May IAK special issue - 44
John Turner with a golden eagle early in his career. Turner wrote a story in the September 1971 issue of Wyoming Wildlife magazine titled, " Eagles over Wyoming. " (Photo courtesy of the Turner family)
" It's really a success story
under the Endangered Species
Act. We ought to celebrate that.
It's neat to have them back as
part of this great ecosystem,
a place we all call home. But
it's not an easy one, and it is
appropriate they are under
state management now. "
- John Turner
Mills: We're trying to do it justice. We do
our best.
Turner: I'm sitting here thinking of an old
rancher who hated the federal government.
He'd have posters published against the U.S.
Park Service and U.S. Forest Service and put
them up around town. He called at me and
said, " Come over here. I want to talk to you
about wolves. " I was home from the U. S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, and I thought I
was going to get crucified because we had this
plan for wolves to come back to the Rocky
Mountains. He said, " John, it's about your
wolves. " I said, " Yeah, what about? " He said,
" Thank you. " I said, " What? " He said, " You
know I don't like wolves. I don't want wolves,
but you cut us the best deal anybody ever
could. You did a good job. "
I remember it to this day because I thought
I was going to get the tar beat out of me, but
he said thank you. We're going to do all right
with wolves.
Interestingly, Turner wrote an article about
44 | May 2022
his work with eagles for Wyoming Wildlife
magazine in September, 1971. In closing that
article, Turner posed the following question
with regard to bald eagles in Wyoming at that
time: Can Wyoming do without its eagles?
" The obvious answer is 'probably so.' But
the loss would mean Wyoming had changed
- that we have abused her land and lost that
which has made our state unique in today's
world. It will mean that we as people and
as a state lost our ability to sustain a very
important ingredient of our heritage - that
of wildness. "
When asked if the question could apply
to wolves in Wyoming today, Turner replied
with an emphatic, " Hell, yes. "
- Mark Gocke is the Wyoming Game and Fish
Department's information and education specialist
for the Jackson and Pinedale regions. Doug McWhirter
is the wildlife management coordinator for the Jackson
Region. Hilton Graham, from Love Affair creative media
productions, provided the audio files from this interview
and is working on an upcoming documentary on the
life and conservation legacy of John Turner.
May IAK special issue
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May IAK special issue
May IAK special issue - 1
May IAK special issue - 2
May IAK special issue - 3
May IAK special issue - 4
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