Environmentalist

=Stakeholder: Environmentalist=

= = = = 11/17/08 By Noel Position: What is human nature? Is it eliminating another animal to help you create a better living? Or could it be attempting to save an animal so it can continue making the earth sustainable. As an environmentalist I feel that human nature is simply saving an animal so it can keep serving the world to make it a better place. It is not trying to eliminate one so others can benefit from its nonexistence. Rationale: Today people have been taking the wolf population for granted. They think that their population is larger than it really is. The people of Alaska consider wolf hunting a sport, and by killing the wolves hunters are destroying their rights to live. Wolves are related to the dog, they are the closest relative to the wolf. Think of it like this, would you kill man’s best friend’s cousin? I sure wouldn’t. So, if you wouldn’t kill a dog why kill a wolf? Ranchers believe that wolves are nothing but a money sucking machine. This is true. Wolves have been eating the livestock the wolves see them as “easy food.” Each cow, pig, chicken, etc. is worth money. When wolves eat them, the ranchers lose money. They get upset and shoot the wolves and receive money for killing them. Although when ranchers buy a cattle farm, they must understand that wolves must follow their natural instincts they need to eat and in a time of need they have to find some “easy” food. On the upside of wolves, they help us breathe our oxygen. They do this by killing the elk that then can not eat the trees. The trees continue to live and give us more oxygen. Wolves also benefit the world by keeping the elk population down and all of the small critters down. They appreciate to live, (I'm pretty sure that everyone does) and if we kill them we are taking that away from them. Wolves only attack when they feel threatened or enclosed by humans. In other words, never get too close to a wolf because they are just as frightened of you as you are of them. The only difference is that wolves show their fear by attacking. (They usually attack humans because they know that they are stronger.) Wolves are just as important in the world as you are. You do not have any more value than they do. You can help save the wolves. If you get one person to change their perspectives of wolves from bad to good, you’re making a difference. Wolves have very good qualities of the human. They stick together as a family, and occasionally get in family fights. They also find that “special someone” like humans do. They also need their “parent’s approval” to start “seeing” them. Wolves have different personalities like us. They have physical differences as well. They have great similarities and differences compared to humans. I think that we should learn from them. They have wonderful family qualities; they always stick together as a family. We can still save the wolves, but America is at the bottom of the food chain with our population of wolves. Many other counties have a greater amount of wolves than we do. We need to stop killing wolves and leave them be. So, we still have time to save the wolves. As an environmentalist, I think that if we give the wolves a little push into the wilderness that they will be able to fight for themselves and become repopulated. Think of it like this: if you teach a baby to walk, he or she will probably never forget, I find the same ratio for the wolves. Allies and Compromises: Many other stakeholders agree with me: the animal rights activist, the recreationalist, and the defenders of the wildlife. Although, some people disagree with me: the ranchers and cattle herders. I feel that I need to make a compromise with them. My compromise would be that if a wolf kills their cattle numerous times that they will need to call someone that professionally removes wolves. They’ll then take the wolf to a different location. Animals have as much right to live as humans do. It is wrong for humans to kill animals for their own purposes and to replace their habitats with shopping malls, subdivisions, and roads. This is what the animal rights activist thinks about wolves. Federal officials have launched a final attempt to ram through a plan that could lead to the slaughter of as many as two-thirds of the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Rockies wolf population. This is what could happen if we don’t act now we need wolves, and we still have time. Act now or you’ll regret it in the future. This is said by the defenders of wildlife. Recreationalists believe that wolves are fascinating to look at and inspire the tourists to continue to come back to the national park .All of these people have done something to contribute to the wolf cause, but it’s our turn now. You can be a hero and save the wolves. Ideal Mediation Outcome: I hope that at the end of the mediation that everyone is pleased with the agreement. I also hope that the wolves are protected and get their right to live given back to them! The truth will be spoken by Dalai Lama when he stated “Because we all share this planet earth, we must learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and nature. This is not just a dream but a necessity.” I feel that we should all live by this quote. Every time I read it I get a feeling in my stomach that we can make a difference in the world and save the wolves. resorces: [|www.protectwolves.com] [|www.wolf.com] http://www.petitionsite.com/13/save-the-wolves = = An Environmentalist Stakeholder Analysis By Victoria, 11/7/08

Position What do you believe? Why do you care? Why does it really matter? Those are all questions that I want to answer for I am an Environmentalist. Environmentalists care for the entire environment and what is best for it, so we want wolves because we feel that wolves are very important to the sustainability of the environment. They also are just amazing creatures that have as much of a right to live as we do. Rationale and Evidence Wolves are one of the main reasons people come to Rocky Mountain National Park, so they help support conservation efforts and the sustainability that the National Parks contribute to. Recreationalists really enjoy seeing these natural wonders in all of their beauty. If you enjoy taking a hike or kayaking down the river and seeing that furry streak run by or see the little cubs see light for the first time then you should help support keeping wolves in Rocky Mountain National Park and throughout the world. Wolves appreciate their right to live and if we kill them we are taking that away from them. Every living creature has a right to live and our friends in animal rights activists agree with us. If we take away the law that protects wolves from being hunted for trophy (the Endangered Species Act), then the wolf population will drop down to a very dangerous level. Hunters, ranchers, and others who feel that wolves are just a nuisance and that we should not have reintroduced them into Yellowstone are just not used to how things are supposed to be in Mother Nature’s eye. People all over the world have already taken action to protect wolves and now it’s our turn. To prove my point I am going to give you some numbers about the amount of wolves in different places all over the world to show you that it’s not to late.

Russia-30,000-40,000 Iran-1,000 Canada-60,000 India-1,300-1,600 Alaska-6,000-8,000 Ukraine-2,000-3,000 Spain-2,000 Kazakhstan-9,000 China-6,000 Mongolia-30,000

You may have noticed that the United States is not on this list and that is for a reason. The reason that I did not add this onto that list is because I wanted you to compare all of those countries population of wolves to the United States population of wolves which is 2,700 (in the lower 48 states). All of the countries above have more than the United States except for Iran, but that country is half the size of Texas and we have much more environmentally safe land in our country. So you see the United States has a lot of work to do, but if we keep the wolves safe and help them to grow in population then we can be like a many other countries already are, a safe home for wolves. In many ways wolves are the same as humans. For example, there are many kinds of wolves and many kinds of people. Wolves stick together and so do we. Wolves work together to accomplish goals. Wolves like to make themselves known to other wolves and they do it by howling. We like to make ourselves known to each other but we have our own ways of making ourselves known. Wolves fight within family but they will always forgive each other. They compete to get what they want. They also will always have someone to lead them and I am trying to lead you to help yourself and help the wolves. Allies The following stakeholders are some possible allies for an environmentalist: Defenders of Wildlife, Estes Park resident, national park representative, and animal rights activists. One of the animal rights activist’s main websites was Mark Benjamin’s website and he said, “Wildlife activists thought they had seen the worst in 2003 when Frank Murkowski, then the Republican governor of Alaska, signed a bill ramping up state programs to gun down wild wolves from airplanes, inviting average citizens to participate. Wolves, Murkowski believed, were clearly better than humans at killing elk and moose, and humans needed to even the playing field.” Animal rights activists believe that this should be stopped and that animals have rights! Compromise Even though I feel wolves should always be protected and kept safe from guns I know I have to make a compromise with some people and those people include the ranchers and hunting guides. My compromise would be that if a wolf repeatedly attacks your cattle (two or more times) then they will have to contact an official. Then the official will relocate the wolf to a place where he will not kill anyone else’s cattle. I would also like to make a compromise with the hunting guides and that is So, I think this is a compromise that will suit everyone and I believe that we can all live with this and get on with our lives and so can the wolves. My Ideal Wolf Management Plan I feel that if a rancher should not be able to shoot a wolf if they come on their land. Wolves have as much a right to live as we do and shooting them just for trying to feed their pups and themselves is horrible in every way. So if everyone just followed my arrangement then there would be no incidents and the wolves would be safe from those horrible weapons we call guns. What the wolf plan will look like after the mediation After this mediation, I am hoping that everyone will be happy with the outcome. I think that we will all state our opinions and what we would like to see come out of the mediation. After that we will all state what we are willing to do for a compromise and we will combine all of those to create something that makes everyone happy. I believe that the thing will make everyone happy is that the wolves continue to live but don’t bother anyone. I hope we will also come with a compromise that will hopefully include not killing the wolves and letting them stay in Estes Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park. Conclusion So after all of this I’m going to have to say that I agree with Dalai Lama when he said that “because we all share this planet earth, we must learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and nature. This is not just a dream but a necessity.” So follow those who have already taken a step to save these creatures and then we can “Live with the wolves, and learn how to howl.”

http://www.petitionsite.com/13/save-save-the-wolves http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2008/01/enviromentalistsple.html WWW.protectwolves.com http://www.petitionsite.com/13/save-save-the-wolves http://www.kidsplanet.org/ http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2008/09/08/sarah_palin_wolves/

Zile 11/6/08 Stakeholder Analysis Position Can wolves sustain the ecosystem of Rocky Mountain National Park? As an environmentalist, my answer is yes. The reasons for my position in this project are many. Rationale and Evidence About 3,000 elk roam in Rocky Mountain National Park, and without predators, such as the wolf, the elk eat too much vegetation. All of the plants are then gone, and there is not enough food for the elk, and they die soon after that. Without wolves, there are too many elk for the available vegetation. One of the reasons that the State Wildlife Managers on the land around Rocky Mountain National Park don’t want wolves is that the wolves might roam out of the park, causing more problems than they had to begin with. However, wolves live in the wild, and if you choose to live in the wild around Rocky Mountain National Park with them, you have to expect that wolves may come and hunt on your property. The elk in the Rocky Mountain National Park are very lazy. There is nothing to keep them moving as there was when wolves roamed the park. When wolves “test” their prey, it keeps the elk constantly on the move. Wolves are a beneficial part to our ecosystem, and if Rocky Mountain National Park brought more wolves into Colorado, it would solve the problem. The elk are so overpopulated that the wolves could easily catch food. This is only one of the many reasons that it would be a great choice to bring wolves into Rocky Mountain National Park. Many ranchers argue that wolves come onto their property and eat their livestock, but when you decide on doing this for a living, you should know that you have a risk. This risk is that wolves may come onto your land and attack some of your livestock. A wolf does not know what a NO TRESSPASING sign is, or what a fence is. To them it is just another obstacle between them and food. In the past, we rudely came onto their land and killed them when they were just doing what came naturally to them. Allies Some of my allies would be a tourism company, a defender of wildlife, an animal rights activist. An Estes Park resident, recreationalist, and a national park representative may also be allies. A similarity that I have with both the defender of wildlife and the animal rights activist is that they both stand up for animals, plants, and everything natural, and make sure that they don’t get their rights taken away. As for an Estes Park resident, they may have the same rationale with me, and think that there are too many elk in the park. A tourism company would want wolves in Rocky Mountain National Park, and make sure that they don’t get hurt because wolves attract tourists. I also want wolves to not get hurt in the park. A recreationalist might want wolves in the park, and they may not. Compromises Some stakeholders that I will have to compromise with are the rancher/people who own livestock, hunters, and hunting guides. One compromise with the ranchers would be to give them money for any loss of livestock, but the rancher would not be allowed to harm the wolf in any way, unless it were attacking a human. A good compromise with the hunters and hunting guides would be to limit the hunting of wolves to periods when the wolves overpopulate. Ideal Wolf Management Plan A reasonable wolf management plan would be to put an enclosure around the livestock. If a wolf comes too close to the boundary marker, an unpleasant high pitched sound, only heard by the wolf, would be emitted. It would only sound momentarily, and would not injure the wolf in any way, but it would remind them not to go there again. In this way, the livestock would not be attacked, and the ranchers would be happy, while not harming the wolves. Another solution would be to put up a shock fence, but as an environmentalist, that would not be the best solution, because I want to make sure that the wolves would not get injured in any way. Conclusion With wolves in Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park many of the environment’s problems would be solved. The ecosystems in the two parks are not balanced right now and wolves could help. Wolves are significantly needed, and with them, would come an outstanding future. Rachel 11/4/08   __Position__ The purpose of our research is to determine whether it is possible to sustain a population of wolves in Estes Park. There are many arguments in favor of and against this proposal. As an environmentalist I support the introduction of more wolves in to Estes Park. Wolves are part of the eco-system in the park. Wolves eat mice, caribou, elk and deer. This maintains the population of other animal groups in a sustainable way. Because when the wolves eat the mice, caribou, elk and deer the population of these animals go doen and the wolved don’t go up because there is not enough food to go areond. I e-mailed Robert Edward, the Recovery Director at Wild Earth Guardians, an environmental company. I received a reply from Anne Edward. She discussed an aspect of the Estes Park wildlife population that would make it difficult for wolves to survive. There are “lazy” herds of elk which would be easy for wolves to catch and eat. If these elk became sick, died, or went away, the wolves, which would have become dependent on the elk for food, would starve and possibly die. __Rational__ An advantage of introducing wolves into Estes Park is that it may help the economy of the Park by increasing tourism. Many people think that it would be really interesting to see, non captive, wolves in a park setting. My rationale is that the wolves don’t know any better. They don’t know what a boundary or property line is. All that they know that there is free food on the other side of that fence. __Evidence/ Allies/ Ideal Mediation__ An opponent of the environmentalist is the rancher. Ranchers would not like to see the release of wolves in Estes Park. They believe that people should be allowed to kill wolves. They also believe that if a wolf is on their property, they have the right to shoot it and kill it whether or not it is threatening their livestock. This subject is an area of intense disagreement between environmentalists and ranchers. Animal rights activists have a similar point of view on the issue of wolves as do the environmentalists. That is why they are allies of an environmentalist. They believe that the wolves should head the endangered species list. They also believe that it could affect the balance of the other groups in the food chain dramatically, if the wolves were killed. Defenders of Wildlife have a similar outlook regarding wolves as do the environmentalists. They see how the wolf population would effect the ecosystem and animal populations. Things like the rise and fall patterns of one species compared to another and how this affects other animals and plants. Ranchers disagree with environmentalists, animal rights activists, and Defenders of Wildlife regarding the release of wolves into the wild. When you have a ranch surrounded by wildlife, there is a risk that livestock will get eaten by predators. A rancher can fence their property to try to keep predators out. I think that the ranchers should install electric fences able to deliver a small shock, so that the wolves cannot get in and so that livestock cannot get out. This is my ideal mediation because the ranchers and the environmentalists have the most different views on this issue. Research shows that wolves do not pose a significant risk to livestock. They are an endangered species that should be allowed to repopulate our national parks. The presence of wolves would keep the animal population controlled. They would increase tourism and bring money to the National Park System. Wolves are very interesting creatures, which deserve more study. Resources: [|www.hcn.org/issues/314/16046] [|www.rmchronicle.com/index.php?id=733&options=com_content&task=view] this web site is no longer active. This is the e-mail that Zile and I received from Anne Edward: Hi Rachel and Zile, My name is Anne Edward, Rob Edward is my husband. Rob is the Carnivore Recovery Director for Wild Earth Guardians. I have spent over ten years observing and photographing the wolves that were re-introduced in Yellowstone National Park.. So I've gotten to know them pretty well! Rob has asked me to help answer your questions regarding the sustainability of wolves in Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.

This is a very important topic, especially at this time. I'm glad to hear that your class is studying this issue. And you know what? You all actually ARE stakeholders in the outcome of this timely environmental issue! Your friends and parents are too! I hope you will share the good science that you learn about wolves in this process. So here are my answers: 1. Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) has a problem to solve - large sedentary (lazy) herds of elk are over-grazing aspen and willow along river banks. The reason that the elk are over-grazing is that they don't have any reason to keep moving around during the day, as they did back when wolves lived in Colorado. Because wolves hunt by going out and "testing" their prey (elk, deer and moose), they keep those prey animals on the move. Wolves are a beneficial ecological force that will eloquently and naturally solve the problem the Park is looking to resolve - therefore RMNP needs wolves. There are enough elk in RMNP to support a small population of wolves. 2. Also, Colorado has the largest elk population in North America, and one of the largest deer populations. Without wolves to keep them moving around, elk are causing drastic declines in the abundance and health of native plants, including aspen and willows that other animals need to thrive (i.e. moose, song-birds, and beaver). In the absence of wolves, native habitats in parts of the state outside RMNP are becoming increasingly less diverse and more vulnerable to invasive species and the effects of global climate change. We should allow wolves to share their genes (with wolf populations both to the north and to the south), to grow and thrive, and to move about naturally throughout the western and south western part of our state, in order to perform the same important ecological function that they will perform within the boundaries of RMNP, that of triggering the elk and deer herds to become more vigilant and move around more. 3. This is why we are proposing that wolves be restored to RMNP, as well as to __several other areas__ in western Colorado and northern New Mexico.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Together Rob and I will do our best to provide the answers that you need.

Sincerely, Anne Edward

Cole

Wolves Should Be Allowed in Colorado

Would you kill man’s best friend, the dog? Or would you kill man’s best friend’s cousin, the wolf?

Position My stakeholder is an environmentalist and I support wolves in Colorado because wolves perform essential functions that would balance out populations of animals and kill the weak and sick. (I support this answer because we will be able to study wolves’ whereabouts and track them and study them for scientific research). Rationale and Evidence In Colorado there are far more than 30,000 elk. They are damaging aspen trees and they carry a disease call chronic waste which is a disease that elk can carry if they get sick, and it is a lot like mad cow disease. It is a non-transferable disease to wolves, so when the wolves take down the elk with the disease, the wolves do not get sick and the herd of elk gets healthier. If we removed wolves from the eco system, the disease could spread and more elk could start damaging trees and giving each other the disease. When the wolf population gets too large for its available food supply or range, wolves are more likely to come into human dominated areas in search of food and living space. This problem becomes compounded if the population of wolves’ natural predators declined and as humans dominates more and more areas, but we do need to take action to keep wolves out of human areas so they do not torment or kill rancher’s livestock or animals in a human’s area. Opponents Evidence Wolves have been killing of rancher’s livestock which increases the money given out to pay back their losses for their animals. This problem decreases the amount of the government’s money, but it will also increase the price of meat in an area. For example, if wolves attack a rancher’s animals in Estes Park, the rancher’s availability of meat decreases, which will make the demand of meat increase and the price will go up. As a result sales will go down since fewer people will buy the meat. If wolves start to kill from that area frequently, they will start to rely on that area for food. As wolves come into rancher’s areas for food, they usually slaughter a few livestock, however the stress causes other cattle and sheep to stop producing fat and meat for a certain amount of time, and for 100 to 200 cattle and sheep, that is a lot of food being thrown away, so ranchers’ would be loosing more that a sheep to a wolf. Allies I have many similarities with organizations like Animal Protection and Defenders of Wildlife. They agree with me that wolves should allowed to be in Colorado because they live here. If they were moved somewhere else, it could have an impact on them and their life style. Without wolves in Colorado, elk and other animal population could get out of hands and skyrocket. Elk and other animal herds could also have an effect on the food chain because if the wolves don’t kill of the sick and injured animals, it could hold the pack behind by slowing each other down by stopping more often to help one another, or it could cause the entire pack to catch the disease.

Plan of Action/ Compromises My compromises to ranchers is to do to keep wolves out of human dominated areas and away from livestock and animals they could endanger is to put up fences or some sort of wall to keep the wolves from moving into human areas for food, and killing livestock. If we brought them to Colorado in the first place why kill them? We are responsible for having them here when we brought them into Yellow Stone National Park, so they shouldn’t suffer from what we have done. Would you kill man’s best friend, the dog? Or would you kill man’s best friend’s cousin, the wolf? Because when you kill a wolf, you are killing an image of the dog. Mediation Results / Ideal Mediation I feel that the results that came from the mediation were correct and that all of the stake holders from hunters to environmentalists believed the same. We talked about many issues like wolf control/management and wolf trapping and relocating plans. I feel that our mediation was successful in bringing all parties to the same level and compromises. After reviewing the results an ideal mediation for me would have been that you couldn’t even harm a wolf even though it was on your property because the wolves are just looking for food and their natural instincts are to go towards where food is. That would be my ideal mediation.

Conclusion To conclude, I believe wolves should be allowed in Colorado because we would benefit from having them here, and the elk would somewhat benefit from having them here.