MEMORIAL DAY

Stephen Capra, Bold Visions Conservation

As the weekend begins to unfurl, we are hard at work, getting our website built and starting to put in place the campaigns designed to put wildlife first and the protections of critical linkages and protected lands, all part of why we are working not just to protect wildlife, but to help it thrive!

As the official start to summer begins, so does the noise and stench of gas of those who insist that motorized recreation is part of their outdoor experience. Imagine that blasting through the forest of drier BLM lands is how you connect with nature. Do they ever consider wildlife? Montana is a state where hunting and trapping’s pressure on wildlife is nearing a breaking point. However, come summer, the noise and fumes of many leave wildlife fearful and further pushing them to the breaking point.

It is ironic for the many of us that live to see animals in the wild that we are constantly facing the reality that such viewing is increasingly rare; those who go to nature to enjoy solitude have fewer places to enjoy the silence that defines wildness. Fewer chances for an encounter with a wolf or a bear.

The agencies that manage these lands bear the responsibility for the increase in noise and fumes that degrade our experience and further harm wildlife. They also create avenues for poaching and are the winter highways for trappers.

Part of helping wildlife involves staying engaged with the Forest Service and the BLM. These lands belong to all Americans, yet a small percentage have figured out how to game the system. They use words like freedom and demand that their right to kill, torture, and harass wildlife must be placed into law. Thankfully, our efforts defeated that radical and false premise of a bill known as SB-372! But the continued anti-wildlife efforts of people like Senator Steve Daines to push the killing of grizzlies, remove all Wilderness Study Areas, push for more motorized recreation, for our Governor to continue to support eliminating public lands and killing wildlife on the Yellowstone border, point to a subversive effort at privatizing wildlife and destroying wildness. Their extremism has the effect of shutting down the protection of lands in Montana, while the agencies continue to approve radical logging and other degrading efforts in our forests and BLM lands.

We can do far better, and we must if wolves, grizzlies, and other species are to thrive in our state. Bold Visions Conservation will remain focused on wildlife, with a big eye on keeping the lands they need to thrive.

We wish you the best this Memorial weekend and salute those who gave so much to allow us, amongst other things, the wonders we enjoy on our public lands. It truly is a gift.

PS, we hope to have our website partially up by next week, and a P.O. Box confirmed.

PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND COLLEGUES!

In the meantime, please email me directly to sign up for our emails and information:

Stephen@bvconservation.org Feel free to call me 406-370-3028

NEW BEGINNINGS

Stephen Capra, Bold Visions Conservation

I have been quiet for some time, the result of transitioning away from a job that I cared deeply about. My time with Footloose Montana were some of my best years, but nothing lasts forever. Now I am beginning a new chapter with my own organization-Bold Visions Conservation. I invite you to come along for the energy, fight and passion you have come to know is part of the soul I and those that work with me put into fighting for wildlife and wildlands.

You will see our vision over the coming weeks come into focus, but for now, here are a few thoughts that I wanted to share with you.

The one thing in Montana that has not changed with the end of the legislative session, is the reality that wildlife has just dodged a bullet, or perhaps a snare or trap. During the legislature I was able to cajole, testify and press legislators to stop Representative Paul Fielder’s madness known as SB-372.

That remains a win and a point of pride that few could have predicted, but it was the voice of the citizens of Montana that made that victory possible. Moving forward, we must find the means to stop the violence that is used against some of our most important and vulnerable wildlife. But realistically they will be back trying to turn Montana into a relic of the 1880's, filled with a madness towards wildlife that borders on mental illness.

Now the time has come to push forward on a clear agenda that works to end trapping in Montana, to stop the slaughter of wolves and other precious wildlife; to stop even the concept of killing grizzly bears, and allowing our legislature to be de facto mangers of our state's wildlife. There are also vital lands that need protection, and some of that may require the President’s use of the Antiquities Act, rather than depending on our legislators in Washington that do little to try and support wildlife or wilderness.

We must work to change the idea that trophy hunting and trapping have any legitimacy to push their agenda on our precious wildlife. If there is a constitutional amendment that should be passed it should read "the right to view and share the land, in co-existence with all native wildlife."

We must ask the following questions:

• How much longer are we going to be denied the chance to see wildlife in our forests and BLM lands? • How can we sanction the torture of wildlife in 2023? • Why are we allowing our legislature to manage wildlife when they have a radical anti-wildlife agenda? • Can we continue to allow the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to destroy vital habitat to important linkages for ill advised profiteering logging operations? • In a time of climate change and species extinction, are we simply going to allow the destruction of our wildlife, or are we going to demand a process that allows generations to come to enjoy and experience the wonder of all species in the wild?

There are many more questions in search of answers, but it is a start. What I know is that Bold Visions Conservation will be here to inform and fight for all that is wild. We will be a voice for wildlife, and a loud voice for change.

We just got our non-profit status, I will let you know our P.O. Box and announce our website in the weeks ahead.

Our name says it all, we will be Bold, strategic and ambitious in our efforts to protect the lands and wildlife that is vital for the future of all Montana's wildlife. Contact me at stephen@bvconservation,org

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