"there is a problem and clearly has been for a long time"

I think that's right, but it seldom comes up. By "long time" I don't know what you mean, but I mean in excess of a century. The latest problem is just the extreme state of the longer one. I don't have good evidence, but if you read "Grass Beyond the Mountains" for example, he talks about lots of caribou in the Itchas. I'd like to hear what other people know about caribou pops in the Interior and North 100 years ago.

"lack of funding affecting the quality of science based management"

There's no question it's a problem, and one that needs to be addressed.

"I think we all support sound solid scientific management..." I'm not sure I'd agree, depending on how you define "we". I think we should test that proposition and take note of the results. If you include all voters then clearly not everyone supports science based management (WDL doesn't for example). I was watching the public meeting on Caribou in PG on the internet earlier - there are plenty of people in that room who don't believe the bios know what they're talking about - you can't tell me they really believe in science based management when compared to their own anecdotal knowledge based approach (and there's no shortage of those people anywhere).

"Supporting science based management does not mean follow like a sheep"

I'm not sure what you mean. The bios don't make policy - the government does. Do I recommend following the government like sheep? Clearly not. Like I wrote, there are a lot of players and a lot of agendas. That said, I think that if you want to find the highest number of trustworthy people, stick to the bios. Much lower ratio of hidden agendas. Those that do have hidden agendas are pretty obvious.

The main point remains: we should go to the original source on the science whenever possible. We should spend some money translating studies into material that's easy for the interested layman to access. We should avoid putting much trust in the MSM unless it's from an MSM source that has clearly established good trust.

Just for fun check this link on Gell Mann Amnesia Effect - then don't succumb to the amnesia the next tine you read a newspaper!