Native American Group Petitions Wyoming Game and Fish to change Hunting Regulations.

WGFD Tracking Number:05242017

To request a change to regulations under the authority of the Wyoming Fish and Game

Commission (Commission), you are required to submit this completed form to the

Laramie Wyoming Meeting May 24th. By Protect The Wolves™ Pack Volunteer Staff

Member Vicki Markus who resides within Wyoming.

SECTION I:

1. Person or organization requesting the change

Organization: Protect The Wolves™ Pack a Native American Group

 Name of primary contact person: Roger Dobson, Director of Media.

Patricia Herman, President

Address: 27946 Henry Mayo, Castaic CA 91384

Telephone number: 406-219-8690

Email address: roger@protectthewolves.com

2. Rulemaking Authority – Petition to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission (“The Commission”) pursuant to the Wyoming Administrative Procedures Act, W.S. 16-3-106, to amend hunting regulations and hunting areas pertaining to wolves pursuant to the Wyoming Gray Wolf Management Plan.

3. Overview – To amend the Wyoming Gray Wolf Management Plan to establish a RESOURCE PROTECTION SAFETY ZONE (SRPSZ) of 50km, or approximately 31 miles around All National Parks and the National Wildlife Refuges located in Wyoming including Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and the National Elk Refuge, (NER). Further, we are requesting a delay in the hunting season to allow this matter proper consideration as well as the input from all interested publics in the United States of America.  This is due to the fact that Yellowstone and Grand Teton are in fact National Parks, which were established “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people”[1] in The United States. Congress enacted the National Elk Refuge (NER) in 1912 to protect the Jackson Elk Herd from what had been massive starvation in the winter months. The refuge was enacted to provide winter refuge, forage and feed for the elk to curb starvation and depredation by the elk on local cattle ranches. The National Elk Refuge has been managed in concert with the WGFD for a reduction in the total population of the Jackson Elk Herd, and in particular the total number of elk wintering on the (NER) since 2007. In result The National Elk Refuge, (NER) has published the benefit the wolf packs had been on the NER each winter in terms of further reducing the wintering elk population. These wolves in addition to hunting, preying, and culling the elk herd, are viewed, observed, appreciated and photographed by winter visitors to the (NER) and to the Jackson Hole Vicinity. In the spring as the elk migrate from the refuge with the reduction in elk population not all the wolves follow the elk, some wolves have preyed upon the cattle on the local cattle ranches, the ranches the (NER) was enacted to protect from elk depredation. The USFWS has been employed to kill the wolves that the USFWS applauded on the (NER) as predators on adjoining lands. Now this predator control shall revert to the regulations of the WGFD. This management must be regulated in the public trust with the requisite public input and this includes all the public, as this is the National Elk Refuge and not limited to the State of Wyoming. The (SRPSZ) in the (NER) surround is required.

4. Rationale – To save taxpayers the cost of collaring wildlife an expense that MFWP finds necessary to install new collars each year, in addition to prevent the human-caused mortality of humanized wildlife, legal or otherwise (wildlife that have become accustomed to human presence, such as in Yellowstone, wherein they are unaware of human threat due to hunting or otherwise) that venture outside of Yellowstone National Park. They are not only state or federal resources; they are sacred tribal resources, as well as public resources. As Such, need their Federal Protections within the SRPSZ.

SECTION II:

5. Date of Petition: Will be hand served in Laramie May 24th

by our Wyoming volunteer staff member Vicki Markus

6. Category of Proposed Change

☐ Hunting/Trophy areas surrounding all designated National Parks including Yellowstone and Grand Teton N.P and the National Elk Refuge

with wildlife that have been humanized.  Wildlife that are used to being near Humans as the resources of all the people of the

United States, Tribes included, due to these being sacred resources.

7. The proposal to Amend Wyoming Game and Fish Commission Chapter

21.

☐ Amend Chapter 21 Section (3): Add section to item (j) that includes establishing

A SACRED RESOURCE PROTECTION SAFETY ZONE of 50km surrounding All National Parks within Wyoming including Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and the (NER), and that wolves within this zone must be protected from any and all human-caused mortality to the greatest extent possible.

☐ Add new line item chapter 21 Section (III): National Park Resources adding

the following: Wolves in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem are resources of the public of the United States of America, and as such will not be managed by Wyoming Game and Fish as Trophy Game Animals. (These Public Resources are Protected under not only the Indian Trust, but the Public Trust and cannot be managed at the hands of special interest hunter or rancher groups). Furthermore, Wyoming’s shoot-on-sight approval in “Predatory Animal” areas has the effect of approving the unmanaged slaughter of wildlife held sacred by most if not all indigenous tribes in North America, and as such will be terminated immediately.

Further Wyoming Statute Title 23 shall be amended to ban all hunting of predators in the nighttime hours; this is defined as thirty minutes after sunset to thirty minutes before dawn or sunrise. The hunting and the killing of predator animals in the dark is likely to result in the mistaken ID take of predatory animals and of gray wolves.

A Further Amendment to Wyoming Statute Title 23 shall preclude and ban the use of the “Calls” of Predatory Animals in the SRPSZ. Hunters shall not be allowed to call the Grey Wolf and other predators from the safety zone of the park and refuge boundaries,  and we request a 15 mile zone for No Calls outside of the Sacred Resource Protection Zone .

Add New Line Item: Marked or Radio-Collared Animals – To be Illegal. It is illegal to shoot game animals that have radio collars, neck bands, ear tags and/or other markers, Making it illegal to take an animal with a collar on it.

Wyoming Statue Title 23 shall also be amended to preclude the use of bear bait in the SRPSZ zone. This practice has resulted and does result in the mistaken ID shooting of Grizzly Bear a threatened and federally protected species. It is not legal for hunters to feed or chum wild animals with bait other than permitted bear bait sites. Many of these bear bait sites are in the SRPSZ and directly adjacent to cattle ranches. Bear Bait shall result in attracting the Gray Wolf to inappropriate locations. This shall not be allowed in the SRPSZ.

8. Effective date This proposed change requires either immediate implementation,

or a delay in the setting or initiation of any wolf hunting season in Wyoming. Wyoming is

attempting to manage public resources without involving all parties that should

be included in the management of our federal, public and Indian trust

resources under mentioned trusts with those sacred resources (Indigenous Sites are but 1 of our Sacred Resources) within Yellowstone National Park are being currently federally protected.

9. Supporting documentation: See Attachment A

10. Economic or Fiscal Impacts: Continued hunting as Trophy Animals, or as Predatory Animals will impact greatly the ability of not only Yellowstone National Park, but also all National Parks, and National Wildlife Refuges (being a designation to protect and preserve their natural heritage for the use and enjoyment of the people), impair the ability of these National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges to continue drawing visitors for the viewing of wolves and other wildlife.

11. Under Section 2, Definitions. For the purpose of this regulation, definitions shall be as set forth in Title 23, Wyoming Statutes and we petition the Commission also to adopt the following definition:

(a) “Human-caused mortality” means any legal or illegal human-caused gray wolf death that occurs during an open gray wolf hunting season or at any other time, excluding gray wolves taken by the Department, gray wolves taken under the authority of W.S. § 23-3-115 (c), gray wolves taken under Lethal Take Permits and known natural and accidental gray wolf deaths.

12. Should Wyoming Game and Fish Commission refuse to give this matter the Public Comment Period worthy of a national resource, not merely a state resource, then Wyoming Game and Fish will be in direct conflict with the mandates placed upon them by the Trusts as a Trustee.

(a)Further The State of Wyoming needs to acknowledge the death of the female wolf known as “The White Lady” that Yellowstone National Park officials had to euthanize due to the actions of an illegal poacher. Necropsy results prove this human-caused mortality was from gunshot wounds. While this crime most likely occurred in Montana, current lax regulations in Wyoming make this type of event likely in Wyoming as well. Wyoming Trustees need to be accountable for including resource loss and reflect such in their trophy areas.

The Grey Wolf Management Plan Shall include adequate regulatory mechanisms to ensure the preservation of the grey wolf species in the (SRPSZ). This requirement includes and is not limited to regulations, which clearly define each element of the crime of illegal take of a Gray Wolf. This shall include clear definition of the penalty for said illegal take which shall be a clear deterrent to a violation of this law. It is mandatory that the deterrent include a loss of hunting license/privilege for an appropriate period of time and restitution in the amount to be determined from public input and from the science of wolf management to date.  The laws shall be clear and irrefutable if you kill a wolf illegally you will lose your ticket to hunt and you will pay. You may go to jail depending upon the gravity of your offense. The mandatory jail term offense shall be clearly defined

SECTION 3: WGF Commission Staff Only

Date received:

WGFC staff action:

WGFC authority

Tracking Number:

Date petitioner was notified of receipt of petition and pending action:

Meeting date for WGFC consideration:

[1] Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, 1872).

Protect The Wolves Pack, a Native American Group Petition

ATTACHMENT A

To Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioners           May 24, 2017

Petition for Regulation Change Attachment A

Protect The Wolves™ Pack is a Native American group that speaks for approximately 57,000 members, is seeking 501c4 status in that the group speaks for our sacred resources. All living things are considered Sacred to the majority of indigenous people that respect their elders’ teachings.

Indigenous people hold that wildlife are sacred:

Animals, in many of today’s indigenous cultures, are imbued with powerful spiritual significance.

In the The Seven Sacred Teachings of White Buffalo Calf Woman, also known as the Seven Grandfather Teachings, these teachings are shared, valued and practiced by many indigenous peoples.

These Teachings are universal, “the traditional concepts of respect and sharing that form the foundation of the Indigenous way of life are built around the seven natural laws, or sacred teachings.

Each teaching honors one of the basic virtues intrinsic to a full and healthy life. Each law is embodied by an animal to underscore the point that all actions and decisions made by man are manifest on a physical plain. While the animal world taught man how to live close to the earth, and the connection that has been established between the animal world and that of the indigenous has instilled a respect for all life in those who follow the traditional Indigenous way.”

Love – Eagle

Respect – Buffalo

Courage – Bear

Honesty – Bigfoot

Wisdom – Beaver

Humility – Wolf

Truth – Turtle

Indigenous people lived in Yellowstone more than 10,000 years ago, Shoulderblade said. A total of 26 tribes have ancestral connections to Yellowstone National Park, which still is considered sacred land.

There are currently more than 1,600 tribal cultural sites that exist within park boundaries. These sites are part of our heritage no different than the Wildlife that we hold  Sacred

“When authorized under National Historic Preservation Act, the Archeological Resources Protection Act or other provisions of law, the Service will protect sacred resources (Wildlife being one of our Sacred Resources Please refer to Yellowstone National Park Management Policy https://www.nps.gov/history/tribes/documents/npsmanagementpolicy.pdf ) to the extent practicable and in a manner consistent with the goals of American Indian tribes or other traditionally associated groups.

The Indigenous People do not discount items held sacred by other cultures, yet it continues to be an issue when the Indigenous speak of what they hold sacred.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioners are trustees of not only Indian trust resources but also the public’s resources, and are attempting to manage resources like wolves, grizzlies, bison that are considered federal resources as well. These species fall under the protection of not only the Indian trust, but the public trust as well as evidenced below under CITES.

Prior to setting any wolf hunting season surrounding Yellowstone National Park,

Protect The Wolves™ Pack requests that you consider our petition for regulation change that includes a 50 km Sacred Resource Protection Safety Zone around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.  Alaska has already brought forward Protections surrounding Denali National Park.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks not only hold countless sacred sites, but also many different sacred species in the beliefs of the indigenous people. These animals that have resided within the Parks have become humanized (wildlife without the fear to flee in human presence) over time, in effect means that they do not stand a chance should they exit federally protected lands.

Wildlife are not able to see boundaries, and as such not only deserve protection under the laws of the United Nations, but also those mandated upon the Trustees that fall under the Indian trust, public trust, as well as nature’s trust, a  within these areas surrounding all of our National Parks.

Nature’s Trust By  Wood, Mary Christina develops a framework, Nature’s Trust, to characterize government’s ecological obligation in the modern ecological age. Nature’s Trust draws forth an ancient and enduring legal principle known as the public trust doctrine. With roots extending back to early Roman law, the doctrine rests on a civic and judicial understanding that some natural resources remain so vital to public welfare and human survival that they should not fall exclusively to private property ownership and control. Under the public trust doctrine, natural resources such as waters, wildlife, and presumably air, remain common property belonging to the people as a whole. Such assets take the form of a perpetual trust for future generations. The public’s lasting ownership interest in this trust vests in both present and future generations as legal beneficiaries.  Public trust law demands that government act as a trustee in controlling and managing crucial natural assets. Held to strict fiduciary obligations, government must promote the interests of the citizen beneficiaries and ensure the sustained resource abundance necessary for society’s endurance. The U.S. Supreme Court declared in Geer v. Connecticut: “[ I] t is the duty of the legislature to enact such laws as will best preserve the subject of the trust, and secure its beneficial use in the future to the people of the state.”  This duty arises as a limitation on government, an expectation that still smoulders in the popular sovereignty held by the people. As a foundational property law principle, the trust doctrine imparts the original legal mechanism to ensure that government safeguards natural resources necessary for public welfare and survival. Long predating any statutory law, the reasoning of the public trust puts it on par with the highest liberties of citizens living in a free society. This public property right ranks so fundamental to citizens that some scholars describe it as a natural right or human right. As Professor Joseph Sax suggested more than four decades ago in a landmark article, the public trust responsibility underpins democracy itself, demarcating a society of “citizens rather than of serfs.”

Wood, Mary Christina (2013-10-31). Nature’s Trust (pp. 14-15). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.

Should you refuse to set this petition for requested regulation change to the next available meeting, along with the delay in setting any wolf hunting seasons, you will be in direct violation of not only the above-mentioned trusts, but in direct Violation of the Mandates placed upon you under said Trusts.  It is imperative that our nation’s Trustees begin to manage the public’s resources in the best interest of all included, the Indian trust, as well as “the public” trust, as well as Natures Trust

There is already sufficient case law that has proven our indigenous resources under the Indian trust do not have to solely exist within reservation boundaries. With regard to our sacred resources, objects, or sites it should not matter where our sacred resources, such as wildlife, exist under the auspices of the National Environmental Protection Act as well as our Indigenous Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Please see Definition of Indian Country.

Definition of Indian Country

Indian country is defined at 18 U.S.C. § 1151 as:

1. all land within the limits of any Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States Government, notwithstanding the issuance of any patent, and, including rights-of-way running through the reservation;
2. all dependent Indian communities within the borders of the United States whether within the original or subsequently acquired territory thereof, and whether within or without the limits of a state; and
3. All Indian allotments, the Indian titles to which have not been extinguished, including rights-of-way running through the same.

Consistent with the statutory definition of Indian country, as well as federal case law interpreting this statutory language, lands held by the federal government in trust for Indian tribes that exist outside of formal reservations are informal reservations and, thus, are Indian country. Indian Country with Treaties specifically use the language of “usual and customary places” which then extends Indian country off of known Reservations.

The Yellowstone National Park falls into this Category because it contains 1600 plus Sites Sacred to the Indigenous as well as Sacred Wildlife of which Wolves, Grizzlies, Bison to name a few are held Sacred by the majority of Tribes.

The Trusts, all-inclusive prohibit Trustees from managing Resources that are at the request and demand of Special Interest Groups like Cattle Ranchers or Trophy Hunters, to manage the Trusts resources in a manner only geared towards these Special Interest Groups. Further these Trusts mandate that there shall be no special interest Groups involved in the suggestion of or included in the management of said public resources.

Dependent Indian communities are a category of Indian country that are not Indian reservations or individual Indian allotments and that satisfy two basic criteria. First, the U.S. Government for the use of Indians as Indian land must have set them aside. Second, they must be under federal superintendence – that is, the federal government must exercise a degree of control or oversight of these lands for Indian purposes. Which now brings the Indian Trust, Public Trust, as well as National Historic Preservation Act, the Archeological Resources Protection Act or other provisions of law, the Service will protect sacred resources (Wildlife being one of our Sacred Resources Please refer to Yellowstone National Park Management Policy  to bear upon Wyoming’s attempt to manage resources that fall into the above categories.

The Gray Wolf Management Plan must include protection of the Grey Wolf in the National Elk Refuge, (NER) (SRPSZ) because Congress enacted the National Elk Refuge (NER) in 1912 to protect the Jackson Elk Herd from what had been massive starvation in the winter months. The refuge was enacted to provide winter refuge, forage and feed for the elk to curb starvation and depredation by the elk on local cattle ranches. The National Elk Refuge has been managed in concert with the WGFD for a reduction in the total population of the Jackson Elk Herd, and in particular the total number of elk wintering on the (NER) since 2007. In result The National Elk Refuge, (NER) has published the benefit the wolf packs had been on the NER each winter in terms of further reducing the wintering elk population. These wolves in addition to hunting, preying, and culling the elk herd, are viewed, observed, appreciated and photographed by winter visitors to the (NER) and to the Jackson Hole Vicinity. In the spring as the elk migrate from the refuge with the reduction in elk population not all the wolves follow the elk, some wolves have preyed upon the cattle on the local cattle ranches, the ranches the (NER) was enacted to protect from elk depredation. The USFWS has been employed to kill the wolves that the USFWS applauded on the (NER) as predators on adjoining lands. Now this predator control shall revert to the regulations of the WGFD. This management must be regulated in the public trust with the requisite public input and this includes all the public, as this is the National Elk Refuge and not limited to the State of Wyoming. The (SRPSZ) in the (NER) surround is required.

We can not allow Cattle Ranchers to use Wolves as a scapegoat, simply due to the fact that A Cattle Rancher in Oregon  where Police say a 69-year-old man has been arrested in northeast Oregon for elk poaching after an investigation into 25 elk carcasses on and around his property. And was arrested on 12 counts of unlawful take of elk in a closed season and 12 counts of waste of elk. This on Rancher is not the only Rancher that does terrible acts such as this. He just happens to be one that got caught.

The Wolf, not only being Sacred to the Indigenous, are also considered a species protected for international trade. Please see the inclusion as referenced in CITE

Canis lupus is a Listed Species under Checklist of CITES Species

CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, 27 U.S.T. 108) — Establishes a system of import/export regulations to prevent the over-exploitation of plants and animals listed in three appendices to the Convention. Different levels of trade regulations are provided depending on the status of the listed species and the contribution trade makes to decline of the species. Procedures are provided for periodic amendments to the appendices.

CITES was signed by 80 nations in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1973. United States ratification occurred on September 13, 1973, with documents submitted to the depository government (Switzerland) on January 14, 1974. CITES entered into force on July 1, 1975.

Implementing legislation for the United States was provided by enactment of P.L. 93-205, the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Executive Order 11911, signed April 13, 1976, designated Management and Scientific Authorities to grant or deny requests for import or export permits.

Public Law 96-159, signed December 28, 1979 (93 Stat. 1255) designates the Secretary of Interior, acting through the Fish and Wildlife Service, as both the Management and Scientific Authority for implementation of CITES. It also created an International Convention Advisory Commission, which was later abolished by P.L. 97-304, October 13, 1982.

Public Law 97-304 also requires the Secretary of State to report to Congress when a reservation is not taken to the inclusion of a species in the appendices when the United States votes against it. In addition, these amendments require certain scientific authority findings to be based upon the best available biological information, but no State is required to make population estimates for such determinations.

As of November 28, 1999, 146 countries were party to the Convention, and they had held ten biennial meetings of the Conference of the Parties. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hosted the Ninth Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1994. For more information on CITES, go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service International Affairs CITES website at:

http://checklist.cites.org/#/en/search/output_layout=alphabetical&level_of_listing=0&show_synonyms=1&show_author=1&show_english=1&show_spanish=1&show_french=1&scientific_name=Canidae&page=1&per_page=20

The Grey Wolf Management Plan shall include adequate regulatory mechanisms to ensure the preservation of the grey wolf species in the (SRPSZ). This requirement includes and is not limited to regulations, which clearly define each element of the crime of illegal take of a Gray Wolf. This shall include clear definition of the penalty for said illegal take which shall be a clear deterrent to a violation of this law. It is mandatory that the deterrent include a loss of hunting license/privilege for an appropriate period of time and restitution in the amount to be determined from public input and from the science of wolf management to date.  The laws shall be clear and irrefutable if you kill a wolf illegally you will lose your ticket to hunt and you will pay. You may go to jail depending upon the gravity of your offense. The mandatory jail term offense shall be clearly defined

In Summary, we ask that you do what is right, and set aside any setting of wolf seasons until this petition for Regulation change can be 100 percent fully evaluated. Wolves, Grizzlies, as well as Bison are considered a Sacred Animal to name but a few, as such should be guaranteed the same protections that the Government places upon the Freedom of Religion. Especially when these Sacred Species exit the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park where many Indigenous Sacred places and wildlife currently are protected, then exit Parks without knowing that they remain protected.