Yeah, so, like, East Idaho News conducted an interview with the newly hired Henry's Fork Wildlife Alliance (HFWA) program coordinator. Originally from Connecticut, she spent time in Vermont growing up, and moved to Idaho in June of this year.
Prior to her acceptance of the program coordinator position, Ms. Cubells stated she originally came out west for a one year "internship". What she failed to mention is that internship was with Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y). Although Ms. Cubells states she loves Island Park, she instead chooses to live 74 miles away in Victor, perhaps to be in the safe space of her comrades from Y2Y and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. She was quite complimentary about Island Park and the abundance of wildlife. Now for belonging to groups that want to conserve wildlife, why is it that Island Park, without engaging in wildlife conservation, has such an abundance for her to enjoy? Ms. Cubells is excited to be part of HFWA because it is a "grassroots" organization, comprised of local people who came together. Not true Ms. Cubells, the Island Park Safe Wildlife Passage Initiative (IPSWPI) was created by Kim Trotter from Y2Y and was comprised of a few Island Park citizens, many who did not live there as residents, and still don't. Its sole purpose was for wildlife overpasses along Hwy 20. When that group failed in its objectives for overpasses it was turned over to IWF with a new name, HFWA. When asked about the wildlife overpass issue Ms. Cubells tenuously went through an explanation of the issue, as if making sure a newly crafted message was delivered. She stated the local concern was actually about human-wildlife conflict and safe "crossings", not necessarily overpasses. Not once did IPSWPI ever promote anything but overpasses. It was also Y2Y having a relationship with the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), being aware of upcoming transportation projects, and creating IPSWPI as the vehicle to promote wildlife overpasses. She stated her father's family hunted and HFWA and its affiliate, Idaho Wildlife Federation (IWF), supported hunting. But she failed to also mention that IWF supports wildlife overpasses, highly regulated public land use, keeping Idaho land in federal government hands, wildlife corridors, and locking up land with wilderness area designations. Ms. Cubells admitted to not being a hunter, nor does she fly fish, but "loves being outdoors", without identifying what exactly it is that she does outdoors except hiking. Ms. Cubells also claimed HFWA was formed out of the conflict regarding wildlife overpasses and that everyone shares concern about wildlife. Again Ms. Cubells, the conflict was about individuals and groups coming into the Island Park community with intentions to change it, including lofty goals of connectivity. Surely she is aware of this. As usual, there was no mention of this in her talk, a continued avoidance of what the issue is really about. There will never be any common ground Ms. Cubells. There are no solutions to a falsely created narrative of human-wildlife conflicts. Y2Y created the conflict problem and is unwilling to acknowledge and respect Island Park citizens right to manage their own community. That does not include any Y2Y vision for connectivity. The amount of money flowing into these groups must be pretty hefty with all of the advertising about Ms. Cubells but it can't offset what is right.
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Making Sense of It All
This blog will help you make sense out of all the information on the website, how it affects IP, our history, and how efforts continue to put IP into various forms of conservation status. Archives
May 2023
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