Defenders of Wildlife chief quits

By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

Hank Fischer, the man who developed programs that pay ranchers when wolves or grizzly bears kill their livestock, is leaving his job of 24 years with Defenders of Wildlife.

"The guy was invaluable," to wolf restoration, said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery team leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "He was really geared toward solving problems. He'll be sorely missed."

Fischer, 52, said he isn't sure just what he'll do next, but he plans to stay in Montana and stay involved in conservation projects. He will continue working to protect populations of large predators because doing so is "one of the keys in preserving large ecosystems."

The compensation programs have paid more than $200,000 to ranchers who lost livestock to wolves and grizzlies. Fischer started the wolf program in 1987 and the grizzly program in 1997.

Last year, he also started a program that helps ranchers set up electric fences, buy guard dogs and install other measures to protect their animals from predators.

Protecting big carnivores in wilderness areas and national parks is comparatively simple. But building tolerance for them outside those areas means environmentalists must build support among landowners.

"That's going to determine how broadly we have large carnivores distributed across the West," Fischer said Tuesday. "I think the whole trick is to work with landowners to help solve their problems."

The compensation program has been praised by "free market environmentalists," who say it allows wolf and bear advocates to put their money where their mouth is and ease the burdens on individual ranchers.

"He hasn't made the ranchers wolf lovers, but it's an indication of how we can approach environmental problems on a win/win basis," said Terry Anderson, executive director of the Bozeman-based Political Economy Research Center, which advocates free-market environmentalism.

Fischer said he remains interested free market principles and hopes to apply them in other areas, perhaps in other countries where predators conflict with people.

Environmentalists should learn to rely less on government, he said.

"Too often, our response is to beat on the Fish and Wildlife Service to do a better job instead of trying to do a better job ourselves," he said.

He leaves his job Jan. 1.

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