By Cate Cook
In this battle for America’s wildlife, Wharff is in the fight for his kids’ children.
Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife is an aggressive group of thousands of sportsmen that works to protect and improve quality hunting and fishing opportunities, for this season and for those future seasons that will belong to future generations. The group was founded in Utah by Don Peay, and has expanded to include many western states, including a dynamic chapter in Wyoming. The focus of this group - made up of all manner of hunters, equipment manufacturers and retailers, outfitters, taxidermists, fishermen, landowners, and others who value the great outdoors - is to protect and enhance habitat, promote quality hunting and fishing programs on our magnificent public lands, and to preserve forever America’s family heritage of hunting and fishing. SFW accomplishes this by empowering local chapters to fix things in their local backcountry, backed by the political muscle and financial power of a passionate, scrappy and well-organized bunch of like-minded sportsmen and women. The result is direct problem solving with wildlife, Forest Service and BLM decision-makers, politicians and landowners. An example of these efforts occurred when Wyoming SFW sent representatives to Washington to discuss the wolf issues with Wyoming’s Congressional delegation.
Bob Wharff, Executive Director of Wyoming’s SFW chapter, reviewed current events. In spite of steady growth and active involvement by many dedicated people, he expressed frustration that some sportsmen misunderstand the purpose of the group, seeing separation between the average hunter and landowners, for example, or outfitters, or another sub-group, when SFW stresses a unified agenda in which any and all work together to better manage wildlife resources as a precious legacy for future generations.
Wharf notes SFW involvement at the National Elk Refuge last winter, when inadequate feeding practices contributed to the starvation of many elk. While everyone agrees supplemental feeding is not the ideal solution, it is a necessary part of a complex scene that has developed for decades. Pelleted feed, heavy snows, the timing of starting supplemental feeding, the presence of bison and other wildlife, probable lack of practical field experience, and a failure to monitor elk herds all contributed to losses on the elk range; the presence and ongoing surveillance by SFW and concerned sportsmen can only increase knowledge and prevent future needless losses in big game.
Wolf issues continue to dominate the news for sportsmen. Widely diverse, impassioned views, along with a lack of clear direction all paralyze progress toward delisting and management. SFW perseveres, however and founder Don Peay will have an opportunity to present the concerns of western sportsmen regarding the wolf, to President Bush himself. Even in the face of such seemingly dismal issues as wolf de-listing, Wharff reminds all sportsmen that an individual’s opinion may seem impotent, but the collective voice of like-minded sportsmen can and does make a real impact and will ultimately affect the outcome of such controversial problems. In the darkest moments of this battle for America’s wildlife, Wharff says he remembers that he is in the fight for his kids’ children. He believes we all need a future perspective, an understanding of what may be lost if we don’t fight for it, what our grandchildren will miss.
This is another lusty autumn, coloring a grand high country in amber splashes, a personal heaven on western earth, full of promise, a harvest of game and memories. But it is, even more, about every future season of hunting and fishing. The most lasting memory, the only permanent trophy any of us can have is the preservation of our outdoor heritage, far into America’s tomorrow. Wyoming’s Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife welcomes you to find a chapter near you to find the many ways you can join in ensuring a future for hunters, and make this the best season yet.
www.sfwssfh.org rwharff@allwest.net 307-789-4093