A very old respected large conservation org has been caught out acting in a way antithetical to the very basic values of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation on which hunting conservation in the US is based.
As with many things hunting and fishing this story begins in Montana. Montana is widely considered in the Western United States to have not only some of the best hunting and hunters but also some of the most fair and ethical hunting practices often codified in their regulations. It’s in one of those regulations that this conflict was born.
All waterways in Montana are allowed to be fished and boated by the public. Other places in the west if you own the land on both sides of the river the right to access the river or travel down it is yours alone. What this does in Montana is allow all fishermen to fish all rivers.
The uber wealthy have been buying large ranches in Montana for quite a while, this stream access law drives them nuts. Here they are owning more land than god himself and some working class person in a drift boat can go floating on through catching all the trout, right smack dab through the middle of their personal kingdom. One such rich fellow named James Cox Kennedy (49th Richest American) has been fighting in court to close the Ruby River to the public.
One of Mr Kennedy’s strategies of gaining access and influence was to buy his way onto the boards of hunting/conservation orgs. Trout Unlimited had similar issues years ago, followed by a revolt, and now policies to guard against just these sorts of things. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation had a similar issues with the commoners and now has legal structures in place to avoid these sorts of conflicts and one would think Ducks Unlimited did also, I guess not.
What brought Mr. Kennedy’s influence to a spotlight was an article by longtime field editor of Ducks Unlimited Magazine in Outside Bozeman Magazine, a local online outlet. The article was about Mr. Kennedy’s efforts to keep Montana fisherman from accessing what is rightfully theirs. Mr. Kennedy was angry and promptly had the editor, Don Thomas, fired.
A cornerstone of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is equality of opportunity realized mostly via our public lands. Wildlife are a resource owned in common amongst all people of a state. We are not Europe where sport fishing is the pastime of the landed gentry.
My solution.. land redistribution and pitchforks.
An Update to clarify: The field editor of the Ducks Unlimited Magazine (Don Thomas) was fired because he wrote an article critical of wealthy access denying landowner Kennedy in a local online magazine. Kennedy sat on the board of Ducks Unlimited. You can read the back and forth over the issue at the online forum Hunt Talk.
Thanks for the recs. I understand this might all seem esoteric to some. Public lands and access are a hot topic in the Rocky Mountains.
Update #2 The NYT has an article as of 3 hrs ago. www.nytimes.com/...