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legislators vs wildlife experts?
Hello Luke.
> Our legislative body is OUR governing voice. Don't forget WE THE
> PEOPLE... These legislatures oversee the wildlife and parks
> people and
> the latter can do nothing contrary to the established
> laws...and if they
> do, they answer to the legislature. I personally would rather have a
> representative who will listen to my views instead of a
> "wildlife espert"
> who will do what he/she thinks is best come hell or high water.
No offense intended I promise. You're a great guy and I respect you.
But, I don't understand why you categorize people like this. If you
have had problems with a biologist in Kansas, or talked to someone who
had problems elsewhere, it isn't fair to say this about state or
federal biologists everywhere. Also, politicians do not always have
your best interests in mind. There's nothing that peeves me more than
career politicians who turn more often than a weather vane. And the two
are not enemies or on opposite ends of the opinion spectrum. State and
federal biologists were once college biology students like you are right
now.
Legislators want to trust their state's natural resource agency staff to
make the technical decisions, and I think we should want them to, also.
The legislature funds the agency. The agency develops programs, and
hires employees. The employees use their knowledge, background, etc,
and develop management plans and carry them out. At each step the
politicians are further removed from the technical aspects of the work
being performed by the agency. Sure, some agency biologists or
administrators can be stubborn and unresponsive, but they are not evil
people simply because they don't agree with you.
It may take time, but I think we all need to establish a relationship
with our state and federal natural resource agencies if we want to
influence them. Their biologists are educated people, and you'll need
to interact with them in a professional and intelligent manner. An
anti-agency attitude isn't going to make your tasks easier to
accomplish. I am not a state or federal biologist, by the way.
Jay
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