Hunters, conservation groups in bitter fight

RENO -- Nevada's wildlife and how it will be managed are at a crossroad, according to hunters and conservation groups battling over who should oversee the state's bighorn sheep, mule deer and other creatures.

On one side are those who believe the state's priorities have been misdirected and should place more focus on maintaining big game herds to be hunted. They want changes on the state Wildlife Commission.

They are opposed by other sportsmen and conservation groups who believe the commission should continue to take a wider view, that preserving habitat benefits all species, from mule deer to sage grouse.

The opposing factions are in a political fight over whether Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons should replace or reappoint two wildlife commissioners, Jack Robb and Jim Jeffress, selected by Gibbons' predecessor, Kenny Guinn.

Those in favor of the status quo fear Gibbons will replace the men with members of Hunter's Alert or the Nevada Hunters Association, who they criticize as fringe groups of "hateful" and "disgruntled" hunters.

The Coalition for Nevada's Wildlife is gathering signatures on a petition and urging hunters to send letters and e-mails to the first-term governor, asking him to reappoint Robb and Jeffress.

At issue, organizers say, is the philosophical direction the commission will take toward wildlife conservation and management.

"Whether it's bighorn sheep, sage grouse, pygmy rabbit, we're there for all of it," said Dr. Jim Nelson, a veterinarian and president of Nevada Bighorns Unlimited, which has a representative on the coalition board.

Larry Johnson, president of the coalition, said the group has a track record of working in partnerships with state agencies and federal land management agencies "to obtain our goals, which is the protection and enhancement of our wildlife resources."

Nelson said petition organizers have asked to meet with Gibbons but were told he wasn't available because of the state's budget crisis and other issues.

"We have a huge following in the state of Nevada," Nelson said. "For political purposes, I'd think he'd want to at least hear from us."

Gerry Lent, president of Nevada Hunters Association in Reno, questioned the motive and appropriateness of the petition drive. He called organizers "an elite group of hunters" who work closely with the state Wildlife Department and raise money for it at high-profile events.

"They want to put their own people in," Lent said. "If that pays your way to get someone on the Wildlife Commission, that's wrong. How do you tell a governor what to do? I think it's wrong to put pressure on him."

Hunter's Alert, which endorsed Gibbons' 2006 election bid and claims to have about 1,000 members, has derided money spent on "tweety birds" and "guppies," and portrayed Nevada Department of Wildlife biologists and administrators as clueless bureaucrats.

Cecil Fredi, president of Hunter's Alert in Las Vegas, did not return telephone or e-mail messages, but on the group's Web site, he lambastes environmental groups as "antis" and criticizes the use of taxes raised on sales of hunting and fishing equipment for conservation projects instead of sportsmen.

"For the past few years, the favorite greenie buzzword has been biodiversity," Fredi wrote. "In layman's terms, it means spending sportsmen's money on tweety birds, lizards, guppies and hundreds of other nongame creatures."

His group is worried about the decline of mule deer herds, and blames predators, mountain lions in particular, and inept management.

Wildlife biologists have blamed mule deer declines on several problems, including human encroachment, habitat changes, predators, wildfires and climatic swings such as drought that leave the animals too weak to face harsh winters.

"When are the people in charge going to wake up? The answer is 'never' until former Gov. Kenny Guinn's appointments to the Wildlife Commission have expired," Hunter's Alert's Web posting said.

"The current wildlife commissioners don't have the knowledge and NDOW doesn't care," the unsigned article said. Commissioners and agency employees, it said, "don't want their minds corrupted with facts."

"This will change once Gov. Jim Gibbons has selected his appointments to the wildlife commission," the article said.

Robb, a former board member of Nevada Bighorns, and Jeffress, a biologist with the Wildlife Department for 31 years before he retired, said they've sent letters to the governor expressing their desire to retain their posts.

Jeffress is regarded by many as the finest wildlife biologist to come out of Nevada, Johnson said. "To remove this man from the commission, quite frankly, is a crime."

Johnson and Nelson make no apologies for their fundraising efforts or close links to the Wildlife Department.

"We have raised and donated millions and millions of dollars to Nevada's wildlife and habitat," Johnson said. "We have donated many tens of thousands of volunteer man hours."

Over the years, Nevada Bighorns has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in money, equipment and volunteer hours to the agency and for projects to benefit wildlife, including replanting after wildfires, installing remote water guzzlers for birds and animals and buying helicopters and other heavy equipment.

The Wildlife Department uses volunteer time, calculated at $38 per hour, as matching portions for federal grants. Since 2001, the agency estimates Nevada Bighorn volunteers have contributed nearly 23,000 hours, the equivalent of $874,000.

"And we want to have a say in this matter," Nelson said. "We think we've earned that."

The upcoming appointments underscore wildlife conservationists' unease with a new governor who for 10 years in Congress was among a block of conservative Western Republicans who routinely painted environmentalists as the enemy and made an annual priority of overhauling the Endangered Species Act. The National Environmental Trust and Nevada Conservation League nicknamed Gibbons' congressional voting record as "Crimes Against Nature."

Johnson said he fears a shift in priorities that could come with new commission members will jeopardize years of conservation work.

"We've put so much time and effort and so many millions of dollars into all of this," Johnson said. "The resource still needs us badly. It's hard to see all of this go for naught.

"That's our point with this petition. The governor needs to be aware."

Gibbons' spokesman Ben Kieckhefer said the petitions haven't been delivered to the governor but that his office has received letters and e-mails about the appointments.

"No decisions have been made, and no one has been offered a position on the board," Kieckhefer said.

"These appointments don't come up until June. There's still a lot of time to make this decision."