Kevin Woster, Journal staff | Posted: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 11:00 pm
|
It will be easier
for big-time poachers to avoid arrest if South Dakota ends its
cooperative law-enforcement agreements with federal wildlife
agents, a former state Game, Fish & Parks Department
law-enforcement coordinator said Tuesday.
Dave McCrea of
Pierre, a 25-year GF&P employee who retired last year as staff
coordinator of the agency's law enforcement, said he hopes the
governor's office will drop its threat to end agreements with the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Without federal assistance,
resources and authority, it will be harder for state wildlife
officers to break up poaching rings and catch unscrupulous hunting
guides that often operate across state lines, McCrea
said.
"Our wildlife
resource, sportsmen and sportswomen and the citizens of the state
are going to suffer if we don't continue to work with the feds,"
McCrea said. "I don't know how we'll bring these bad guys to
justice, because so many of them operate across state
lines."
Rob Skjonsberg,
chief of staff for Gov. Mike Rounds, is terminating the memorandums
of agreement (MOAs) between GF&P and the FWS for cooperative
law enforcement. Skjonsberg is fulfilling a threat he issued
earlier this year if FWS officials did not transfer or fire
controversial federal game warden Bob Prieksat of
Pierre.
Skjonsberg met in
March at the South Dakota Capitol with Benito Perez, acting chief
of FWS law enforcement in Washington, D.C. Skjonsberg later said
that Perez told him he would respond to the state's demand in 60
days.
That period was up
Friday. And Skjonsberg said then that the deal was done. He
reaffirmed that Tuesday, adding that FWS officials should have
acted if they believed the loss of the cooperative agreements would
be so damaging.
"As of 5:15 p.m.
today - four days after their own self-imposed timeline - I still
haven't heard from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service," Skjonsberg
said Tuesday. "Apparently, they're not too worried about widespread
poaching."
FWS regional
law-enforcement supervisor Gary Mowad of Lakewood, Colo., said
Tuesday that the MOAs benefit both the state and the federal
government by pooling resources and making wildlife law enforcement
more effective.
"It's not a one-way
relationship. The MOAs benefit both parties," he said. "I think the
state will lose a great deal by terminating these
agreements."
Of the eight states
in this FWS region, only North Dakota does not have MOAs with the
FWS, Mowad said. A 30-day written notice is required to end the
MOAs, and Mowad said he hadn't received that notice Tuesday.
Skjonsberg acknowledged that, adding that the notice would go out
this week to begin the countdown.
Asked if the FWS
was considering firing or reassigning Prieksat, Mowad said: "We
can't answer that for you. When it comes down to what is occurring
with Bob, all I can really say is that there is a process in place,
and we're following the process."
A FWS professional
accountability team has been investigating the complaints against
Prieksat, which include allegations that he fabricated violations
against hunters and landowners, was verbally abusive and used
profanity.
Mowad has called
Prieksat one of his best wildlife agents. McCrea, who has known
Prieksat since college, said the federal agent could improve his
people skills. But allegations that paint Prieksat as an abusive
tyrant are not credible, McCrea said.
"I've worked in the
field with Bob. And he does not spit in people's faces. He does not
use profanity. He doesn't kick over decoys. He doesn't ever lose
control," McCrea said. "Whether a person likes Bob Prieksat or not,
he is an outstanding wildlife law enforcement officer, one of the
best criminal investigators I've ever worked with in my life. He
provides an invaluable service to the citizens of our
state."
Skjonsberg said he
has ample evidence to the contrary, and intends to continue his
campaign to get Prieksat replaced. Skjonsberg said Perez told him
in a telephone conversation recently that the agency might not be
able to respond by the May 25 deadline.
"I simply told him
that, from our end, we needed to pursue the original deal," he
said. "Just because you tell the banker you're going to miss a
payment, doesn't mean they won't repossess your
truck."
Contact Kevin
Woster at 394-8413 or
kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com
