen had been asked by Lloyd to leave the position in March, but the reasons for his demotion remain unclear. Since the letter opposing Rossi's appointment was made public, additional retired biologists have added their names to the list, and the retirees have "received messages from current staff members that there is widespread dissatisfaction within the Division over Rossi's appointment," said Whitten. But the biologists currently within the division "are afraid to speak out [publically]," Jans said. "When scientists are afraid to speak, there is something terribly wrong." The ADFG declined to comment outside of Lloyd's response letter. Palin, Larsen, and the SFW have not returned request for comment at this time.
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