Case 1:16-cv-02897-CMA-MJW Document 36-1 Filed 01/08/17 USDC Colorado Page 1 of 15

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 2016-cv-2897
DEANNA MEYER, BOTH INDIVIDUALLY AND DERIVATIVELY
ON BEHALF OF THE TRUE INTERESTS OF WILDLANDS DEFENSE, INC.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
BRIAN ERTZ AND WILDLANDS DEFENSE, INC.,
Defendants/Counter-Claimants,
v.
PRAIRIE PROTECTION COLORADO, INC.,
Third-Party Defendant.
AFFIDAVIT OF KATIE FITE IN SUPPORT OF COUNTER-CLAIMANT
WILDLANDS DEFENSE’S MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
I, Katie Fite, of lawful age, being first duly sworn upon her oath, deposes
and based on personal knowledge says:
1. I am a biologist with expertise in field biology and ecology.
2. I received a Master's Degree in Biology from Utah State University,
with an emphasis on vertebrate biology and ecology. While at Utah State, I was a
graduate teaching assistant in upper level courses in ornithology, ecology, and
botany. I also have a Bachelor's degree in biology from Pennsylvania State
University. I was employed for nine years, until January 1999, as a Senior
Wildlife Technician with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (“IDFG”).
3. My work with IDFG included extensive wildlife habitat restoration

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projects. I routinely identified sensitive and native plants and wildlife for land
managers, other biologists, and the general public. I assessed habitat conditions
and provided recommendations for restoration and rehabilitation on both public
and private lands, supplied public information on wildlife ecology; participated as
a skilled observer in IDFG aerial surveys of wildlife species; collected riparian
habitat data for redband trout stream inventories and other work.
4. After IDFG, I devoted my professional activities toward improving
ecological conditions on public lands for the preservation of native species. I’ve
reviewed and commented on hundreds of agency proposed grazing and
vegetation treatment proposals; spent thousands of hours on field visits
inspecting public land conditions across the West; participated in innumerable
meetings with agency staff and field trips; examined wildlife habitats with
scientists and other interested parties; and frequently given presentations on
public lands conservation issues. I’ve worked with volunteers, interns and
citizens concerned with public land conditions. I’ve also served as an expert
witness in several federal cases, including public interest environmental
advocacy cases.
5. Since leaving IDFG I have used my education and professional
competencies in service of a number of public interest environmental nonprofits
including directly as an employee, as contract consultant, as well as working
collaboratively with innumerable groups and professionals.
6. I am a cofounder of WildLands Defense, Inc. (“WLD”) and have served
on WLD’s Board of directors (“Board”) since the group’s incorporation and

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adoption of bylaws. For much of that time I have served on the executive
committee of the Board given my position as Secretary.
7. Since the beginning of Meyer’s tenure on WLD’s Board, around March
of 2015, each member of the Board explicitly articulated WLD’s strategy and
approach to advocacy, including Meyer.
8. WLD focuses on public lands, precedent-setting efforts, and the
complete ecological picture. This approach is in WLD’s Bylaws. Livestock grazing
is an underlying driver of the persecution of prairie dogs, persecution of wolves,
Pinyon-Juniper

(“PJ”)

deforestation

and

species

endangerment.

Board

discussions and deliberations consistently contemplated prairie efforts in terms of
focusing on charismatic species like Burrowing owl, as doing so would extend
conservation benefits to the entire community of life on the prairie and in other
ecological communities, including prairie dogs. With Burrowing owl, there was
also sound scientific documentation of recent rapid population declines and low
numbers—scientific facts that lend WLD’s advocacy efforts opportunity for
leverage to bring about management changes. Burrowing owl, Ferruginous hawk
and other species gave us broad coverage over many western states. Tracking
regulatory oversight through participation in federal agency processes is
essential to that effort.
9. Meyer was in complete agreement, never voiced disapproval, and
voted affirmatively in support of these efforts. Each of us would describe in the
Board calls what we were working on. We all explained this strategy to
subsequent new Board members. These integrated efforts were communicated

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to the public and our members in newsletters that Meyer helped put together.
Meyer had the opportunity to object to this approach on multiple and repeated
occasions. Instead, until this past spring/summer 2016, she was ardently
enthusiastic about WLD’s approach to the prairie program investing in precedent
and landscape scale policy reforms. It is shocking to me that Meyer now claims
objection to and denial of the important work that WLD has engaged in to
advance the prairie program.
10. In winter through summer of 2015, I spent a great deal of time
reviewing scientific and administrative regulatory literature investigating the
scientific community’s assessment of the imperilment status of Black-tailed
prairie dog (“BTPD”) in pursuit of evaluating WLD’s advocacy posture as it
relates to advancing conservation benefit to prairie ecology. Based upon my
research, investigation, and previous experience I, along with all members of the
WLD Board, determined that WLD pursuing a BTPD endangered species act
petition directly, at that time, was unlikely to lead toward a successful result.
However, given that species are inter-related and interdependent, pursuing
efforts to enforce regulatory protections for proximate and dependent species,
and conducting oversight of particular human activities such as use of poison, or
increased habitat protection through controls on grazing on public lands
allotments, highlighting agency efforts to distract from grazing impact controls
such as deforestation schemes, etc. would be much more effective in advancing
regulatory protections for prairie dogs and prairie ecosystems.
11. As a biologist, I have had a number of concerns associated with

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Meyer’s evolution toward an atomized and animal-welfare focused approach.
Pursuing efforts to “save” small, isolated groups of prairie dogs in urban
environments may very well be an admirable animal-welfare objective, and may
help to galvanize public sympathy for prairie dogs. However, there are many
organizations focused on this. The approach is not an exercise in conservation
biology advocacy. It often fails to recognize the importance of prairie dogs as
their populations contribute to wildlands ecosystems. BTPD’s ecological niche
contributes a critical food source and habitat source for a variety of prairie
species. This conservation value is realized at a population scale in a large
landscape. Efforts to conserve BTPD should focus on preserving and/or
establishing connectivity of populations so that genetic interchange ensures
fitness and sustainability of a large enough population that predators and prey
can co-exist and thrive without stochastic factors extinguishing a population.
12. Meyer’s dismissive attitude toward many imperiled species of the
prairie that were not prairie dogs became an increasing concern. I tried educating
her about conservation biology and ecology. This had become necessary where
Meyer’s single-focused advocacy for prairie dog relocation efforts were likely to
impact rare plants and animals, or anything that got in the way of her idea of
saving a particular small, isolated urban/suburban prairie dog colony. She
expressed dismissive anger at efforts to ensure prairie dog relocations do not
inadvertently impact endangered Preble’s meadow jumping mouse and was
angered at City/County protections for a rare grass because the agency did not
want to re-locate prairie dogs where the grass still survived. This was

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inconsistent with WLD’s mission, its Bylaws, and the conservation ethic that
guides my participation on the WLD Board. It also threatened WLD’s professional
credibility, which is necessary to advocate for the reforms we pursue among
colleagues and public land and wildlife managers.
13. In 2015, I had submitted Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests
to federal agencies for information on poisons used to kill prairie dogs on public
lands, and had extensively researched prairie species and threats to prairie
ecosystems for WLD’s integrated public lands efforts. Early on, Brian Ertz had
also asked me to impart my knowledge about effective administrative advocacy
and oversight to Meyer and to, in effect, train her. He would ask me to help
Meyer on some occasions with information requests, contacts with agencies, and
to show her how so that she could learn to engage administratively herself.
14. In fall 2015, Meyer expressed interest that WLD work with “Deep
Green Resistance” (“DGR”) (an organization that I came to learn Meyer fervently
supported) in an effort to highlight awareness of the value of Pinyon-Juniper
(“PJ”) trees, and push back against deforestation. Meyer insisted on being a part
of the work on the PJ campaign in her role as WLD Colorado director, wanted me
to educate the members about how to engage in administrative oversight, she
was part of the phone and e-mail group “Working Group” set up as the PJ
Campaign, and actively participated.
15. After phone conversation and e-mail exchanges, I took Max Wilbert
and Will Falk on a site visit to areas of large-scale PJ deforestation in Nevada,
discussed the ecology of PJ communities, wildlife values, pine nut values,

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management history and politics, and the ecological effects of agency
treatments. Falk subsequently wrote several eloquent articles advocating for
these forests, and Wilbert and others created a PJ campaign page on Facebook
where occasional news items have been posted.
16. I prepared an Appeal and many subsequent filings with the Interior
Board of Land Appeals, and prepared extensive comments on several BLM
projects for WLD that DGR signed on to.
17. In early 2016, WLD paid for a joint WLD-DGR citizen Petition to raise
public awareness, “Save PJ Forests”
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/191/616/777/protect-pinyon-juniper-forests/ .
Meyer was actively involved in the petition effort. I drafted an initial version of the
Petition that was later modified.
18. WLD also sent our members e-mail newsletters that Meyer assisted
with (and often organized) that discussed PJ work which was part of the
integrated effort to protect wildlife and landscapes, and compatible with WLD’s
goals since our inception.
19. I participated in a panel at the Public Interest Environmental Law
Conference in Oregon with Wilbert and Falk, discussing threats to PJ biota.
20. I continue to work on PJ protection up to the present, including
participation in agency comment and appeal processes, site visits to public lands
to document conditions, writing posts on Facebook, seeking out scientific
literature, working with volunteers, etc. The Ferruginous hawk, an important
native raptor in prairie ecosystems, frequently nests in these trees interfacing

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with sage and/or prairie vegetation. Deforestation destroys vital secure nest sites
for Ferruginous hawks.
21. In 2016 when I was working with Meyer, she told me about one of her
followers who lived near a vacant lot prairie dog colony where poison grain had
been placed on private land. Meyer reported the woman was removing the
poison grain and taking it home. I said that was dangerous, and she should not
do that; it was private land; I knew people had gotten ill from chemical exposure
during the Castle Rock campaign. Meyer said “What else was she to do?”
22. During this same period, she also talked about publicizing the phone
number of one of the developers she was angry with. I said she should not do
that. She basically said what else can I do? I was aware that Brian Ertz and
Natalie Ertz had tried to stop her from doing this, as her followers would be
incited to potentially harass or threaten the person, which is inappropriate and
would not be tolerated by WLD as a method of advocacy for conservation.
23. Meyer was very often angered, distracted and distraught over private
land parcel prairie dog killing during my interactions with her and expressed a
preoccupation with her own personal hate for individual people/developers. I tried
to get the focus shifted to documenting potential poisoning risks and hazard with
federal, state or other public agencies, to establish a record of violations of
regulations. I emphasized the need to document what was taking place with
public agencies in e-mails or letters, to create a paper trail showing the EPA,
FWS, CDPW, County, City et al. oversight of poisoning activities was ineffective
and that there were significant risks to other species and the public. I instructed

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her to send e-mails in simple words – they did not have to be elaborate. She did
want not do this herself. The same was true with basic state Records Act
requests.
24. Meyer fixated on dead and dying animals. This at times seemed
morbid and unhealthy. She also fixated on individual people – individual
developers or individual County workers or others. She often used profanity in
describing them.
25. She asked me to listen to tapes of meetings involving people I had
never met. Then I wrote e-mails to County officials or others regarding the tapes.
At times I made errors in communicating with government officials because the
information I was getting from Meyer was not accurate.
26. I finally told Natalie Ertz that it was difficult to work with Meyer, and
constant rants about dead animals, her constant swearing about “asshats” or
other terms that she would call whomever she was mad at on any one particular
day, and that there was no constructive work being done by Meyer. Meyer,
essentially, did not seem interested herself in learning how to pursue the work on
the bigger picture despite having consistently supported such efforts on the
Board calls. She seemed satisfied with her own effort being contributing to
Facebook, increasingly focusing on dead prairie dogs and crisis after crisis with
no end in sight, and increasingly ordering others in WLD around.
27. Once it became apparent that my effort to collaborate with Meyer was
not constructive, nor wanted, I continued, and continue, my advocacy and
oversight of state and federal agency management of public lands, wildlife, and

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human activities detrimental to landscape scale prairie dog populations, prairie
ecology, and wildland/wildlife habitats. I do so with other WLD advocates,
associates, and colleagues including collaborative efforts with the Audubon
Society, and others.
28. Meyer also talked about wanting to get people stirred up so they would
go out and stand in front of the bulldozers, with hazy aim. Over time, I realized
Meyer seemed to be enthralled with highly controversial advocacy methods
promotedf by Deep Green Resistance (“DGR”) and its founder, Derrick Jensen.
29. At some point in spring-early summer 2016, Meyer appeared to
abandon WLD’s approach, favoring more radical and localized advocacy and she
became hostile.
30. During the summer of 2016 when we became concerned about the
proliferation of GoFundMe accounts that WLD did not know about, and other
actions of Meyer’s, I would look at the FB page (as previously described). The
posts appeared to get people strung out emotionally. Photos of plump “cutie”
prairie dogs would fill one post. The next would have photos of dead prairie dogs
– an emotional rollercoaster.
31. I became very concerned when Meyer forcefully pushed for spending
nearly $10,000 of WLD funds on talks by Jensen, the Deep Green Resistance
head. I sent Natalie Ertz an e-mail on 6-26-16 expressing concerns about Meyer
ramrodding talks through. A true and correct copy of the email is attached hereto
as Exhibit 1. My concern increased when on a Board call discussing this matter
we were urged by Meyer to allocate funds for a venue, as there were only a

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couple of possibilities, apparently, that guaranteed they would not “deplatform”/cancel Jensen if equality advocates protested the event. When the
concern was raised on the Board call, Meyer said something like “Don't worry I’ll
take care of them” (i.e. transgender equality activists).
32. In July 2016, I became aware of an online GoFundMe fundraising
account that was raising money as WLD. On July 13, 2016 I retrieved a
screenshot image of the webpage, a true and correct copy of which is attached
hereto as Exhibit 2, having visited the page of the account. At that time, the
webpage indicated that the account had been created on July 4, 2016 by
“WildLands Defense Colorado” and listed Sedalia, Colorado as the location;
Meyer resides in Sedalia. The URL of the site was www.gofundme.com/s3zwg8c.
I inquired of Natalie Ertz as to whether she had known about the account and
where the monies it was generating were being deposited. Natalie was unaware
of the account, and advised that the monies could not be deposited into any of
WildLands Defense’s accounts without her knowledge.
33. On July 15, 2016 I sent WLD Board President Brian Ertz an email
expressing concerns about Meyer’s inflammatory use of language on the
WildLands Defense Colorado Facebook page, as it appeared to be inciting
disturbing comments and activity. I included screenshot images I had taken of
the activity, a true and correct copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 3.
Brian asked whether I would keep track of the page, to which I agreed.
34. On July 19, 2016 I sent WLD Board President Brian Ertz an email
expressing concern about the language that the WildLands Defense Colorado

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Facebook page included in its “Long Description” on the page info page.1 The
page characterized WLD as “We believe it is our responsibility to protect our
beloved from the continued slaughter by any means necessary. . .” (Emphasis
added). Attached hereto as Exhibit 4 is a true and correct copy of the email.
35. On July 20, 2016 I sent WLD Board President Brian Ertz emails
expressing concern about the inflammatory language utilized on the WLD
Colorado Facebook page. On July 25, 2016 I sent Brian another email further
illustrating concerns about Meyer’s use of language on the WildLands Defense
Colorado Facebook page, as it appeared to be inciting disturbing comments. I
visited the page the same day, a true and correct copy is attached hereto as
Exhibit 5.
36. On August 5, 2016 I visited the Colorado Secretary of State business
entity search website and downloaded articles of incorporation for a nonprofit
corporation titled “Prairie Protection Colorado” in which Meyer is listed as the
corporation’s registered agent. The document is stamped as having been filed on
July 23, 2016; a true and correct copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 6.
37. On August 5, 2016 WLD convened a previously scheduled special
Board meeting. Each WLD Board member was in attendance via telephone
conference, including Meyer. During the meeting WLD Board President asked all
Board members whether any of the Board members had opened or were
                                                        
Which read, in relevant part: “WildLands Defense Action is devoted to save the
prairie dogs and prairie habitat of the West through political, on the ground, legal
and radical actions. We believe that it is our responsibility to protect our beloved
from the continued slaughter by any means necessary. We work in tandem with
Deep Green Resistance and our goal is to stop the annihilation…”
1

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managing any online fundraising accounts under WLD’s name, banner, or
likeness. No one on the phone call responded to Brian’s question. Brian Ertz
proceeded to directly ask Meyer whether she had opened or was operating a
fundraising webpage on GoFundMe under WildLands Defense or WildLands
Defense Colorado’s name. Meyer responded that she was not going to answer
any of Brian’s questions on the call.
38. On August 9, 2016 I took screenshot images of the WildLands
Defense Colorado Facebook page, which at that point had been renamed ‘Prairie
Protection Colorado.’ A true and correct copy of the email and snapshot images
of the Colorado Facebook page as I saw it is attached to the Affidavit of Brian
Ertz In Support Of WildLands’/Ertz’s Motion For Preliminary Injunction as Exhibit
13. Meyer had posted a message to the page’s “followers” that referenced details
of previous correspondences between WLD’s counsel, and her then counsel, that
were subjected to the Board of Director’s explicit confidentially agreement. The
post likewise directed “followers” to inquire of the matter at
prairieprotectioncolorado@gmail.com. The communication demonstrated to me
that Meyer had used Facebook to apparently resign from WLD’s Board, 2 and the
message further indicated a willingness to breach confidentiality and set her
“followers” on WLD, which contributed to my belief that the threats she made on
the previous Board call were credible. The post likewise promotes her new
                                                        
2
In relevant part: “[W]e have changed our page name and are no longer associated in any
way with WildLands Defense, an Idaho Nonprofit Corporation. WildLands Defense has
elected to go in a separate direction which focuses on landscape level protections across
the West. We will continue our work to save individual prairie dog colonies in Colorado
who face extermination under Prairie Protection Colorado…” (Emphasis added).

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organization, and comments include former WLD members and colleagues
encouraging WLD members to defect to the new organization with their returned
donation. Derrick Jensen commented telling Meyer’s followers to give returned
funds to Meyer’s new group.
39. Also on August 9, 2016 I sent an email to Brian including screenshots
of a GoFundMe account that Meyer had apparently created on May 17, 2016
located at www.gofundme.com/armoryprairiedogs. This account, absent the WLD
banner, was nearly identical in content but had received significantly fewer
donations. Attached hereto as Exhibit 7 is a true and correct copy of the email,
which contained true and correct copies of the screenshot images I captured.
40. On August 15, 2016 I sent an email to Brian which included
screenshot photographs documenting the conversion of WLD email templates,
the WildLands Defense Colorado Facebook page, a GoFundMe fundraising
campaign page, and another IndieGoGo fundraising campaign page. Attached
hereto as Exhibit 8 is the email with the screenshots, all of which are true and
correct copies of the email and screenshots I took on that day.
41. I have spent considerable time and resource collaborating and building
relationships within the conservation community that are significantly valuable to
the organization’s ability and capacity. I have been working on conservation of
pinyon-juniper forests and other arid landscapes for decades. By working I mean
visiting, documenting site conditions with agencies, researching ecological
processes

including

reviewing

scientific

documents,

reviewing

documents, submitting comments and appeals of agency actions, etc.

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42. While with WLD. WLD received, and continues to receive, grant
funding in part to support my work on PJ forests.

43. Recognizing my duty of confidentiality to WLD, have been unable to
respond to Meyer's false allegations about Board business. WLD, and myself. I
am very concerned about Meyer maligning me throughout the conservation
community. There are not a large number of people or groups who work on arid
lands issues in the region. The network is quite small. Meyer's mis-truths harm
my reputation as a public lands activist and conservationist, and my ability to
effectively carry out my work, and harm WLD. Her false assertions are likely to
impact WLD receiving grants for my work, drive WLD supporters and citizen
volunteers away, and may be used to cast aspersion on my work with federal
agencies, etc. It may also undercut my ability to work most effectively to
advocate for public lands and wildlife with agencies-as it demonstrates internal
dissension and weakness within the environmental community and within WLD --
harming me professionally and WLD as an organization.

?yb 1&4:

(meme

 

STATE OF IDAHO
COUNTY OF ADA

The foregoing instrument was subscribed and sworn to before me this 8th
day of January, 2017, by Katie Fite.

WITNESS my hand and official seal.

My commission expires: 5- rr-MQ?' 3/ 
- 

Notary Public [7

015