According to the Wildlands Network (WN) 2016 990 tax form, the description is "The Wild Earth Society, Incorporated, d/b/a Wildlands Network, is a Vermont corporation with its headquarters located in Seattle, Washington." WN was also formally known as the Wildlands Project. It's purpose is using collaboratives to provide enough "Room to Roam" for wildlife, including passage over private land, highway over and underpasses for wildlife vehicle reduction, conservation easements and purchase of land, reintroducing species, and reducing land fragmentation. Founded by Michael Soule and David Foreman, WN was incorporated in 1991, seeing themselves as the "original voice for landscape connectivity", with non-governmental organizations (NGO) and governments adopting their approach to conservation.
Odd, the WN website states its headquarters is in Salt Lake City, Utah. WN does not provide a list of their partners but can often be found on NGO websites as a partner such as Y2Y. There is also involvement with the state and federal governments, drafting and supporting legislation that implements their agenda. For Idaho, one individual is a threat, Susan Holmes. She covers the Western Wildway and her job is coordinating the Connectivity Policy Coalition, promoting wildlife corridors and core habitat connectivity policy, and protection. She is also works to secure national monument designations in the Western Wildway, enhance protections for keystone carnivores, and incorporate wildlife connectivity into federal climate strategies. Perhaps she has already been working on this in Island Park with the recent resurfacing of a national monument designation at Mesa Falls. The current WN Executive Director is Gregory Costello, an attorney to Connectivity Policy Coalition (CPC). In 2018 Mr. Costello received $114,788 in compensation for his work. His job includes working with Congress for national legislation; Department of Interior for corridors and connectivity; influencing federal protection of land; integrating connectivity into US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management plans; ensuring US Fish & Wildlife protects grizzlies and wolves; and working with environmental groups, with Y2Y being one of those groups. Looks like elected officials may be listening to him more than their constituents. A new WN accomplishment listed in the 2018 990 tax form was "dispelling myths about the negative Impacts of wolves to other animals, such as deer". Lots of private property owners would argue with that statement. From 2014 to 2018 the WN has continued to build its stash of money, with assets now over six million dollars. Yep, just another NGO that is a threat to Idaho.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
May 2023
Categories
All
|