Archives: Editorial
Park City Couple Faces Criminal Charges
Early this fall, a Park City couple was caught steeling 2 tree stands and a trail camera that were placed in the Wasatch Mountains by a hunter. The hunting equipment was valued at more than $1,500.
Their actions have the couple facing felony charge, which are aggravated by the fact that the woman is the Park City Assistant City Attorney, Polly Samuels McLean, and the man is a well-known local skier named Andrew McLean. Both were arrested shortly after the event and face felony theft charges as well as misdemeanor charges for criminal mischief.
SFW is a strong advocate for hunter rights and multiple use on public lands.
“We believe the actions of this couple in taking hunters’ personal property is behavior unbecoming representatives of Park City and Utah’s ski industry and should bot be tolerated,” said Troy Justensen, President of SFW. “Such prominent community figures as this couple ought to be held to a higher standard. We hope an example can be made of them in this case.”
Both tree stands and the trail camera have been recovered.
SFW Opposes President Obama’s Bears Ears Monument Designation
Fellow SFW Members,
Over the last 30 years, we sportsmen have worked hard alongside the Utah Division of Wildlife to restore populations of elk, desert bighorn sheep, mule deer, wild turkey, black bear, cougar and other species in the region now encompassed by the newly designated Bears Ears Monument. These game species are now thriving and provide some of the highest quality hunting opportunities found in all of North America.
The creation of this monument was dictated by lame duck President Obama as he vacationed in Hawaii and is a prime example of why the majority of the people in 3,081 counties across America voted for Donald Trump while only a mere 300 counties voted for Hillary Clinton. Listen to the voice of the local people who love, make a living from and care so personally for the lands and natural resources in our own back yard – far more so than any outsider groups funded in LA or New York. And for the few who might still wonder why Donald Trump, Jr. was asked to speak at the 2016 Western Hunting and Conservation Expo – need more be said?
SFW recognizes the designation of the Bears Ears Monument as a serious threat to Utahns’ and the native people of the region’s way of life and ability to live and pursue traditions that have been enjoyed by their ancestors for centuries.
SFW and its Founder Don Peay will work with Utah Governor Herbert, the entire Utah delegation, the Trump Administration, Big Game Forever and other sportsmen networks across America to do all that is possible to reverse and/or limit the effects of the Bears Ears Monument, including:
- Reverse the designation and maintain the lands as “multiple use”
- Dramatically reduce the acreage in official monument designations
- Ensure that wildlife habitat restoration, state wildlife management of all species, including transplants and predator control, and hunting and fishing and trapping are protected as part of this unique place thus protecting sportsmen dollars that have been the catalyst for restoring the region to its current magnificent condition.
We will work until we achieve the best possible for sportsmen and all Utahns! Stay tuned for updates in early 2017.
Official Statement on the Proposed Bears Ears Monument in Southeastern Utah
Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife (SFW) strongly opposes the proposed creation of the 1.9 million-acre Bears Ears Monument in southeastern Utah. We recognize the proposed monument as a serious threat to Utahns’ and the native people of the region’s way of life and ability to live and pursue traditions that have been enjoyed by their ancestors for centuries.
SFW fears that this monument would take control and management of the land from locals and natives, who use it everyday and rely on it for their livelihood, and turn it over to the federal government thereby prohibiting the gathering of food, hunting, wood cutting and other important activities.
SFW feels that such an expansive designation would have negative affects on the wildlife and habitat that is critical to big game survival in the region. The creation of a national monument would severely threaten the expansion of wildlife and rehabilitation of healthy habitat that sportsmen and the state of Utah have invested millions of dollars building in recent decades.
SFW agrees with the beliefs of many members of the Hopi, Navaho and Ute Indian Tribes of San Juan County, who live adjacent to the Bears Ears, that a monument designation would put the Bears Ears at greater risk than ever before and that designating a monument under the Antiquities Act as a means of protecting archaeological and sacred sites of southeastern Utah is wrong.
SFW’s opposition to the proposed Bears Ears Monument is shared by the vast majority of Utah residents, according to a recent Dan Jones & Associates poll conducted for UtahPolicy.com, which found that only 17 percent of Utahns are in favor of President Obama creating the monument.
SFW calls on U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewel and President Barack Obama to take these points into serious consideration. We are hopeful that President Obama will show restraint and forego taking Executive Action to create another monument in the region.
Sign the online petition to let the White House know you are also opposed to a new monument.
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Words on Wildlife – May 2016
Commentary
One of SFW’s most defining characteristics – an aspect that so clearly sets SFW apart from all other wildlife conservation organizations – is that SFW’s mission works to benefit not just a single species but multiple big game species across our Utah landscapes. Many of the projects SFW has funded and provided volunteers for in recent years are showing significant, measurable and important results for deer, elk, moose, bighorns, mountain goats, bison and other species.
Habitat improvement is one of SFW’s primary areas of focus and investment. Each year as much as $1.2 million in SFW conservation funds are spent on projects across the state of Utah. Everything from reseeding burned habitat and removing pinion-juniper to chaining of unproductive lands and planting sagebrush seedlings is on the list. Conservation funding isn’t the only thing SFW puts on the ground. SFW members also show up with gloves, shovels, machinery and other materials volunteering time and resources to make a difference for big game.
Predator control of coyotes and cougars in the state spearheaded by SFW is yielding impressive results, specifically for Mule deer and Bighorn sheep. Mule deer fawn survival is booming on many units where coyote control efforts have been unleashed over the past five years. Wild sheep transplants are successful only when cougars are managed to levels that allow wild sheep to flourish in new areas.
SFW’s Pheasant Program, which is now in its fourth year, is helping address a 25-year downward trend in Utah’s declining pheasant populations. SFW has secured ongoing funding for raising and releasing tens of thousands of pheasants for public hunters on WMA and Walk-In-Access properties in the several regions of the state. Not only are new young hunters now enjoying the opportunity to see and shoot pheasants again, Utah’s wild bird populations are being augmented thanks to our members’ efforts and SFW’s financial support.
One of the most high profile of SFW’s projects has been the ground-breaking and now proven successful deer transplants conducted first on the Parowan Front in southern Utah and currently in northern Utah’s Wasatch Front residential communities. Interest in capturing and transplanting overpopulating mule deer started among SFW’s Beaver and Iron county chapter leadership nearly 10 years ago. Despite negativity and resistance among many, we proudly stamp our mark on this uniquely SFW project that is now being duplicated in a few neighboring states.The Utah Moose Health and Reproduction Study conducted by USU Graduate Student Joel Ruprecht is yet another of the diverse projects SFW is solidly behind. The study has been ongoing for the past four years and is funded and supported by SFW and its membership. This project has been the key in determining causes for recent declines in the North Slope Uintas and Wasatch Mountains moose populations. SFW has made a difference by ensuring the best science and biology is being applied in efforts to correct the decline.
Utah’s exploding Bighorn sheep populations would not be what they are today without SFW and our partner organization Utah Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (UFNAWS). Major investments in capture/transplants, paying for Bighorn sheep research and habitat studies, building water catchments as well as purchasing wild sheep from other western states, all with SFW conservation funds, has been the critical component to Utah’s status as the state with the most aggressive and successful wild sheep program in west.
As we look back on 2015 as the best deer hunt in recent memory, and with additional mountain goat and wild sheep populations established, as well as the hundreds of thousands of acres of improved and restored habitat in Utah, we do so knowing the significant role SFW and its members have played in these successes. It has taken more than a decade of investment, sacrifice and leadership to produce results that Utah and those who hunt hear enjoy. Now let’s keep up the fight and continue building a bright future for hunters and our wildlife.
