Do You Love Moose? – Boundary Waters Blog

A friend forwarded this information to me so I am sharing it with all of you with hopes you will share it with others to help save our moose.

STATE REP. MCNAMARA AND SEN. INGEBRIGTSEN WANT TO END FUNDING FOR RESEARCH INTO WHY MINNESOTA’S MOOSE HERD IS DECLINING AT A HEARING AT 7P.M. TOMORROW NIGHT. WITHOUT THIS RESEARCH, WILDLIFE MANAGERS WILL BE POWERLESS TO TAKE ACTION AND SAVE MOOSE FROM EXTIRPATION IN OUR STATE.

Today’s Star-Tribune described the situation. The two Republicans who run the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Natural Resources are threatening to end funding for research into why Minnesota’s moose population is declining. At the current rate, moose will be extirpated from our state in a few decades, if not sooner. The money for this research comes from the Environmental Trust Fund, which is funded by the lottery. Rep. McNamara and Sen. Ingebrigtsen say they believe the money shouldn’t go towards this research (they don’t believe in climate change), and instead want the money to go strictly into habitat work (like mowing grasslands for pheasants).

Here’s the Star-Tribune story: http://www.startribune.com/local/117463773.html And here’s a story I wrote about the crisis and why this research is so important: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/julaug08/moose.html

I sent the below letter this afternoon. Please send your note to Rep. Dennis McNamara at rep.denny.mcnamara@house.mn and Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen at sen.bill.ingebrigtsen@senate.mn You can also CC: your state representative and senator.

Thanks for your help, and feel free to send this email around. The LCCMR hearing is tomorrow night, so we all have to move quickly.

Dear Rep. McNamara and Sen. Ingebrigtsen:

I read the story in the Star-Tribune this morning about the LCCMR possibly cutting off funding for the moose research being conducted in northeastern Minnesota, and I was alarmed.

The moose is an iconic species in Minnesota. For many Minnesotans, it is a lifetime memory should they be lucky enough to spot an 800-pound moose feeding in a wetland. The moose is part of what makes our North Woods uniquely wild. And financially, moose are a vitally important tourism draw—both for viewing and as a game animal.

The scientists at the DNR, University of Minnesota–Duluth, and 1854 Tribal Authority are engaged in extremely important research to figure out why our northern moose population is declining. It is entirely appropriate for funds from the Environmental Trust Fund to be used for funding this research. Ultimately, the research findings may yield answers about what kind of habitat moose need. But wildlife managers need to know more about how moose die, and what they need to survive, before any effective moose habitat work can commence.

I write to you as a Minnesotan concerned about moose, which are jointly the property and responsibility of all citizens of this state. And I write to you as a father, who hopes my two young sons will still be able to see moose in the Boundary Waters when they take my grandchildren on canoe trips. They were lucky enough to see a moose two years ago on the Gunflint Trail, and they still talk about it often—for them, the moose is not something you only see on TV on the Discovery Channel, but it was a huge wild beast they saw on a camping trip with their dad.

To funnel money away from critical moose research and towards projects like pheasant habitat seems foolish. If you doubt that, ask for a public comment period before you cut off moose research funding, or put it up for a referendum. I think you’ll find that most Minnesotans want our government to do everything possible to save moose.

A response already…

Thx for your email about studying the moose population in NE

Mn. I am disappointed that the Star Trib characterized my frustration

with so many studies in the current LCCMR to mean I was against THIS

study. That is wrong!

It is important that we try and learn why this unfortunate decline is

happening and I support funding that will try to find the answers. Thx

Denny

Representative Denny McNamara

Dist.57B

Chair of the Committee on Environment, Energy

and Natural Resources Policy and Finance

375 State Office Building

100 Rev.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

St. Paul, Mn. 55155-1298

Phone (651) 296-3135