20 December 2010
Dear Governor Granholm:
We urge you to veto or leave unsigned Senate bill 1013 which authorizes a moose hunting season in Michigan and assigns key responsibilities for managing that hunt to an appointed Moose Hunting Advisory Council. Specifically, the bill establishes a process for managing moose that: (i) fails to assure adequate consideration of scientific concerns, (ii) greatly risks inappropriate influence by political factors and special interests, and (iii) focuses too much on short-term economic benefits of hunting moose without adequate consideration for the ecological or social consequences of moose harvesting. Because the bill establishes an inappropriate process, this bill establishes a poor precedent for managing other valuable natural resources in the State of Michigan.
Decisions about whether or how to harvest moose in Michigan have not involved adequate scientific review. It is not obvious that a harvest is consistent with maintaining the health of the moose population. Specifically, Michigan supports, at best, a few hundred moose in the entire Upper Peninsula, following introduction of 58 animals in 1985-1986. Growing very slowly, at rates that are lower than expected, the moose population is obviously seriously challenged by ecological conditions. Wildlife managers are quite concerned about whether moose will survive in Minnesota and portions of Ontario, because they appear to be threatened by increases in white-tailed deer (and associated brainworm, usually fatal to moose) and summer temperatures (which negatively impact moose survival). For these reasons, the governments of Minnesota and Ontario have approached questions of moose harvesting with a much more deliberative process. Michigan moose very well may be threatened by the same ecological processes. Decisions about whether or how to hunt moose in Michigan should be delayed until an independent scientific panel comprised of appropriate experts evaluates the relevant issues.
Moreover, the bill does not provide adequate provisions for monitoring the impact of the harvest on the health or abundance of the moose population. This is a concern because Michigan moose are very difficult to count (because they are so rare). This difficulty means that special care must be taken to make sure that the harvest does not cause undetected loss of population viability. The bill does not make provisions for adequately monitoring the effect of harvest.
Furthermore, the process of evaluating moose management will be reduced to a narrow economic analysis that recognizes no other values of Michigan moose. The best insight from the science of wildlife management tells us that decisions about whether or how to harvest moose in Michigan should involve input from a larger number of citizens who value moose for a variety of reasons, beyond their economic value.
Senate Bill 1013, now passed by both House and Senate and awaiting your signature, will undermine public confidence in wildlife management by substituting political influence for sound science. The people and moose of Michigan deserve better.
Sincerely,
Rolf O. Peterson
Research Professor and
Robbins Chair of Sustainable Environmental Management
Michigan Technological University
Thomas Allan
Associate Professor of Biology
Lake Superior State University
Mark Axelrod
Dept Fisheries and Wildlife and James Madison College
Michigan State University
Cathy Bach
Professor Emeritus
Eastern Michigan University
Peter Bednekoff
Professor of Biology
Eastern Michigan University
Patrick W. Brown
Department Head and Professor, Biology Department
Northern Michigan University
John G. Bruggink
Professor of Wildlife Biology
Northern Michigan University
Meredith L. Gore
Assistant Professor
Dept of Fisheries and Wildlife
School of Criminal Justice
Michigan State University
Brian Hazlett
Professor Emeritus
University of Michigan
Kay E. Holekamp
University Distinguished Professor of Zoology
Michigan State University
Allen Kurta
Professor of Biology
Eastern Michigan University
Philip Myers
Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Curator of Mammals, Museum of Zoology
University of Michigan
Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Curator of Mammals, Museum of Zoology
University of Michigan
Michael P. Nelson
Associate Professor of Environmental Ethics
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Department of Philosophy, Lyman Briggs College
Michigan State University
John H. Roese
Professor, Dept Biology
Lake Superior State University
Brad Swanson
Professor, Dept Biology
Central Michigan University
John A. Vucetich
Assistant Professor of Wildlife Ecology
Michigan Technological University
