Recently, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife made what Bonham described as a \u201cgut-wrenching decision\u201d<\/a> to euthanize several members of a wolf pack in the Sierra Valley that was responsible for an unprecedented number of livestock attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like it\u2019s affected my health. It\u2019s been miserable, but it is the balance of the two things that are happening,\u201d Bonham said at the recent commission meeting. There\u2019s the \u201cbeautiful recovery\u201d and \u201cwhat our rural communities are going through.\u201d<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s salmon. Bonham\u2019s colleagues have publicly praised him for overseeing the removal of four dams along the Klamath River, leading to a salmon renaissance in their historic habitat<\/a>. While many see that as a major win, it doesn\u2019t represent the bigger, bleaker picture for salmon in the state. The native fish have suffered steep declines amid drought and human development. With the population so low, commercial salmon fishing has been closed for the last three years<\/a> \u2014 earning Bonham scathing criticism<\/a>. <\/p>\n In an interview, Bonham acknowledged the challenges \u2014 particularly those that affect people\u2019s livelihoods \u2014 have worn him down. The department is involved with water management, housing development and the energy transition. Compounding the difficulty in addressing such complex matters is what Bonham described as waning civility in public discourse. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think any individual moment or issue or day for me ever became a tipping point, but I will say cumulative impacts, or effects, is real.\u201d<\/p>\n At the recent Fish and Game Commission meeting, Samantha Murray, commission vice president, described him as having a \u201csteady, calm, like, sedate presence,\u201d and hailed his long institutional knowledge. <\/p>\n \u201cAll we see is the even-keeled leadership in the face of an ever-growing suite of novel challenges related to climate, drought, wildfires, human-wildlife conflicts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Gov. Gavin Newsom praised Bonham in a statement<\/a>, saying he led the department with \u201cheart and conviction\u201d and calling him \u201ca champion for California\u2019s natural heritage.\u201d <\/p>\n Charlton \u201cChuck\u201d Bonham, center, helps release beavers in a Plumas County waterway in 2023. <\/p>\n (California Department of Fish and Wildlife)<\/p>\n But to others, Bonham represents an ill-advised turn for the department that critics say has been hijacked by left-leaning values and has become out-of-touch with the state\u2019s hunters and fishers. Some suggest the way the agency presents itself is evidence of this shift: In 2013, the department assumed its current name. Prior to that, it was called the California Department of Fish and Game. <\/p>\n \u201cDuring his time as the director Californians have lost the ability to fish and hunt for countless species of fish and game due to mismanagement,\u201d Mike Rasmussen, a Northern California fishing guide, wrote in an Instagram post<\/a> about his departure. \u201cBye Felicia!\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Bonham described his transition to a nonprofit as \u201ccoming back home.\u201d<\/p>\n The outgoing director grew up in Atlanta and attended the University of Georgia as an undergrad.<\/p>\n After graduation, he volunteered with the Peace Corps, landing in West Africa\u2019s Senegal.<\/p>\n After that, \u201cI wanted to go back to a space that really mattered to me as a person, which is the outdoors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For several years, he worked as an outdoor guide, primarily leading whitewater rafting trips at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina.<\/p>\n But he believed there was more he could do to take care of the wild places he cherished. So he enrolled at Louis & Clark Law School in Portland, Ore., where he studied public interest law with a focus on the environment.<\/p>\n He also interned for Trout Unlimited, a nonprofit that aims to protect rivers and streams, which turned out to be his conduit to California.<\/p>\n The nonprofit asked him to handle their legal work in California, which he calls \u201cthe greatest place.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Several](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1767154633_793_.jpeg\")
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