Professor McMillan is the current Central Region RAC chair. He needs to press and lobby the Governor to add him (and others who believe in and follow actual data) to the Wildlife Board at the next vacancy.
I appreciate the WB and their service, but many of them over the past few years have difficulty orally communicating an intelligible thought, and too many of them have had direct links to the special interest groups (e.g., SFW, CWMUs) that have caused many of our issues in Utah.
Let's actually get some smart people on the WB who can understand and articulate the issues and workable solutions.
I have upmost regard for Doc McMillin, as a biologist and citizen. There is an issue that I believe needs to be considered, when it comes to appointments to Boards and Committees, when dealing with State Bureaucracies. I have dealt with this first hand and itās a real as the rising sun.
That issue is hard currency. I have been appointed to set on a number of State/Local committees over the years. To name a few, State Higher Education Committees, Federal Lands Committees, State Wildlife Committees, etc. These committees have been made up of between 9 to 15 members, with each person representing various groups of government and public such as agriculture, local economics, business, wildlife, sportsmen, conservation orgs. and maybe one or two members from what is called āat large membersāā¦ā¦ who have some knowledge of the issues but do not represent any specific groupā¦ā¦ if that makes sense.
Without question, there is a great deal of desire for the various groups involved in the issues to want representation on the Committee/Board. The Bureaucracy that forms the Committee/Board have a powerful influence over who is selected to set on these Committees/Boards. While they may ask for public input when it comes to applications, they make darn sure the people they want on the C/B apply and they darn sure chose from the applicants, those individuals most inclined to support the ideology of the Bureaucracy. While, in the case were itās the Governor that officially names the appointee, the Governor, no matter who the Governor is, relies almost entirely on the Bureaucracy to coach him on the choice he ultimately, makes. How could he not, there is no way a Governor has the time to personally get to know each applicant thatās recommended. Itās foolish to suppose otherwise.
The bottom line is the C/B end up being made up of 80-90% members being, in some way or another beholden to the Bureaucracy directly or indirectly for money.
Letās take an indirect example that we can all relate to: When it comes to wildlife C/B that are formed. You have all likely noticed there always seems to be someone on the C/B that represents the CMWU owners. We all know the CMWU as an organization has no desire to get cross ways with the Wildlife Board or the Bureaucracy because the consequences of discontinuing or altering the CWMU program would have a direct impact on the CWMU members income. So, when it comes time to make hard votes for or against the Bureaucracy, who do you think the CWMU appointee will support, the Bureaucracy or the at large public sportsmenās appointee?
Another example, most of these C/B have USFS and BLM government land appointees, to represent the Federal Land. The law says the Feds manage the land and the State Bureaucracy controls the wildlife. 99% of the time, the Feds on the C/B will vote to support the State Bureaucracy becauseā¦ā¦. they either donāt want to vote against their State partner or they figure the public are a bunch of selfish idiots that donāt know sh!!t about the science or the issue.
At the end of the day, the C/B are heavily loaded with carefully selected and money dependent appointees, by the Bureaucracy.
Soā¦ā¦ in the case of BYU/Utah Stste/Dr. McMillinā¦ā¦. Universities and independent science laboratories are greatly funded by Bureaucratic grants, applied for by the research institutions. They live or die by these grantsā¦ā¦.. and it is a cold day in hell when you will find them biting the hand that feeds them.
Thatās my experienceā¦ā¦. yourās may differ entirely. Regardless, just saying, be careful what you wish for.