NYT Gets It Wrong, Again, As Usual
Shut up in their mega-urban hell and subjected to all the insanity therein, it is really no surprise that the editors of the financially reeling New York Times know absolutely nothing about the reality of life in the normal parts of this country.
The madness and profound ignorance of NYT editors was on display again yesterday, in an unsigned editorial that railed against hunting in National Parks. From the defunctifying NYT [here]:
Editorial: Elk Hunting in the Badlands, July 7, 2009
In 1985, 47 elk were released in the southern section of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. Today, that herd numbers some 900 animals, far more than the park can sustain. The herd needs to be reduced to about 300 in order to bring it into balance with its ecosystem. What to do?
Senator Byron Dorgan’s idea — spelled out in a rider to an Interior Department appropriations bill that the Senate is expected to consider soon — is what he calls a “common sense” public elk hunt. The idea violates both common sense and the very idea of a national park.
To begin with, the proposal would legislate a management issue better left to the secretary of interior and the National Park Service. Worse, it would authorize an activity — public hunting — that is proscribed by the founding legislation for the national parks and their current management policies.
Where did the NYT get that idea? Hunting was one of the founding activities and is not proscribed. Unauthorized hunting in National Parks is not allowed, but authorized hunting is and always has been.
Code of Federal Regulations
Title 36: Parks, Forests, and Public Property
PART 2—RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION
§ 2.2 Wildlife protection.
(a) The following are prohibited:
(1) The taking of wildlife, except by authorized hunting and trapping activities conducted in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section.
(2) The feeding, touching, teasing, frightening or intentional disturbing of wildlife nesting, breeding or other activities.
(3) Possessing unlawfully taken wildlife or portions thereof.
(b) Hunting and trapping.
(1) Hunting shall be allowed in park areas where such activity is specifically mandated by Federal statutory law.
(2) Hunting may be allowed in park areas where such activity is specifically authorized as a discretionary activity under Federal statutory law if the superintendent determines that such activity is consistent with public safety and enjoyment, and sound resource management principles.
Such hunting shall be allowed pursuant to special regulations.
(3) Trapping shall be allowed in park areas where such activity is specifically mandated by Federal statutory law.
(4) Where hunting or trapping or both are authorized, such activities shall be conducted in accordance with Federal law and the laws of the State within whose exterior boundaries a park area or a portion thereof is located. Nonconflicting State laws are adopted as a part of these regulations.
(c) Except in emergencies or in areas under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, the superintendent shall consult with appropriate State agencies before invoking the authority of §1.5 for the purpose of restricting hunting and trapping or closing park areas to the taking of wildlife where such activities are mandated or authorized by Federal statutory law.
(d) The superintendent may establish conditions and procedures for transporting lawfully taken wildlife through the park area. Violation of these conditions and procedures is prohibited.
(e) The Superintendent may designate all or portions of a park area as closed to the viewing of wildlife with an artificial light. Use of an artificial light for purposes of viewing wildlife in closed areas is prohibited.
(f) Authorized persons may check hunting and trapping licenses and permits; inspect weapons, traps and hunting and trapping gear for compliance with equipment restrictions; and inspect wildlife that has been taken for compliance with species, size and other taking restrictions.
(g) The regulations contained in this section apply, regardless of land ownership, on all lands and waters within a park area that are under the legislative jurisdiction of the United States.
[48 FR 30282, June 30, 1983, as amended at 49 FR 18450, Apr. 30, 1984; 51 FR 33264, Sept. 19, 1986; 52 FR 35240, Sept. 18, 1987
The editorial continues:
True, public elk hunting is allowed in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, and it is on this model that Mr. Dorgan, a Democrat, based his proposal. But the Grand Teton hunt is a special exception granted by the law establishing the park in 1950 and occurs in a limited area not far from the elk’s winter feeding grounds.
That contradicts the statement in their previous paragraph. If the NYT actually did some investigative journalism, they would find that authorized public hunting occurs in many National Parks. More from the NYT:
Rocky Mountain National Park provides a better model. There, hired sharpshooters have culled cow elk in parts of the park that are closed to the public. This is a safer, more efficient and less expensive way of reducing numbers than shooting bulls, which is what most hunters do.
What? Sniper culling is a better model than regular hunting? Why? And what’s the jive about what “most hunters do”? Hunters buy hunting tags (permits) and shoot the animals authorized on the tags. If bulls are authorized, they shoot bulls. If cows are authorized, they shoot cows.
It’s not the Wild West out here. It’s not 1805 outside New York City limits. What kind of world do NYT editors think exists outside the padded walls of their insane asylum?
NYT editors: try as hard as you can to get a grip on reality, please.
More from the reality-challenged urban elite:
How to manage, and ultimately cull, this North Dakota elk herd should be decided by the National Park Service, based on sound science, not by faulty, if well-intentioned, legislation. It is also critical not to create a broad precedent for public hunting in the national parks, which would undermine their protected status.
Sorry, NYT crazies. Hunting today is based on sound science. Public hunting is a carefully controlled tool, the main tool, used to manage game herds in the U.S. Every wildlife agency in the Nation uses public hunting to achieve scientifically determined and desired game stocking levels.
The precedent was set by the NPS Organic Act of 1916. The precedent was set by Teddy Roosevelt, famously a HUNTER, with the Antiquities Act of 1906, which authorized Teddy (and the Presidents who followed him) to designate National Monuments that subsequently were converted into National Parks.
Really, NYT, mind your own business. Concentrate on cleaning up the festering cesspool that is New York City. Bug out of issues that do not concern you and which you know absolutely nothing about.
