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NV Sportsman Cry Foul Over Wildlife Panel Chairman

Wildlife conservation and advisory board groups are crying foul over Nevada Wildlife Commission Chairman Gerald Lent and a move they say is geared to stifle public comment before the board elects new officers on Friday.

An agenda posted July 30 for the Aug. 14-15 meeting in Elko listed election of officers as the last item of business, following a public comment period and remarks by county wildlife advisory boards.

An amended agenda since posted on the Nevada Department of Wildlife's Web site puts election of officers as the first order of business.

Lent did not immediately respond to telephone or e-mail messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Several groups have filed letters with the nine-member board, criticizing Lent's conduct as chairman and urging the board to elect someone new.

"We, as a game board who represents the sportsmen and sportswomen of the state of Nevada, discussed the Wildlife Commission and the input we have received about them over the last year," wrote Jim Jenne, chairman of the Lyon County Advisory Board. "We were in agreement that their chairman has created more hate and discontent ... than we have ever seen."

At the June meeting in Lovelock, Lent criticized the conservation group Nevada Bighorns Unlimited, urging a commission committee not to award any special big game hunting tags to them or any other groups that auction the tags off to raise money for wildlife projects.

"As the largest volunteer sportsman's organization in Nevada we have raised millions of dollars and logged tens of thousands volunteer hours in support of Nevada's wildlife and we feel we have a right to be heard and treated with respect," Michael J. Bertoldi, president of NBU, said in an Aug. 6 letter to the commission.

"Chairman Lent is certainly entitled to his opinion, but we feel that his apparent lack of objectivity and inability to depersonalize disagreement is a huge drawback in leading a state commission," Bertoldi wrote.

Coalition for Nevada's Wildlife Inc., expressed similar sentiments and urged other commission members to "restore cohesive leadership" that will work cooperatively with agency staff, county boards, sportsmen and the public.

Critics also took exception to what they called Lent's "open hostility" and "lack of respect" and professionalism toward NDOW Director Ken Mayer and agency staff, according to other letters from county wildlife advisory boards.

"I have attended the last two wildlife commission meetings ... and have been appalled and embarrassed by the actions of chairman Lent," wrote Paul Dixon, Clark County's advisory panel chairman.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)