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Ohio Division of Wildlife Chief Out.

Didn't see this on here anywhere.

COLUMBUS – Ray Petering is out as chief of the Ohio Division of Wildlife and has been replaced by Mike Miller, a longtime employee of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. ODNR director James Zehringer announced the change Wednesday in a letter to the ODNR staff.
Zehringer’s letter said Petering, who was named chief at wildlife in November of 2015, was “returning to retirement.” Petering had been at odds with the ODNR leadership over a number of issues, including the direction and funding of the wildlife division. He had retired as acting assistant chief in 2011, and then brought more than 30 years of experience to the post when he came out of retirement to lead the wildlife division, and at the time Zehringer called Petering “the ideal candidate for this job.”
Petering’s abrupt departure comes on the heels of the recent resignation of Mike Budzik, who had been the primary adviser to Gov. John Kasich on matters involving the ODNR. Budzik, a former chief of the Division of Wildlife, laid out a scathing rebuke of the ODNR leadership in his lengthy resignation letter.

http://www.bcsn.tv/news_article/show/810479
 

BCamp

Junior Member
66
19
Dayton
The more I hear and read about all this the more I can't believe the level of corruption there appears to be.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Called it a month ago. You can't spit in your bosses face and try to lynch him in the court of public opinion and expect to keep your job.


No need to apologize. I though the article you posted was more balanced and not obviously one sided like the previous one. One thing is for sure, no matter which way this goes there will be some leadership changes at the DOW and perhaps the DNR. It appears as though the governor and zehringer are on the same page, such insolence by those below him will likely not go unanswered after the smoke clears.
 

bigten05

*Supporting Member*
3,675
151
knox county ohio
mike miller is a good guy he use to be our wildlife officer in knox, always did his job even tho i think he was a little lenient with the kill permits to certain people in our area.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
mike miller is a good guy he use to be our wildlife officer in knox, always did his job even tho i think he was a little lenient with the kill permits to certain people in our area.
Petering is a good guy too. Probably the most pro-hook & bullet chief we've had in a long time. I hope Mike Miller works out for the Division. It's apparent that the high brass just wants a "yes man" in that position.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,738
274
North Carolina
Builds confidence in an administration doesn't it?!? :smiley_blackeye:

My first time meeting COB (Ted Young) I asked him how he came about that name and he said because managers hated him in meetings because he spoke his mind.... It started out cantankerous and then switched too cranky lol....
Make em earn it he told me lol
 

BCamp

Junior Member
66
19
Dayton
Received email from sportsman's alliance about this today:
ODNR Decimates
Leadership of Wildlife Division

Jim Zehringer, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has removed nearly the entire leadership of the Ohio Division of Wildlife (DOW) in a move that hunting and fishing groups see as political payback.

As the legislature ironed out its final differences in the two-year budget bill, a coalition of 41 sportsmen’s organizations led by the Sportsmen’s Alliance convinced the Ohio House and Senate to include increases in non-resident hunting and fishing fees. The increases are expected to produce upwards of $40 million in new revenue over the next 10 years towards a projected $220 million budget shortfall.

The increases were initially opposed by the ODNR, which continued to tell legislators that the agency was solvent even though research clearly demonstrates the agency is facing the largest financial crisis in its existence. The research, and unanimous support of Ohio’s conservation community, convinced legislators to approve the fee increases as part of the budget bill signed on June 30.

Director Zehringer’s response was immediate and without any consultation with the hunting or fishing community:

On July 3, ODNR removed civil service protection from the assistant chiefs of the agency, allowing the agency to bring in political appointees to fill these positions, which have always been experts in their respective fields. The move also cleared the way for the assistant chiefs to be fired without cause.
On July 5, Director Zehringer fired DOW Chief Ray Petering with no justification given.
On July 10, ODNR continued its decapitation of DOW leadership by removing the two assistant chiefs.
Additionally on July 10, Director Zehringer removed the Wildlife Management Section Chief, Information and Education Chief, Law Enforcement Section Chief and the agency’s head law enforcement training officer.
Finally, Director Zehringer removed the Division of Wildlife’s Federal Aid Coordinator – the person responsible for coordinating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure Ohio receives its fair share of federal aid dollars that come from excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, archery equipment and fishing gear.
All but former Chief Ray Petering were offered alternative positions or demotions.

“I’ve heard from many folks this morning that see these moves as little else but political retribution by Director Zehringer and the Kasich Administration,” said Evan Heusinkveld, president and CEO of the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “Continuing the pattern of the last 6 ½ years, the leadership of the ODNR has not had any dialogue, or expressed any urgent need, to entirely decimate the Division of Wildlife’s leadership with the actual tax payers who fund the agency – Ohio’s hunters and anglers.”

Additionally, the Sportsmen’s Alliance has learned that neither ODNR, nor the governor’s office, communicated any need for these changes with members of the Ohio Wildlife Council – a group specifically created to advise the governor and director on matters impacting fish and wildlife resources. The Wildlife Council also had broken ranks with ODNR earlier this year, advising the governor and legislature of the need for the fee increases.

“It’s clear that the leadership of the ODNR does not value input from the tax-paying public,” said Heusinkveld. “Ohio sportsmen and women have become increasingly concerned that ODNR leadership has intentions of raiding the wildlife fund of sportsmen’s dollars that are intended for fish and wildlife conservation. The complete overhaul of the leadership of the Division of Wildlife will only serve to further those fears and sever any trust remaining between sportsmen and women and this administration.”
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
I mean seriously what did they expect would happen? They did not simply disagree with zehringer, they set about on a campaign to crucify him in the court of public opinion to get their way. They were sitting in appointed positions biting the hand of the individual who appoints it.

I also love how all of these organizations are so ready and willing to stick their nose in a stupid fee increase claiming its all about the sportsmen. But for the past nine years not a damn one of them had the balls to say a word to the DNR about decimating our deer populations. An issue that had a far greater impact on every sportsman and the quality of hunting in this state.

What I see is a bunch of gutless organizations who will never be at odds with their buddies at the DNR, but will go all in to help them out when they need a fee increase because they decimated their revenue stream.

That isn't directed at the Sportsman's Alliance in particular, it's directed at all of these sportsmen groups banging the gong of sportsmen rights over a stupid fee, but blatantly ignored the biggest travesty to happen to sportsmen in Ohio in 10 years.
 

brock ratcliff

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24,834
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Politicians have no business handling DOW funds. Having said that, from my perspective, the DoW lost all credibility a long time ago.
If they are absorbed by the DNR, what will likely happen in the worst case scenario? I mean will we lose our pheasant population? Will the deer herd become so greatly reduced that a person without their own chunk of land to manage will have few deer to chase? Will public land be over hunted? Will nonresident hunters fill every parking spot in rural Ohio the first couple weeks of November? Will our waterways be polluted from agricultural run off? Will farming practices create a monoculture? Will wildlife officers not return calls and emails regarding violations?
Anyone able to explain again what a great job the DoW has done in recent years? If my perspective is incorrect, I beg for someone to clear it up.
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
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24,834
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I should add that my perspective is not all doom and gloom. The dove fields are a lot of fun for opening afternoon. Since there are few deer left in that particular WA, I don't even care that some of the fields that are now maintained for that one glorious afternoon used to be a great spot to deer hunt!
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
Politicians have no business handling DOW funds. Having said that, from my perspective, the DoW lost all credibility a long time ago.
If they are absorbed by the DNR, what will likely happen in the worst case scenario? I mean will we lose our pheasant population? Will the deer herd become so greatly reduced that a person without their own chunk of land to manage will have few deer to chase? Will public land be over hunted? Will nonresident hunters fill every parking spot in rural Ohio the first couple weeks of November? Will our waterways be polluted from agricultural run off? Will farming practices create a monoculture? Will wildlife officers not return calls and emails regarding violations?
Anyone able to explain again what a great job the DoW has done in recent years? If my perspective is incorrect, I beg for someone to clear it up.

:smiley_clap:
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Too many people haven't the tact to disagree without making it personal...
Agreed. But most management can't see past the end of their own nose, they look for the quickest and easiest way to get something done with zero regard for the future.

A couple years ago my boss wanted me to implement a service for our customers using a product that I architecred and implemented for a different service. While the product could do it, it wasn't the correct solution as it wouldn't scale to the scope that service was predicted to be in a year. Basically he wanted me to tow the space shuttle with a Toyota. Sure it did it once, but if you want to haul it around the US for a year you should probably find a better solution. I continued to disagree and It got to the point that he told me to do as I'm told. So I did it and recommended that he start exploring other solutions because the devil would come for his pound of flesh. He even put it in my review that "sometimes it's not about doing what's right, but rather doing what you're told" I wrote on that section "I disagree"

Fast forward a year and a half. I now work directly for his bosses boss. The chickens came home to roost when they finally pushed it too far and clients were offline. Naturally I was pulled in to a troubleshooting call with the entire leadership chain to help as I originally architected the solution. I hung his ass out to dry in front of a God and everyone. They asked what my recomendation was. "I'm sure some of you remember I was staunchly against this a year and a half ago but was told to do as I was told. At that time I made the recomendation that Mr. So-and-so start looking for an alternate solution. Mr. So-and-so can you bring us up to speed on those efforts?" I mean I cut his throat.

I even went back and got HR to allow me to update that review. I put. Sometimes it is about being right. Mr. So in so actions resulted in 22 client outages, 88 hours of cumulative unscheduled downtime resulting in SLA penalties costing the company $53,000.