Several groups vent anger against wildlife panel chief

CARSON CITY -- Wildlife conservation and advisory board groups are crying foul over Nevada Wildlife Commission Chairman Gerald Lent and a move they contend is geared to stifle public comment before the board elects new officers today.

An agenda posted July 30 for the Friday-Saturday meeting in Elko listed election of officers as the last item of business after a public comment period and remarks by county wildlife advisory boards.

An amended agenda since posted on the Nevada Department of Wildlife's Web site puts election of officers as the first order of business.

Lent did not respond to telephone or e-mail messages seeking comment.

Several groups have filed with the nine-member board letters that criticized Lent's conduct as chairman and urged the board to elect someone new.

"We, as a game board who represents the sportsmen and sportswomen of the state of Nevada, discussed the Wildlife Commission and the input we have received about them over the last year," wrote Jim Jenne, chairman of the Lyon County Advisory Board. "We were in agreement that their chairman has created more hate and discontent ... than we have ever seen."

At the June meeting in Lovelock, Lent criticized the conservation group Nevada Bighorns Unlimited and urged a commission committee not to award any special big game hunting tags to its members or any other groups that auction the tags off to raise money for wildlife projects.

"As the largest volunteer sportsman's organization in Nevada we have raised millions of dollars and logged tens of thousands volunteer hours in support of Nevada's wildlife and we feel we have a right to be heard and treated with respect," Michael J. Bertoldi, president of NBU, said in an Aug. 6 letter to the commission.

"Chairman Lent is certainly entitled to his opinion, but we feel that his apparent lack of objectivity and inability to depersonalize disagreement is a huge drawback in leading a state commission," he wrote.

Coalition for Nevada's Wildlife Inc. expressed similar sentiments and urged other commission members to "restore cohesive leadership" that will work with agency staff, county boards, conservation groups and the public.

Critics also took exception to what they called Lent's "open hostility" and "lack of respect" and professionalism toward Wildlife Department Director Ken Mayer and agency staff, according to other letters from county wildlife advisory boards.

"I have attended the last two wildlife commission meetings ... and have been appalled and embarrassed by the actions of chairman Lent," wrote Paul Dixon, Clark County's advisory panel chairman.