Leadership Quote by Gale Norton

“Especially with the predators” is doing quiet but heavy political work. Gale Norton isn’t talking about wolves or cougars in the abstract; she’s signaling a familiar Western flashpoint where wildlife policy becomes a proxy war over who gets to control the land. The phrasing softens what is, in practice, a high-stakes question: will predator management prioritize ecological goals, ranching economics, or local political pressure?

Her real emphasis lands on “local level” and “build partnerships.” That’s bureaucratic code for shifting legitimacy away from distant federal authority and toward a collaborative model that feels neighborly but often functions as a power transfer. “Partnerships with surrounding communities and landowners” flatters local stakeholders as co-managers, not just regulated parties. It also preemptively reframes conflict: if you oppose the program, you’re not resisting policy, you’re resisting partnership.

The subtext is classic Norton-era Interior Department governance: decentralize, convene, and align agencies with property owners’ priorities, especially in the rural West where federal land is vast and resentment of federal oversight runs deep. Predator policy is a perfect wedge because it triggers visceral fears (lost livestock, safety, tradition) while allowing officials to promise “balance” without naming tradeoffs. By foregrounding process language - partnerships, programs, local level - Norton sidesteps the moral and scientific argument over predators and instead sells a managerial solution. It’s a politics of tone: consensus-seeking on the surface, strategically empowering certain constituencies underneath.