Sando cashes chips in on Idaho
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
Newly hired Idaho Department of Fish and Game director Rod Sando grew up
on a small Minnesota dairy farm and started hunting at a very early age. It was there that
his lifelong passion for the outdoors and natural resources began, he said in a telephone
interview from Bar Harbor, Maine.
"Living on a farm gets you connected to nature. I’ve been in
this [resource management] business all my life," Sando said through his Minnesota
inflection.
Sando, 58, went on from his youthful agricultural roots to become the
regional director of the Ruffed Grouse Society’s Great Lakes region. From that, he
was appointed to a succession of positions with the Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources (DNR), first as director of forestry, then administrator and, later, chief of
the department.
Sando also served as chairman of the Minnesota Environmental Quality
Board, and as an instructor of forestry at the University of Minnesota and at the College
of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is a 3,500-employee agency
that oversees management of state parks, water resources, forests, law enforcement, fish
and wildlife and more. Sando left the lead position with the Minnesota agency in 1999
after eight years.
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission formally hired Sando on Jan. 27.
He’ll take the helm on April 1, upon completing a spring semester teaching at the
College of the Atlantic.
"I’m looking forward to the challenge," Sando said.
"It’s going to be a real, vital opportunity to continue my career. I’m
looking forward to living in the West, and I know Idaho’s a fabulous place.
"I’ve really been attracted to all this business through
conservation. Idaho’s not known as the conservation state, but it’s managed to
preserve huge resources."
Though he’s unprepared, he said, to answer questions about many of
Idaho’s leading wildlife issues—such as salmon, grizzly bear reintroduction and
wilderness designations—he does have an extensive background in several fields that
pertain to wildlife management in the Gem State.
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Wolves are a leading issue in Minnesota, as well as in Idaho.
Minnesota has over 2,000 wolves and the state is negotiating with the
federal government to have its populations removed from the endangered species list.
Management would be turned over to the state DNR.
Idaho wolves could also soon be removed from endangered classification,
but it is unclear whether the state Legislature will turn management over to Fish and
Game.
So far, the Legislature has drawn up, but not passed, a management plan of
its own. Also, there has been talk this winter in the Legislature to create an endangered
species office reporting directly to the governor.
Critics charge that Department of Fish and Game personnel have been
reluctant to lobby hard on the issue for fear it could have an effect on the
Legislature’s approval of a proposed $4.4 million hunting and fishing fee increase.
The Legislature is contemplating the fee increase this winter.
Last winter, the Legislature denied passage of a similar increase because
the Fish and Game Commission fired its department director of two years.
Sando, acknowledged the sensitive political situation, but said it would
be appropriate for the Legislature to hand wolf management over to Fish and Game. However,
he stressed that it is the state’s decision, not Fish and Game’s, and whatever
the Legislature decides is what he’ll work with.
"Oh sure [wolves] would be best managed by Fish and Game," he
said. "Look at the infrastructure Fish and Game has. What it amounts to is that you
have to have hands-on management like you do with any other species."
Sando said it is not surprising that wolves have done so well in Idaho
following their reintroduction in 1995 and 1996. And problems with the agricultural
communities are to be expected, he added.
In Minnesota, for example, wolves kill approximately 200 cattle each year.
The Minnesota DNR has instituted fair compensation programs to alleviate concerns of
farmers and ranchers. Also, problem animals are killed, he said.
"In a nutshell, I think we had a pretty good way of dealing with
problem animals," he said.
Minnesota also experiences domestic dog deaths attributed to wolves, Sando
said. This is something that hasn’t occurred in Idaho yet, but it could as wolf
populations continue to expand and get closer to populated areas.
He said wolf management is really a two-sided issue. Once populations are
biologically stable, the issue becomes a social one, he said.
"Beyond [biological stability], management decisions really depend on
the tolerance of people," he said. "In Minnesota, people got more experienced
dealing with them. They grew more tolerant.
"I would never be an advocate for extraordinarily large numbers of
[wolves], but in Minnesota, we actually had far more problems with bears than with
wolves."
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Sando said he realizes he’s taking over an agency with financial and
credibility hurdles. He said overcoming such obstacles "should be fun."
Optimism reigned when the department’s proposed fee increase came up,
and he said he plans to focus on cost reductions and efficiencies, even if the fee
increase is approved this winter.
An avid bird hunter and fly fisherman, Sando said one of his missions in
Idaho will be to resolve conflicts between small game hunters and the agricultural
community.
"I want to engage in strong, cooperative efforts with the farmers and
ranchers of the state. They have access to what a lot of [hunters and fishers] want access
to."
And of his own outdoor pursuits, Sando said: "I’m going to be
one of Idaho Fish and Game’s best customers."
