The Barred Owl Strikes Again — It’s the Avian Bart Simpson!
The little dickens! The bad, bad, barred owl has been singled out again. This time the feathered fiend is being blamed for spreading avian malaria to that most pathetic of birdish species, the spotted owl. News Flash from the Dead Tree Press [here]:
Study turns up avian malaria in northern spotted owl
PORTLAND(AP) — A new study of parasites in the northern spotted owl has turned up the first documented case of avian malaria in the threatened species.
The study by San Francisco State University biologists was part of a larger investigation of blood-borne parasites in birds of prey.
Avian malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes, the same way humans are infected by another strain of the disease.
Researchers say even a single case is significant because blood parasites are an indicator of the overall health of a bird species.
They are trying to determine whether the avian malaria was introduced by the barred owl, a closely related species that has been taking over spotted owl habitat and is considered a threat to its survival.
The barred owl is a winged Bart Simpson. Whatever problems Spotty is having, it must be caused by Bart Barred Owl. So say the “researchers.”
But not to worry, the “researchers” (aka bird biologists) have the solution well in hand: barred owl blasting. That’s right, sports fans. Bird biologists, the very same bird brains who gave us the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP), are hot to trot to blast barred owls out of the sky with shotguns. With their trigger fingers itching, “researchers” are already humping down logging roads and blasting away at owls from tailgates of pickup trucks. They call it “a redneck sport” [here].
It must be Bart Barred Owl, because who else could we blame for the utter and complete failure of the NWFP?
The Fifth Amendment
The Fifth Amendment (Amendment V) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
When the Federal Government or an agent thereof enters your private property and destroys it, without due process of law and without just compensation paid to you for your losses, that is a violation of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Examples:
1. The Federal Government breeds and releases hybrid wolf-dogs, and those wolf-dogs enter upon your private property and kill your livestock, which have market value and in which you have an investment-backed expectation, and you receive no just compensation.
2. The Federal Government ignites a forest fire or backing fire, and allows that fire to rage unchecked, and that fire enters onto your private property and incinerates your home, which has market value and in which you have an investment-backed expectation, and you receive no just compensation.
3. The Federal or State Government captures a bear and places a radio-collar on that bear for the purposes of tracking its movements, and that bear enters your private property, indeed, enters your home, and attacks you in your kitchen, causing you serious physical harm and medical bills, and you receive no just compensation.
4. The Federal or State Government declares your private property to be public property, and seizes that property without compensation of any kind, when you have committed no crime and have received no due process.
5. The Federal Government though negligence or deliberate policy creates or allows to develop a fire hazard, and that fire hazard ignites, and the fire destroys your private property, and you receive no just compensation.
All these are violations of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. And they happen every day. And there is nothing you can do about it.
Teach your children well. Teach them that the United States Constitution is not worth the paper it is written on. Teach them that what they learned in school was a lie. Teach them that the Federal Government has exceeded its authority time and time again, with no regard for the U.S. Constitution. Teach them that they and their fellow citizens are powerless to do anything about it.
Teach them that many of their fellow Americans, including Congressmen, Senators, and Presidents, all of whom have taken a sacred oath to uphold the Constitution, are completely at ease and even supportive of a Federal Government that disregards our Constitution.
It is better to see and understand the truth, no matter the bitter nature of that truth, than to live in darkness and falsehood.
It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. — Patrick Henry
God Bless Wolf Crossing
Three years ago a rancher’s wife (Laura S.) in New Mexico started a blog she called Wolf Crossing [here]. The idea was to provide an Internet spot where local ranchers could get and give information about wolf packs that ranged on and off the Gila and Apache National Forests, where grazing allotments, private ranches, and ranch homes have been located for the past 150 years. The information included wolf locations, livestock depredation records, wolf program planning documents, public comment periods, and wolf release information.
The wolves (actually hybrid wolf-dogs) had been reared in kennels by USFWS employees and then dumped onto public and private properties in various places around New Mexico and Arizona, beginning in 2000. The wolf-dog captive rearing and release is part and parcel of the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program [here].
The human-habituated wolf-dogs immediately began to prey on livestock and pets, and stalked adults and children around their homes, pastures, and right into schoolyards. In 2002 the San Carlos Apache Tribe passed a resolution requesting removal of all Mexican wolves from the Reservation. In 2003 a coalition of Arizona and New Mexico counties filed suit to terminate the program. The USFWS responded by initiating an Adaptive Management Oversight Committee (AMOC) to create some rational rules to control the most egregiously harmful predators.
In 2004 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and AMOC promulgated Standard Operating Procedures that included SOP 13, a rule that called for removal of “3-strike” wolves, those that had been clearly identified as killing at least three head of livestock.
In practice, identifying the wolf-dog that killed livestock is very problematical, so the offending predator had to kill many more than three cattle, horses, other livestock, or pets to be slated for trapping and return to a USFWS kennel. Attacks on handlers didn’t count, and a wolf-dog that bit a USFWS employee was subsequently released just outside a NM community. Rarely have 3-strike wolf-dogs been shot outright by the Feds or by the harassed residents. Instead they have been trapped and returned to one of the USFWS kennels (now holding over 300 wolf-dogs).
Many (not all) of the human-habituated wolf-dogs were released with radio collars, and the USFWS had the capability of tracking the packs. The tracking was sporadic and the info not easily available to the public, until Wolf Crossing. Laura took it upon herself, with next to no financial support, to dig out the tracking records and post them on the Internet.
And so Wolf Crossing was born. Today Wolf Crossing is the premier wolf information site in the world. The tracking reports, AMOC rules, and every bit of wolf news is posted there: wolf terms, facts, diaries, photographs, maps, and wolf education in general. Wolf information from Montana to Mexico is reported daily, as is commentary from the world’s top wolf experts (and site visitors get to comment, too).
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Endangered Specious
By INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY, Thursday, May 22, 2008 [here]
Environmentalism: Alaska says it will sue to challenge the listing of polar bears as a threatened species. The designation could block vital oil and gas development. But that was the whole point in the first place.
The state’s challenge was announced Wednesday by Gov. Sarah Palin. She argues there isn’t enough evidence to support such a listing. And there isn’t. She also maintains that polar bears are well-managed, noting that their population has increased dramatically in the last 30 years. She’s right on that as well.
Fact is, the world polar population is at a modern-day high and growing. Mitch Taylor, a polar bear biologist with Canada’s Federal Provincial Polar Bear Technical Committee, puts the current population at about 24,000, up 40% since 1974.
In winning the listing, environmentalists essentially argued that even if the number of bears isn’t declining, their environment is being degraded as global warming melts the Arctic ice they live on. It’s the environmentalists, however, who are on thin ice.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne made the ruling last week based on three findings: “First, sea ice is vital to polar bear survival. Second, the polar bear’s sea-ice habitat has dramatically melted in recent decades. Third, computer models suggest sea ice is likely to further recede in the future.”
Fourth, he’s wrong.
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Idaho F&G Commission Adopts Wolf Hunting Rules
IDAHO FISH AND GAME NEWS RELEASE [here]
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission Thursday, May 22, adopted the first regulated hunting season on gray wolves in the state’s history
The commission, during its May meeting, set a wolf population goal of 518 wolves, and adopted hunting seasons, limits and rules for the 2008 hunting season.
The season would be open from September 15 in the backcountry and from October 1 in all remaining areas and run through December 31. The commission would review results in November to consider extending the season if limits are not being met.
A hunter can kill one wolf with a valid 2008 hunting license and wolf tag.
“I think we made history today,” Fish and Game Director Cal Groen said. “We must manage this species; they are well beyond recovered.”
The wolf hunt rules are based on the Idaho Wolf Population Management Plan, approved by commissioners in an early March meeting. The gray wolf in the Northern Rocky Mountains was removed from the endangered species list in late March. The plan calls for managing wolves at a population level of between 2005-2007 levels (518-732) wolves for the first five years following delisting.
The estimated population at the end of 2007 was 732 wolves, with an estimated 20 to 30 percent annual growth rate. Adding this years expected pups, that number would be more than 1,000 wolves before hunting season would start.
Commissioners adopted a wolf population goal of the level from 2005, which was about 518 wolves.
Fish and Game rules call for a total statewide mortality limit, including harvest from the Nez Perce Tribe, of about 428 wolves in 2008, which includes all reported wolf kills - from natural causes, accidents, wolf predation control actions and hunter kills. If the limit is reached it would result in an estimated end-of-year population of fewer than 550 wolves.
Hunting will be managed in 12 zones. Hunting intensity would vary with levels of conflict between wolves and livestock or game animals. But when the statewide mortality limit is reached, all hunting would stop. When limits in individual zones are reached, hunting in those zones would stop.
Additional rules include a mandatory report within 72 hours and check-in within 10 days of killing a wolf, and no trapping, electronic devices, bait or dogs will be allowed in the first year. Weapons restrictions are the same as for deer.
Fish and Game expects to release season and rules brochures to the public in July.
Alaska to Sue Over Polar Bear Listing
Alaska State Gov. Press Release No. 08-076 [here]
May 21, 2008, Anchorage, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin announced today the state of Alaska intends to file suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne’s decision to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
“We appreciate the Secretary’s recognition that oil and gas activities are already regulated under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to prevent impacts to the polar bear and do not pose a threat to the polar bear,” Governor Palin said.
In previous comments submitted to the Secretary, the state maintains that there is insufficient evidence to support a listing of the polar bear as threatened for any reason at this time. Polar bears are currently well-managed and have dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of conservation measures enacted through international agreements and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. A listing of the polar bear under the ESA will not provide additional conservation measures.
The Attorney General’s office will draft and file a complaint under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The Secretary’s decision to list a currently healthy species is based on not only the uncertain modeling of future climate change, but also the unproven long-term impact of any future climate change on the species. Alaska’s Attorney General believes the decision is so arbitrary it violates the limits of the APA.
The Attorney General’s office will also begin drafting a 60-day notice of intent to sue under the Endangered Species Act. This action is based on the Secretary’s failure to make a decision based solely on the best available scientific and commercial information. It is also based on the Secretary’s unwarranted expansion of the “foreseeable future” into periods where detailed forecasts of climate change are not possible. A 60-day notice is a legal prerequisite to bringing an action directly under the ESA.
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Northern Spotted Owl Recovery Plan Inflicted
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released the long-promised “final” recovery plan for the northern spotted owl. The entire plan is [here] (4,100 KB)
The recovery plan and other information, including a press release, may also be found on the USFWS NSO website [here].
The northern spotted owl was listed as endangered species in 1990. Finally, 18 years later, a recovery plan has been promulgated. The recovery plan was was proposed over a year ago, but withdrawn after wide criticisms. From the USFWS press release:
A draft recovery plan for the northern spotted owl was completed in 1992 but not finalized due to the development of the Northwest Forest Plan, which amended 26 land and resource management plans (LRMPs) of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. These LRMPs serve as the basis of conservation for a wide variety of species, including the northern spotted owl. The draft recovery plan released today builds on the Forest Plan and solely addresses the recovery needs of the northern spotted owl.
The Northwest Forest Plan has been a catastrophic failure. Spotted owl populations have declined 60 percent or more, old-growth habitat has been incinerated in megafires, and the economy of the region, especially the rural economy, has been decimated. Absolutely no good has come from the Northwest Forest Plan. The 18 years of suffering and tragedy associated have been a monumental waste. For 18 years!
Now bird biologists and the overweening Federal Government (motto: “We’re here to screw you over royally”) have a new plan. We will evaluate in depth it in future posts, but some general conclusions may be drawn at this time.
The northern spotted owl recovery plan (NSORP) has apparently dropped all the whoofoo language. Whoofoos (wildland use fires) are let-it-burn fires. The draft plan withdrawn a year ago was riddled with whoofoo. The drafters of that bizarre arsonist manifesto wished to incinerate spotted owl stands in catastrophic holocausts. Now the language has been toned down somewhat. There is still some verbiage about “managed wildland fire” but whoofoo has been nixed.
Barred owl blasting with shotguns from the back of pickup trucks by (drunk or stoned) employees of the USFWS is not mentioned explicitly but is implied. Although there is little or no scientific evidence that barred owls displace spotted owls, the NSORP calls for “large-scale barred owl control experiments.” Lock and load! USFWS bird biologists refer to barred owl blasting as “a redneck sport” [here]. HeeHaw!
Although barred owl blasting (BOB) is attractive to eco-wackos, the lack of wholesale megafire forest incineration is not, and no doubt the nutwads will be suing the USFWS for failure to burn down the Pacific Northwest in short order. So there is some question as to whether the NSORP will be a viable thing or a litigious punching bag.
We will do a more thorough review very soon, and pick the NSORP apart. The re-authors did make an effort to do a better job than they did with the draft plan, which was atrocious. The new language is less odious, by and large.
We invite you to read it. There is no “comment period.” This is it. The NSORP will soon be published in the Federal Register and become the Law Of The Land.
You probably thought you lived in a democracy, and had a vote about the laws that impact your life, destroy your landscape, and cripple your economy. Hahahahahaha. Get real!
Polar Bear Listed
See W.I.S.E. Forest, Fire, and Wildlife News [here] for the DOI press release.
Will be writing a post on this subject soon, but until then any and all comments welcome.
Arizona’s Navajo County ban wolf releases
New county ordinance bans wolf release with little hope of enforcement
by Donna Rescorla, The White Mountain Independent
posted on Wolf Crossing [here]
HOLBROOK - The Navajo County Board of Supervisors passed a new ordinance - that has little chance of enforcement - for the message it sends.
An ordinance prohibiting the release of wolves and specifying criminal penalties for violations was proposed by Board Chairman J.R. DeSpain at the May 6 supervisors meeting.
”I want to give you some background,” he said, holding up a copy of the Pioneer newspaper. “They reported that in New Mexico cages were built for the children who were waiting to catch the bus because of the fear of being attacked by wolves.
”It’s pretty ironic to have to cage kids to protect them from wildlife. This ordinance is in conflict with the federal program to release to the wild, but we are the Board of Supervisors for Navajo County and have the right to protect our citizens.”
He said the new habitat proposed by federal Fish and Wildlife would open up all of Arizona for the release program.
”I’m a rancher from the Winslow area, and I want to go on record as being with you,” Jim O’Haco said. “I’m against enlarging the wolf areas in central Arizona. Wolves are killers, predators. … [more here].
Why Our Republic Will End May 15th
By Chuck and Roni Sylvester, Good Neighbor Law [here]
In a private note to us, Mary - a 12 year old girl from Colorado wrote:
“People at my school make fun of me because I don’t believe Global Warming is a problem. However, my Geography teacher is good because he presents both sides of the story, but not all of the teachers there do. I am very lucky to be in the Highly Gifted and Talented program, otherwise I wouldn’t have Mr.__. Even when I go out in public and hear something about how Global Warming is going to kill us all, I roll my eyes and give that “Yeah, right” look, people look at me like I was some kind of demon lobster. Thank God my family helps me through times when it doesn’t quite go through the other ear. The Earth has the following periods, each about 5 billion years long: Pre-Cambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Quaternary. Long time, huh? In all of this time, the temperature has been like a ball, bouncing up and down.”
At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked, “What have you wrought?” He answered, “…a Republic, if you can keep it.”
Our Republic, as we’ve known it for near 221 years, will end May 15, 2008.
Where in the world, has a government combined with Jurisdictions foreign to our Constitution, to usurp our legislative process, and mandate law without our consent?
Where in the world are loggers stowing saws, ranchers thinning herds, fishermen casting aside nets, oil field workers leaving rigs, and miners blocked from working?
Where in the world have farmers stopped the plow, and bureaucrats sped up the lies?
Where in the world have bribes ballooned, scruples shriveled, and manners mummified?
Where in the world are these things happening? The United States of America.
Why will our Republic end May 15, 2008?
The Center for Biodiversity, Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace have set before the US Department of the Interior (DOI), a mandate they list a polar bear as an endangered species.
If the DOI makes the decision not to list the polar bear, that decision will have been made based on thousands of pages of scientific evidence that prove the bear is not endangered.
If the DOI makes the decision to list the polar bear, it will have been done so under the tyrannical force wrought by those groups and others - including the Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, Nature Conservancy and other jurisdictions foreign to our Constitution.
Over a period of about 40 years, these groups have raised millions and made billions off their deracination of resource providers including loggers, coal miners, fishermen, ranchers, farmers and oil field workers.
Why? Gain of absolute Despotism and mega-money deals with foreign markets.
Some, including Al Gore, fabricated a scam of global proportions called “global warming,” to control you, your land and your water.
This is not an exaggeration. It is fact.
States Fumbling to Intervene in Wolf Delisting Lawsuit
Three states have requested intervenor status in the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf delisting lawsuit brought by 12 so-called environmental groups against the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which officially removed the wolf from the federal list of endangered species in March.
The USFWS requested a two-week extension of time to file a brief opposing the wolf-lovers motion for preliminary injunction to prepare their briefs, compile expert witnesses and agency program declarations, and obtain internal departmental review of their brief.
Federal Judge Donald W. Molloy denied that motion, so the USFWS has only 11 days to respond to the wolf-lovers request for emergency injunctive relief and the judicial repeal of the wolf delisting. He has yet to rule on whether he will allow the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, Idaho Fish and Game, and Wyoming Fish and Game to intervene.
In his ruling Judge Molloy noted that the USFWS and the intervenors have had over 60 days to prepare for the lawsuit. In truth, the Federal and state agencies have known for years that this was coming. Despite the lengthy debates and discussions in the respective state legislatures, and the involvement of the respective state governors, it appears that none of the states are prepared for the lawsuit they knew was inevitable.
From a commentator:
When you trust bureaucrats to do your bidding for you, this is what you get; the same rank amateurs that reintroduced wolves and the same gross incompetence that “managed” the wolf program for the past 13 years.
How about this for a concept; the bureaucrats have planned all along to take a dive in this court fight so they can keep the wolf on the Endangered Species list and keep the money coming into their bureaucracies.
That may be too harsh a conclusion. In the next few days we may find out the degree to which the states are legally prepared.
In the similar but unrelated suits brought by 13 eco-antagonists against the USFWS and the Mexican gray wolf program in New Mexico and Arizona, it appears that neither state is in any way prepared or even concerned and they have no plans to intervene. With only the USFWS to defend them, local citizens beset by feral wolf-dogs in their communities may find that the Federal Government does not really give a damn about human concerns, rights, well-being, or public safety.
Ranchers, farmers, rural residents, and hunters across the West are woefully unorganized and unprepared for the machinations of the eco-nazis. That is our weakness and may be our downfall.
The solutions, organization and preparation, are what Wildlife and People and SOS Forests are trying to promote, without significant or sufficient success. Most of you who are reading this are getting royally screwed, but it is your own fault for failing to join with and invest in this movement. You snooze, you lose. We all lose.
The Faces of Evil
On March 28, 2008, the US Fish and Wildlife Service de-listed the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf. The gray wolf has been on the endangered species list for 35 years. The USFWS determined, after an exhaustive process that took many years, that the gray wolf population had recovered and was no longer in danger of extinction. From the USFWS press release [here].
Today, Friday, March 28, 2008, the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf is officially removed from the federal list of endangered species. The States of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming will assume full management authority for the continued conservation of the gray wolf. This wolf population has exceeded its recovery goals for the past several years and is now thriving. Presently, there are more than 1,500 wolves and at least 100 breeding pairs in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. The Service and States will cooperatively monitor the wolf population for the next five years.
As part of the Service’s delisting action, it designated the northern Rocky Mountain wolf Distinct Population Segment (DPS) as that area that includes all of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, the eastern third of Washington and Oregon, and a small corner of north-central Utah.
On April 28 (30 legal days later) twelve so-called environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the USFWS to force them to with draw the delisting and relist the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf as Threatened and Endangered.
The twelve are: Earthjustice, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, The Humane Society of the United States, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Friends of the Clearwater, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands Project, Western Watersheds Project, and Wildlands Project.
The Gardner Files
Bud Sonnetag writes:
This is to inform you of a new website now on line by Cliff Gardner, a life long Nevadan who has spent many years of his life documenting game management throughout Nevada and the western states and it’s affects on hunters, cattlemen, grazing rights and private property owners. You’ll be amazed at what Mr. Gardner has compiled for our use to benefit each of us in our fields of expertise. I invite everyone to look it over and appreciate it’s professionalism and use it in your future research and understanding of our American history.
The Gardner Files are [here]. W.I.S.E. linked to them two months ago in our Colloquia Rural Culture and Wildlife Sciences. We have posted two sampling from Cliff’s copious archives: Cattle and Wildlife on the Arizona Strip [here] and The Destruction of the Sheldon [here]. We plan to add more gems from The Gardner Files to the W.I.S.E. Library in the future.
Bit by bit Cliff is placing his archives online, with the help of his wife and daughter. They include wildlife science and ranching reports, government documents, and oral histories collected from Nevada ranchers and pioneers from as far back as 1850.
The Gardner Files are a treasure trove and a gold mine of information. Happy prospecting!
Association of Counties opposes Mexican gray wolf reintroduction
A month ago the New Mexico Association of Counties passed a unanimous resolution opposing the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves into the state. Although the resolution and vote were reported by Wolf Crossing [here], the story did not appear the MSM (main stream media) until yesterday [here]. From the Daily Times (Farmington NM):
AZTEC — Members of New Mexico Association of Counties recently banded together to oppose the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves into New Mexico.
“These wolves were kicked out of Arizona,” said Tony Atkinson, chairman of San Juan County Commission. “They’re not wild.” …
“The New Mexico Association of Counties shall oppose any rule or proposed rule related to the reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf that does not provide the opportunity for continual involvement of New Mexico’s county elected officials in the decision-making process,” the resolution stated. …
County officials have repeatedly expressed their concerns about people’s safety, their own exclusion from the planning of management of the federal programs under whose purview wolf regulation lies, inability to address problem wolf behavior and related livestock issues — including “insufficient compensation” to ranchers.
“The nonessential experimental population reintroduction has not proven successful based upon the proposals to amend the current management stipulations that require wolves to establish home ranges within the designated recovery area and require initial wolf releases from captivity only into the primary recovery zone,” the resolution stated.
New Mexico Association of Counties represents all of the state’s 33 counties.
The entire resolution is available at Wolf Crossing [here].
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