Fish and Game Director Wants Expanded Wolf Hunting
KIVI-TV Channel 6 News, March 9, 2010 [here]
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — The director of Idaho Fish and Game says more wolves need to be killed in the Lolo area of the Clearwater River basin to stop the decline in elk populations.
Cal Groen says state wildlife managers will recommend significant changes to wolf seasons in the Lolo and other zones where elk numbers are not at management levels.
He says management tools could include increased harvest limits, multiple tags, trapping, and asking outfitters to help reduce wolf numbers.
Groen says eight of the state’s 29 elk hunting zones are below the department’s population objectives.
He says five of those have significant wolf populations, including the Lolo, Selway and Sawtooth zones.
The hunting changes could be put in place next fall.
Senator Whitsett drought request letter to Gov. Kulongoski
March 11, 2010
To: The Honorable Ted Kulongoski
900 Court Street NE
Salem Oregon 97301
RE: Klamath County Drought Declaration Request
Dear Governor Kulongoski,
This letter is to request that at the earliest time possible you declare that emergency hydrologic drought conditions currently exist in Klamath County.
I was privileged to sit in on the Water Availability subcommittee meeting held yesterday at the Salem Armory. After careful consideration of all the current hydrologic factors, the sub-committee voted unanimously to recommend that a declaration of hydrologic drought be declared in Klamath County. Factors that were considered include 71% of normal snowpack, 51% of normal reservoir storage, 80% of normal precipitation to date, 63% of normal stream flow to date, and forecasted stream flow of only 30% to 65% of normal depending on the watershed area being measured.
The existing hydrologic drought, in conjunction with the two biologic opinions, has created an untenable situation for irrigators who depend on surface water to grow their crops. The biological opinion designed to protect the endangered sucker fish requires that significant water be held in the Upper Klamath Lake reservoir thereby diminishing water available for diversion for irrigation. The biological opinion designed to protect the threatened Coho salmon requires that significantly more water be discharged from Upper Klamath Lake than has historically occurred in dry years to enhance stream flow. The combination of the effects of the hydrological drought and the effects of the biological opinions results in very little water being available for diversion for agricultural production.
As you know, your declaration that emergency drought conditions exist will allow Klamath County drought wells to be used for irrigation. It will also allow significantly wider latitude for the Oregon Water Resources Department to authorize water transfers that will allow the farmers to selectively irrigate their highest value crop lands. I met with Oregon Water Resources Department Director Phil Ward in my office Monday and he assured me that his Department is ready and able to take immediate action to help mitigate the drought effects in any way that they legally can help.
Your emergency drought declaration will also set the table for United States Department of Agriculture drought relief payments in the event that the existing drought results in 30% or more reduction in harvested crop value. We certainly hope that such crop losses can be avoided, but in the event that they do occur the drought relief payments may well be the income required for some family farming operations to remain economically viable.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely yours,
Senator Doug Whitsett
District 28
Critical Habitat Designated for Endangered 3-Inch Long Willamette Valley Fish
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service News Release, March 10, 2010 [here]
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today designated critical habitat for the Oregon chub, a small fish native to Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The Oregon chub (Oregonichthys crameri) was listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1993.
The designation includes 25 units totaling 132 acres, including land under state, federal, other government and private ownership. As allowed under the ESA, all or portions of these units were considered but not selected for exclusion from the critical habitat designation. Exclusions could have been based on the relative costs and benefits of designating critical habitat, including information that was gathered during the public comment period on potential economic and other relevant impacts of the proposal. …
The economic analysis, prepared by Industrial Economics Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., estimated the additional cost of the proposed critical habitat designation would total $108,000 over 20 years. This cost is expected to be entirely the administrative costs of additional consultations required for critical habitat under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. The total costs of Oregon chub conservation including consultation and other already-ongoing efforts is predicted to be between $2.74 million and $11.1 million over 20 years.
These impacts are low in comparison to the conservation costs for other species in the Pacific Northwest because the proposed critical habitat for the chub totals only 132.1 acres, mostly in small disconnected habitat units that are isolated from economic activity. Also, the long history of protection for the chub has created a baseline of ongoing conservation efforts. … [more]
Note: $11 million to “conserve” 132 acres for a minnow that is not actually endangered comes to $83,000 per acre. However, that is an underestimate of the true costs, since lawsuits and EAJA money have not been included. You tax dollars gone to waste.
57 New Fish Species Found in Greenland
There several different fish swim around in the waters around Greenland, than researchers previously assumed. The whole 57 species have come to in a recount.
Berlingske Tidende, 9 marts 2010 [here]
Note: Google translation from Danish
Increased fishing in deep water and rising sea temperatures are probably the cause of that Greenland can welcome a new strip of fish.
Since the last census in 1992 are all 57 species appeared. It shows a new survey carried out by fish curator Peter Rask Møller of the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, in cooperation with Danish and Greenlandic scientists.
Thus, there is now a total of 269 known species in Greenland waters.
“We are cautious to announce that many new species due to climate change, but there are about five new species, which appear likely to have come because of increased temperatures. These are the salmon herring, whiting, Rosefishes, monkfish and Snipe - all species which also occur in Danish waters,” said Peter Rask Moller said in a statement.
The 57 new species of Greenland are “new” in different ways. The 47 species are known species worldwide, but is new in Greenland waters. In contrast, 10 species completely new and not previously described by science.
Only five of the species is Arctic - meaning that they occur only in the cold water north of the submarine elevation move that runs between Canada and Greenland, and Greenland and Iceland. The rest are species that thrive in slightly warmer water.
The vast majority of new species deep-sea living from about 400 meters down. They apply, for example, two new shark species Iceland catshark and Portuguese dogfish. The reason why these species appearing now, may be due to increased deep-sea fishing by both research vessels and commercial fishermen.
Peter Rask Møller dare not predict whether the new species will take hold and eventually become numerous enough that they can be fished.
Sen. Hinkle letter: Wolves as disease carriers
Clark Fork Chronicle, March 05 2010 [here]
Sen. Greg Hinkle submitted the following letter to be read at the March 2, 2010 meeting of the Environmental Quality Council.
Environmental Quality Council
Representative Chas Vincent, Chair
P.O. Box 201704
Helena, Mt. 59620-1704
Re: Wolf as disease carriers
Dear Representative Vincent and members of the Council,
I have reviewed the documents before this Council on the spread of Hydatid Disease via the wolf. In addition to this, I have reviewed information from the Center of Disease Control (CDC) and studies by renowned wildlife biologist Dr. Valerius Geist, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science at the University of Calgary. You have seen his comments in an email dated February 28, 2010 titled, “EQC and wolves/wolf diseases”.
You have information indicating that almost two-thirds of the wolves in Montana are carriers of the Hydatid Tapeworm and are contaminating our landscape with the eggs of this worm. We have a much milder climate in Montana than in the Far North and it appears this will contribute to a more prevalent spread of the disease. You have read Dr. Geist’s comments on how easily humans can come in contact with the eggs through pets and wildlife where deer or elk are intermediate hosts contributing to the spread of the disease. The seriousness of this contamination of the landscape can not be understated or denied.
In a fact sheet published by the CDC on Echinococossis it is stated, in part, that a person can become infected “by directly ingesting food items contaminated with stool (or eggs) from foxes, coyotes (wolves). This might include grass, herbs, greens, or berries gathered in fields.” Considering the number of wolves in western Montana, to what extent is the probability of wild berries being contaminated?
I have a copy of a letter written to Ed Bangs, Wolf Specialist with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) dated October 3, 1993 from Will N. Graves (Gray Wolf EIS). In that letter, Mr. Graves pointed out the fact that wolves of the north were Hydatid carriers and should not be introduced into the United States by the USFWS. This dated letter was prior to the introduction program; therefore, was the warning ignored or disregarded by Mr. Bangs?
The Montana Constitution in Article IX, Section 1 guarantees every Montanan the unalienable right to a clean and healthy environment; that the legislature will administer and enforce this duty; and that “the legislature shall provide adequate remedies for the protection of the environmental life support system from degradation and provide adequate remedies to prevent unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources.”
The expansion of the wolf population enhanced by foreign wolves is virtually wiping out western Montana’s big game herds. I know that from personal observations and those of other outdoorsmen.
I would point out that in a US Supreme Court case; Printz v. United States, 95-1503; the Court referred to a previous case; New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992); and they stated in Printz, “The Federal government”, we held, “may not compel the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program”, Id., at188. This begs the question, in my mind; did the USFWS have the authority to contaminate our environment with diseased wolves?
Where do we go from here? I believe there are some options. First would be to request that the Attorney General of Montana fully investigate whether Mr. Bangs and the USFWS knew of the potential of bringing diseased wolves from a foreign country into the State. If this is found to be true, the State should sue USFWS for violating our Constitutional guarantee to a clean and healthful environment. Second, we should immediately begin to eradicate the source of the problem. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) should make available an unlimited number of wolf tags and open the season year round. They should educate all hunters on the potential hazard of handling a wolf (or coyote). The funds from the wolf tags should be divided up and all those who harvest a wolf at the end of each calendar year will receive a payment for each wolf harvested. Yes, it is called a bounty. Thirdly, due to deer and elk being intermediate hosts of the disease, FWP should immediately enforce the prohibition on the feeding of ungulates. Illegal feeding concentrates deer and elk creating a hazard for everyone. Other than that, what other sound options are there to hold the spread of this disease in check?
Sincerely,
Senator Greg Hinkle
Greg Hinkle represents Senate District 7, which includes western Missoula County and all of Mineral County.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks director issues new rules for killing wolves
By EVE BYRON, Independent Record, March 5, 2010 [here]
Montana’s top wildlife official acknowledged Friday that the state has too many wolves on the landscape, so he’s implementing a new strategy that will allow problem wolves to be killed more quickly by federal agents.
In a hearing before the Environmental Quality Council, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Joe Maurier said federal Wildlife Services agents no longer need FWP authorization to kill wolves at or near confirmed livestock depredation sites. They also will be able to immediately kill any wolves that are trapped when they return to those sites.
“For the amount of conflict we have in all sectors today, we probably have too many wolves on the landscape,” Maurier told the council. “We had tolerable conflict on the landscape; now it’s intolerable. Now we have to go back to the point where it’s tolerable at all levels but we still have a viable population.”
Maurier added that he expects the wolf hunting quota to be increased next season from the initial statewide quota of 75 as another way to lower the wolf population.
High Life in the High Mountains?
By Lois Wingerson, American Archaeology, Vol. 13 No. 4 Winter 2009 [here]
Archaeologist Richard Adams never expected to find an ancient village straddling the tree line at an altitude of 10,700 feet in northwest Wyoming. But it was there that he discovered the remains of dozens of lodges cut into a steep mountainside. Single dwellings and hunters’ blinds were found that high, but it has been decades since anyone found a whole prehistoric village in North America at such a height. In 1979, David Hurst Thomas of the American Museum of Natural History found Alta Toquima, a village of about 20 prehistoric houses situated above 11,000 feet in Nevada. A few years later, Robert Bettinger of the University of California-Davis began excavating the first of about 12 prehistoric villages above 10,000 feet in the White Mountains of east-central California.
But never before has a whole prehistoric village been found at a very high altitude as far north as Wyoming. The discovery of High Rise Village prompts a number of questions. Why did these ancient people establish a large village where there is snow on the ground for nine months of the year? Why did they choose a slope with a 20 to 30 percent grade (as steep as a moderate ski run), using bone shovels to level the ground on which their lodges were built, when there’s a meadow a few hundred yards downhill? Why carry tools made from stone that was quarried as far as 100 miles away, when there was a fine chert quarry only five miles distant? These questions remain, but after four seasons at the site, Adams and his team are confident they have answered their initial research questions: when did people live there, who were they, and what were they doing?
Note: You’ll have to buy the mag to read the whole article. Some highlights:
* The village has been radiocarbon-dated to ~1140-1535 A.D.
* Evidence of at least 60 lodges
* Inhabitants were the Tukudika, the Mountain Shoshone [here]
* Villagers ate bighorn sheep, pine nuts, scores of edible plants, used many medicinal plants, had ample firewood
* Numerous other use and village sites have been identified. The evidence suggests that the Yellowstone region was not an uninhabited wilderness in pre-Columbian times.
FWS Announces Nearly $65 Million to Pacific Region States for Fish and Wildlife Conservation Projects
USFWS News Release No. 10-031, March 5, 2010 [here]
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Region will distribute nearly $65 million to four states, one commonwealth and two territories to support hunting, sport-fishing, wildlife research and fish and wildlife conservation and education programs.
The funding, through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program, is derived from excise taxes and import duties on sporting firearms, ammunition, archery equipment, sport-fishing equipment, electric outboard motors, and fuel taxes attributable to motorboats and small engines.
The total Wildlife Restoration apportionment for 2010 totals nearly $473 million, with more than $86 million going to hunter education and firearm and archery range programs. The total Sport Fish Restoration apportionment for 2010 totals more than $389 million. The federal government pays [Note: hunters and fishermen pay] up to 75 percent of the cost of each eligible project in the 50 states and up to 100 percent in the commonwealths and territories.
“These reliable, dedicated funds are even more critical given today’s economic climate,” said Pacific Regional Director Robyn Thorson. …
States utilize these funds for managing, enhancing and protecting wildlife habitat through operation and maintenance of state owned wildlife areas and by working with private landowners to improve wildlife habitat on their lands. …
Note that many state-owned wildlife areas do not allow hunting or fishing. The money is taken from hunters and fisherman and spent on non-game activities. See [here].
Thanks for the news tip goes to Julie Kay Smithson, Property Rights Research [here, here]
Owyhee Desert may be tagged for monument designation
By Larry Meyer, Argus Observer, March 4, 2010 [here]
Ontario, Oregon - A leaked memo about possible national monument designations has fired up lawmakers and other officials across the West, and they are banding together to ward off any such moves, or at least get more public involvement.
The president of the United States can designate a national monument without approval of Congress.
According to a Department of Interior internal “not for release” document, leaked to a Utah lawmaker, the list of possible candidates for monument designation includes the Owyhee Desert in Oregon and Nevada. No proposed boundaries have been released.
“It’s all very preliminary,” Mark Wilkening, Vale District Bureau of Land Management, said.
Noting that a portion of the Owyhee canyonlands in Idaho has been protected by Congress, the memo said, “A significant portion of the Owyhee region in Oregon [and] Nevada remains unprotected.” [Note: An utter lie.] …
Using the Antiquities Act to designate a national monument is something that President Clinton did, Malheur County Judge Dan Joyce said.
“George Bush didn’t.” Joyce said, adding Bush tried work toward a designation that protected all beneficial uses of an area.
“I suppose there is a way to write that (a monument designation) to benefit everyone,” Joyce said. “I haven’t seen one.”
Joyce said he does not see how a monument would benefit Malheur County and its economy, putting more restrictions on resource use.
In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, 16 lawmakers expressed their concerns about the internal document regarding the discussion within the department concerning potential national monument designation sites “without public knowledge or participation.”
The letter noted that Salazar is planning a more open process in which there would be public dialogue.
“We do hope the statement does mean than an open, transparent process involving the public will occur prior to any action [by] the Department or the President,” Joyce said.
Wilkening said there will be public involvement in the designation process. [Note: Who is Wilkening? Is he the architect of the process, or is he a low-level government functionary spouting off about something he knows nothing about?]
Of wolves and salaries
By Dexter K. Oliver, Guest Columnist, Eastern Arizona Courier, February 28, 2010 [here]
I went to an open meeting at the Bureau of Land Management office in Safford on Feb. 25 to “discover more about the efforts to restore the Mexican gray wolf to southeastern Arizona,” as it was touted.
Since I already had 16 years of on and off direct involvement with the project, I wanted to see if a rabbit was somehow going to be pulled out of the hat at the eleventh hour — one that would somehow save it. I was disappointed but certainly not surprised.
Since long before wolves were actually dumped on the ground near Alpine in 1998, there has been a lack of responsible leadership, lack of practical experienced field personnel and lack of very necessary outside oversight and control.
From day one, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its closest cohort in this mess, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, have been proud to proclaim “expertise” in what they were doing. Of course, anyone who has closely monitored the continual string of failures would wonder at all these back-slapping self-congratulations.
The representative from the state wildlife agency put forth the idea that transparency was inherent in the project; I beg to differ. If this were so, with the Mexican wolf reintroduction, as well as those with black-footed ferrets and California condors, the public outcry would be as loud as it finally was over these same agencies’ 30 years of bungling and misleading about another pet project, attempting to reintroduce masked bobbed-white quail into Arizona.
I have worked for the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arizona Game and Fish the federal Wildlife Services and the U.S. Forest Service and know that feeding the public distorted views or outright mistruths, especially when things aren’t going well, is commonplace.
“CYA” as they teach new recruits. And there is a motive for this, the bedrock reason why failed wildlife reintroductions drag on as long as the agencies involved can manage it; people’s salaries are at stake. This isn’t a novel idea. I’ve been writing about it for years, as have other people.
Close scrutiny of these endeavors that have no enforceable sunset clause to shut them down after a reasonable time frame are not being done for the wildlife; they don’t want to suffer and die out there. It’s being done so folks can retire off the backs of these doomed animals. … [more]
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Congress Should Limit President’s Authority on Monuments — U.S. Chamber
By PATRICK REIS of Greenwire, NY Times, February 25, 2010 [here]
Congress should act to limit the president’s authority to create new national monuments, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said this week.
The Antiquities Act of 1906 currently gives the president authority to declare new national monuments without congressional approval in order to protect threatened cultural and natural resources. But past presidents have repeatedly abused that authority to make sweeping designations that are much larger than those originally intended by the act, the chamber said in a letter Monday to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
“The Act was designed to protect small areas of land and specific items of archaeological, scientific, or historic importance,” the chamber wrote. “In fact, it instructs the President to confine any designations ‘to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.’”
A confidential document [here] leaked last week revealed that the Interior Department had compiled a list of 14 potential sites for new or expanded national monuments the administration could create through the Antiquities Act.
The Antiquities Act already contains provisions limiting presidential authority in Wyoming and Alaska, and those requirements should be made national, the chamber said. Utah representatives, still upset over President Clinton’s 1996 decision to create the 1.7-million-acre Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, introduced legislation that would put similar restrictions in place in their state. … [more]
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Senate rejects bid to block Obama on national monuments
Frank DuBois, The Westerner, Monday, March 01, 2010 [here]
The first round of a new fight over White House power to unilaterally impose new protections on large tracts of western lands went to the Obama administration. The Senate on Thursday rejected, 38-58, Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-S.C.) bid to block White House authority to designate national monuments in western states. DeMint wanted to attach the amendment to legislation approved yesterday aimed at bolstering tourism in the U.S… read more [here]
See how they voted [here].
You will note 4 Republicans voted with Obama:
Alexander (R-TN)
Collins (R-ME)
Gregg (R-NH)
Snowe (R-ME)
All are from the NE except for Alexander, who as Governor, lobbyist and now Senator has always been a tool of the enviros, especially on land acquisition and park issues.
The only Senators who actually displayed fortitude on the vote were two Democrats (Baucus D-MT and Nelson D-NE) and who knows where they would have been had their votes been needed.
Let’s also remember that under George W. Bush the R’s controlled the White House and both houses of Congress for six years. Did they use this opportunity to restrict the President’s authority under the Antiquities Act? Nope.
Besides, George W. Bush created five national monuments totalling over 334,000 square miles (220 million acres). Only one small one though was in the Continental USA.
Since the act passed in 1906, only three President’s have not used it, all R’s: Nixon, Reagan and Bush the first.
The R’s won’t restrict executive authority when an R is President and the D’s won’t do it when a D is President. So it never gets restricted.
Both parties are to blame and The West will suffer because of it.
Utah House votes to curb stream access
By Brandon Loomis, The Salt Lake Tribune, 02/24/2010 [here]
The Utah House has voted to restrict public access to streams that cross private property except where anglers and others can prove a continuous use has existed for at least 10 years.
The bill, a substitute version of HB141, responds to a 2008 Utah Supreme Court ruling that said state law gives access to public waters. Representatives who supported it Tuesday said the bill reasserts constitutional protections for private property as the nation’s and state’s founders intended.
“The pilgrims came here not to go fishing, but to own land,” said Rep. Steve Mascaro, R-West Jordan.
Recreationists who lost this legislative round viewed the issue very differently, saying the bill cuts into public rights to public waterways.
“The public has a right to its water through the [Utah] Constitution, period,” said Utah Rivers Council Executive Director Zach Frankel. “So unless [legislators] do a constitutional amendment, they’re not going to be able to change that.”
He said thousands of recreational users have become involved since the court ruling, and “people will be falling over themselves to sue” if the Senate passes the bill.
Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, said the court decision was based on statute, not constitutional principles, and granted public rights where none previously had existed. For instance, he said, a creek that passes through his land never had seen public use — there are no fish there — but the ruling meant people could wade through to hunt or pursue other activities.
He said it’s the Legislature’s duty to protect private-property rights of the few against the demands of hundreds of thousands of fishers.
“This is not a popularity vote,” he said, but a case of upholding constitutional principles that protect against a “tyranny of the masses.” … [more]
Go Monument Yourself, Mr. Prez
Local officials concerned about Vermillion Basin issue
By Brian Smith, Craig Daily Press , February 24, 2010 [here]
Craig — Some local officials have been left confused and upset by a document leaked Thursday from the Bureau of Land Management, which lists the Vermillion Basin as a potential site for “special management or congressional designation.”
In response to the leaked information, the Moffat County Commission approved a letter to be sent to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at its Tuesday meeting. The letter, drafted by Jeff Comstock, director of the Moffat County Natural Resources Department, said the commission is “deeply discouraged” by the potential designation.
Salazar released a statement Thursday following reports stating the internal discussion “reflects some brainstorming discussions” and that “no decisions have been made about which areas, if any, might merit more serious review and consideration.”
Local officials are concerned they were not involved in any decisions regarding local land.
“What is most offensive is an executive order telling you how to manage your land,” Comstock said. “Involve your local people before you start doing a ‘top-down’ approach.”
Opponents of potential designation contend that the Antiquities Act could be used to designate the 77,000-acre area a national monument. Such a decision likely would limit public access and use of the land. … [more]
Historic Signing Fills Capitol Rotunda, Parches Klamath Farmers
BY SARAH ROSS, OregonPolitico.com, February 19, 2010 [here]
SALEM- In a signing ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday morning, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and other interested parties came together to sign a restoration agreement for the Klamath Basin region bordering Oregon and California.
The agreement will lead to the removal of four dams on the Klamath River and closes 30,000 acre-feet of agricultural water rights designated off the federal project lands. Additionally, it provides the funds to purchase about 90,000 acres of forest land for the Klamath Tribes.
Speakers at the ceremony included major players in the negotiations of the agreement including leaders of the National Marine Fishery Services, tribal leaders for the region, owner of the four PacifiCorp dams on the Klamath Rivers, as well as Gov. Schwarzenegger, Gov. Kulongoski, and Secretary Salazar.
Although this ceremony gave a glowing appearance of unity amongst its participants, the issues present in the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement are controversial at best. Many citizens in the area are upset with the agreement process and with its outcome.
The two biggest issues presented by those opposed to the agreement are the retirement of 30,000 acre-feet which will be losing their water rights, making the land no longer irrigable for large crops, and the closing of four dams in the region, which is predicted to raise the price of electricity for the area. … [more]