Snaring bears and aggressive predator control: causes that Corey Rossi fought for as head of the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation – and also causes being taken up this week at the Alaska Board of Game meeting in Anchorage.
But on Friday, the first day of meetings, Rossi was conspicuously absent. Even so, he was much the topic of conversation in the hallways outside the meeting.
His resignation came the day before, when the news broke that Alaska State Troopers have charged Rossi, 51, with hunting violations connected to black bear hunts he guided in 2008.
Those in the room, who came to protest proposals that would allow hunters to snare more bears, found irony in Rossi’s predicament.
“It's a huge embarrassment for Fish and Game to have their director be basically a poacher of wildlife,” said Wade Willis, director of the Science Now Project, an advocacy group for Board of Game issues.
Willis says Rossi was feared by some Fish and Game biologists.
“He was there to force predator control and intensive management to the fullest extent,” said Willis. “If they stood up for science, he would take away their funding and remove their ability to progress in their career.”
Rossi had problems from the start, When he was appointed to the position in 2010, 40 retired biologists signed a letter complaining about his qualifications – mainly because he didn’t have a college degree in science.
Vic Van Ballenberghe a retired wolf and moose biologist, says he hopes the state will conduct a nationwide search to find his replacement.
“A Division of Wildlife Conservation director is one of the most important positions in state government,” says Van Ballenberghe, because the director has control of many Alaskan’s supply of wild food.
“We need a person, first of all, with a college degree in wildlife management and with quite a few years in an agency as an administrator,” said Van Ballenberghe, “a person who has a strong conservation ethic and a proper sense of how wildlife ought to be managed. And that's not an easy thing to come by, but there are well qualified people in this country, who could fill that role.”
Alaska Fish and Game Commissioner Cora Campbell says she hasn’t had time yet to come up with a process to fill Rossi’s position, but she’s not so sure that someone from outside of Alaska could easily grasp the issues here.
Campbell also said she couldn’t comment on the alleged hunting violations against Rossi.
“These are charges and a process is going forward,” said Campbell, who also pointed out that the game violations, all misdemeanor counts, relate to bear kills that occurred before Rossi became Wildlife Conservation director.
Campbell thanked him for his service.
“He was a staunch defender of state management rights. That was something we very much appreciated,” said Campbell. “He was a believer in abundance-based management, and he did a lot to incorporate that into the management of the department.”
Campbell says Dale Rabe, who worked under Rossi, will serve as interim director and will carry out the same policies.
Greg Roczika, a former Board of Game member, says he’ll miss Rossi, because he put humans first.
“The one thing we know, when the wolf and the predators start to increase, it’s time to prepare for starvation,” said Rocizka, who was appointed by Governor Tony Knowles and later turned against him over the issue of predator control.
Rocizka says if Rossi had been on the job years ago, there might be more moose on the dinner table today.
Knowles says science doesn’t back that up and believes Rossi’s policies have hurt the state’s reputation for sound management.
The former governor was at the Board of Game meeting to protest plans to expand bear snaring and other practices he says are not only bad policy, but immoral.
“There was a great concern that the background of the person who filled that position wasn’t scientific,” said Knowles, “that he wouldn’t have policies that made science and ethical behavior important.”
“Alaskans are passionate about their fish and wildlife resources. And in their passion, everyone’s got a different opinion about what’s the right policy,” said Knowles.
And regardless of who winds up with the job, that debate won’t go away.
