Modernizing wildlife governance in Vermont has benefits for all Vermonters, and Vermont ecosystems
by Sarah Gorsline, Project Coyote
It’s an exciting time for wildlife governance reform in Vermont, presenting the opportunity to make wildlife management more democratic, compassionate and responsive to addressing the biodiversity and climate crises. A new bill introduced in the Vermont legislature by Senators Bray, Hardy, McCormack and White – S.258 – has the potential to make Vermont a leader in science-based, ethical wildlife management in the United States.
This bill would shift rulemaking authority from the Board of Fish & Wildlife to the Department of Fish & Wildlife. Vermont’s Board of Fish & Wildlife currently consists of 14 unelected Board members from counties throughout the state, appointed for 6 year terms by Governor Scott in a private process, overseen by a Commissioner also appointed by the Governor. The Board is not required to have any training in biology, ecology, conservation or ethics, and they oversee all wildlife rulemaking.
Up to this point, wildlife policy put forth by the Board has satisfied the interests of hunters, trappers, anglers and hound hunters, but has rarely welcomed the requests or concerns of Vermonters who represent non-consumptive users, such as those who recreate in wild spaces for reasons other than hunting, trapping, fishing or hounding. S.258 would also ban two of the most problematic coyote hunting practices: hunting with hounds and the use of bait to hunt coyotes, both of which raise significant public safety and ethics concerns.
The Vermont legislature indicated a concern for public safety, landowner rights and humane hunting practices when they issued Acts 159 and 165 in 2022. These legislative mandates required the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board to create new regulations to reduce conflicts between hound hunters and residents, to reduce the danger to the public, wildlife and pets that trapping poses, and to improve animal welfare.
When the Board of Fish & Wildlife failed to meet these legislative mandates in November 2023, the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) officially registered 4 objections to the Board’s proposed rules, a rare and significant step by this legislative committee. Despite LCAR specifically requesting that a coyote hound hunting moratorium remain in place due to the Board’s rules failing to meet a section of the Act 165 legislative mandate, the Board of Fish & Wildlife ignored that request from legislators and has issued permits for coyote hound hunting in 2024.
I’m a Vermonter whose family has roots in the state dating back over a century in Windsor County, and I also represent the science-based nonprofit Project Coyote in Vermont. We support the right of all Vermonters to hunt for food in a fair chase, ethical and humane manner. What I as a Vermonter and Project Coyote do not support are practices with no basis in current science or ecosystem management, such as hound hunting, wildlife killing contests, recreational trapping, and the indiscriminate removal of predators: bears, coyotes, wolves, fox, bobcat and fisher, who are critical Ecosystem Allies and help manage the health and wellbeing of Vermont ecosystems through what scientists call “trophic cascades.”
Trophic cascades are powerful indirect interactions that can regulate entire ecosystems, and occur when top predators limit the density and/or behavior of their prey. Carnivores, here in the Northeast, serve crucial top-down regulatory roles in maintaining ecosystem health and species diversity including the Eastern coyote, Eastern wolves who have been found dispersing in the region, bear, fisher, bobcat, fox and the protected lynx. Contrary to what biologists at Vermont Fish & Wildlife, and some hunters may say, coyotes and other predators don’t explode in population if they’re not aggressively removed. Rather, carnivores are self-regulating and adjust their population based on available territory, interactions with other species, and food resources.
Coyotes are a great example: when aggressively hunted, studies show that their populations can actually increase, due to increased litter size under pressured conditions, and due to juvenile coyotes, upon disruption of their social structure, dispersing out of their known territory and finding new mates to reproduce. Scientific studies show that juvenile predators who are orphaned tend to predate on farmers’ livestock more than predators in areas where the population is not aggressively removed.
Generally speaking, hunting doesn’t reduce human-wildlife conflicts, and hunting should not be confused with “hazing,” a deterrence technique in which humans frighten off wildlife to cause wariness. Use of bait in hunting – which S.258 seeks to ban for coyote hunting – creates the conditions for increased human-wildlife conflict by drawing wildlife out of the wilderness and into human-cultivated spaces.
In November 2023 a family’s dog was killed in Dummerston when a hunter shot at the dog from his house, thinking the dog was a coyote approaching his bait pile. This incident followed 2 other incidents in 2022 of dogs being shot over bait piles by hunters mistaking them for coyotes, in Barre and Tunbridge. Just like trapping, bait piles are an indiscriminate method of hunting that introduces the possibility of any animal getting caught up in the practice as collateral damage.
In my work advocating for wildlife, and in my discussions with trappers, hound hunters and Vermont Fish & Wildlife biologists and staff, I find that the question “Why?” is not asked often enough. Humans are incredibly effective predators, and technology allows us to eliminate any skill and chase from a hunt. But why are we removing critical predators like coyotes, wolves, bears, bobcats and fisher from the landscape in the first place? These animals all have a purpose within ecosystems, whether keeping them healthy, or reducing rodent populations which in turn controls the prevalence of diseases such as Lyme disease. And just because Vermont Fish & Wildlife has not yet developed a method to study predators without the collaboration of trappers and hunters, doesn’t mean that there aren’t alternative ways to study these animals while alive, as other states around the U.S. are implementing.
We’re living in a time of mass species extinction. Protected Eastern wolves are potentially dispersing into the Northeast, alongside the known presence of lynx. Vermont Fish & Wildlife thus far seems unconcerned with protections for Eastern wolves – who are a protected subspecies of Gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act – given the current year-round coyote hunting season, and the lack of required reporting for large coyotes killed. Hunter reporting is a critical step toward understanding the presence of Eastern wolves in Vermont, as is informing hunters how to differentiate between Eastern coyotes and wolves. Department staff have indicated that they do not believe Eastern wolves exist in Vermont (there have been several DNA samples since 1998 indicating that they do, whether hybridized or not), and staff have also incorrectly claimed that Eastern wolves are not a protected species under the Endangered Species Act.
This is concerning because Vermont Fish & Wildlife is entrusted with managing wildlife and ecosystems for all residents, including generations of Vermonters into the future. In Vermont, a significant amount of Fish & Wildlife funding comes from funds supplied by all Vermont taxpayers. Vermont Fish & Wildlife also receives funds from the hunting, trapping and fishing licenses they issue. Current wildlife policy reflects the interests of hunters, anglers, trappers and hounders, which is why Vermont Senate bill S.258 would be a helpful corrective, democratizing the Board through a new board member appointment process, requiring training for board members in science-based ecosystem management, and shifting rulemaking to the trained scientists and biologists at Vermont Fish & Wildlife, who need to step up to the responsibility they hold for protection of wildlife for all Vermonters, not just consumptive interest groups.
Please join me, wildlife advocates and fellow Vermonters in reaching out to your local Senators in support of S.258, to make Vermont a leader in science-based wildlife policy.
Sarah Gorsline is a Grand Isle County resident and Multimedia Associate and Vermont Representative for the San Francisco Bay area nonprofit Project Coyote, whose mission is to promote compassionate conservation and coexistence between people and wildlife through education, science and advocacy.