Wildlife on the Wind: A Field Biologist's Journey and an Indian Reservation's Renewal

Chapter 8: On the Same Page

159 8 On the Same Page I eagerly delivered reports—annual progress reports, habitat inventory summaries, status reports of big game species—to the Tribal Fish and Game Committee and Joint Business Council. Certain council members would thumb the pages and glance curiously at me as if to say, “I am not impressed by how much time you spend at a typewriter.” Most of these documents were skimmed at best. I knew that. But I regarded chronicling our findings an essential contribution for succeeding biologists, tribal leaders, and the Shoshone and Arapaho people. This permanent record was the benchmark by which future efforts to restore WRIR’s natural treasures would be gauged. I liked that my position provided access to tribal decision -makers. It is not that it conferred a sense of self-importance ; rather it made my work feel relevant. Being at the Joint Business Council’s beck and call and able to schedule a time slot to present some pressing matter of my work to this governing body was gratifying and often hastened decision making. However, soon after arriving at the reservation I found myself in the uncomfortable position of asking the Joint Business Council for money. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s annual commitment failed to match the size of the job at Wildlife on the Wind 160 WRIR. My salary, vehicle expenses, and a small operating budget fell far short of funding the sizeable inventory needs of a place the size of Yellowstone National Park—especially given the reservation’s total lack of preexisting wildlife and habitat data. But argue as I did for more operational funds, our supervisors in Billings, Montana, said no dice. “Do the best that you can. This is the budget you have to work with.” I was employed just two months when I first groveled. Dick and I requested funding from the Council to survey big game populations during the winter of 1978–79. I planned four replicate winter surveys of the Wind River Range and Owl Creek Mountains. Glancing up from the budget I passed out, former tribal game warden Alfred Ward asked “Why do you need to fly so much?” A fair question, I thought. “I’d like to fly four times so that I can get an idea of how accurate a single survey might be, and in what month can I get the largest count. And with four surveys, I can map what areas elk and other game use throughout the winter. I can also measure what kind of calf losses …” “OK,” Bob Harris interrupted. “But you also want $3,000 to count the antelope. That’s a lot to count animals we don’t have.” Besides the mountain flying, I had requested 30 hours of fixed-wing flights to survey pronghorns. The optimum time for counting pronghorns, mid-summer, was fast approaching. “I know that’s expensive. But the reservation has at least one and a half million acres of pronghorn range. Flying is the only sure way to learn how large or small the population really is.” I felt perspiration dampen my armpits. Damn! I just hated asking them for money. But even more, I didn’t want On the Same Page 161 The author (in center pointing) on a field trip with members of the Joint Business Council in September 1978 to miss a whole year of survey work, knowing the Fish and Wildlife Service wasn’t going to pony up. There followed what seemed to me an interminably long silence. My stomach churned like it did that time when I was ten years old and rashly gobbled a pound and a half of fresh Bing cherries. Councilmen’s eyes pored over the budget details I had typed. In hushed voices, some conferred with their neighbors. Then, as refusal seemed imminent, a potent voice came to the rescue. Frank Enos and I had quickly become friends and confidants . No other individual made more important contributions to the cause of wildlife restoration in my years at WRIR. This was but one time when his influence moved conservation forward. “I think that we need to find out what we can about our big game herds. If we have to come up with the money for this year, then we should.” I could have kissed him. Dick Baldes, USFWS Wildlife on the Wind 162 After much recrimination of the Fish and Wildlife Service for not...