Data, not emotions, tell the tale of furbearers

To The Daily Sun,

In response to Mr. Ploszaj’s opinion, the New Hampshire Fish and Game always gets it right, I would say “almost always”. Although Fish and Game’s web site asserts how great trapping is for the ecosystem, they have it very wrong. Although Fish and Game does a great job managing deer, bear, and turkey populations and do all right managing populations of beavers and muskrats, when it comes to New Hampshire’s predatory furbearers, the legacy of N.H. Fish and Game’s wildlife management is spotty at best. As a result, Canada lynx, American marten, and bobcat have been overexploited and their seasons are now closed in New Hampshire. The season for fishers has been closed on two occasions in the past and should be closed once more, as their populations have declined by over 75% in the last two decades. The populations of red fox and gray fox have both declined over 55% during the time.

This is not emotion; these estimates are based upon Fish and Game’s own trapping data.

It seems that the loud voices of the 500 or so trappers in the State and the few “varmint” hunters in New Hampshire who consider coyotes, foxes, etc. just live targets, have a disproportionate influence on the Fish and Game Commission who overrule the Department biologists’ recommendations for more conservative management of predators.

Rather than listening to the established science regarding the importance of predators to New Hampshire’s biodiversity and a healthy ecosystem, perhaps a concept that Mr. Ploszaj is unfamiliar with, the Fish and Game Commission apparently subscribes to a “reactionary” management philosophy method, keeping seasons open until these predators are very scarce, whereupon their season is closed.

This approach is not only detrimental to the natural dynamics that support a healthy and resilient ecosystem, it also means that we other 99% of New Hampshire residents that appreciate these amazing predatory furbearers for reasons other than to kill them are left with a landscape that is impoverished by their absence.

Weldon Bosworth

Gilford