Wolverine Madness
The new “charismatic” predator of the month is the wolverine. Wolverine news is popping up all over. For instance:
Wolverine population threatened by climate change
NCAE & UCAR News, February 03, 2011 [here]
BOULDER—The aggressive wolverine may not be powerful enough to survive climate change in the contiguous United States, new research concludes.
Wolverine habitat in the northwestern United States is likely to warm dramatically if society continues to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, according to new computer model simulations carried out at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The study found that climate change is likely to imperil the wolverine in two ways: reducing or eliminating the springtime snow cover that wolverines rely on to protect and shelter newborn kits, and increasing August temperatures well beyond what the species may be able to tolerate. …
Peacock’s research focused on mountainous regions of the Northwest, the primary habitat of the wolverine population in the contiguous United States. The study did not look into the impacts of climate change on regions where wolverines are more numerous, such as Canada, although other research has indicated those areas will likely warm significantly as well. …
The study was published last week in Environmental Research Letters. It was funded by the National Science Foundation, NCAR’s sponsor.
Note that “computer model simulations” are the source of this alarming news. In actual fact, winter temperatures in wolverine country have been trending downwards for the last 20 years at a rate of -.53°F per decade, and a whopping -5.24°F over the last 10 years.
NCDC Climate Services and Monitoring Division, Climate At A Glance [here]
Winter (Dec-Feb) Temperatures, West North Central Region, Winter (Dec-Feb) 1990 - 2010 Trend = -0.53 degF / Decade
Winter (Dec-Feb) Temperatures, West North Central Region, Winter (Dec-Feb) 2000 - 2010 Trend = -5.24 degF / Decade
Evidently nobody told the computer making the simulations. The wolverine alarmists don’t care about the actual facts, however, and are content to spew insane tales of horror no matter what the facts are.
More government promulgated insanity: all citizen visits to the Sawtooth National Recreation Area are to be banned because of wolverines. Wildlife pseudo-biologists have determined that the mere presence of a human being causes wolverines to curl up and die.
The Boise, Payette, and Sawtooth National Forests are developing “Wildlife Conservation Strategies” that will eliminate recreational use of their “Recreation Areas” and wildernesses because of the fragile sensitivities of wolverines [here].
Note that all three Forests have deliberately and with malice aforethought promulgated megafires over the last five years. The fires have eliminated almost all recreational use across thousands of square miles, but not affected the wolverines in the slightest (evidently). A crown fire ripping through 100,000 acres is no great burden to wolverines, but the presence of human being on that same tract of land is fatal to them, according to the USFS and USFWS.
The hidden objective is to de-humanize vast tracts of public and private land, in accord with the Wilderness Project dreamed up and promulgated by Earth First!. The former radical underground eco-terrorist group is now mainstream and has taken over the US Forest Service.
The wolverine is not endangered. They are doing quite nicely in Canada, and the US population is growing. The fur trapping days are over. That’s what mainly caused wolverine population declines over the last 200 years. Not human sighting.
De-humanizing the West will not do anything for wolverines. Pseudoscience notwithstanding.
The radical anti-humanists are not retreating, however, despite their failure to get wolverines listed:
Wolverines denied federal protection
Given ‘candidate species’ designation
By Katherine Wutz, Idaho Mountain Express, Dec. 15, 2010 [here]
Even though wolverines are threatened with extinction [BS Alert - false statement by a journo-lista], they will not receive federal protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Monday.
Wolverines will be listed as a “candidate species,” meaning that they are eligible for protection under the Endangered Species Act. However, the service said there are other, more high-priority species on the same list, and listing wolverines under federal protection will have to wait for now, though the species will undergo an annual review.
“There are reasons to be concerned about the long-term persistence of wolverines,” said Robin Garwood, a wildlife biologist with the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. “Even though wolverines won’t be protected by ESA for now, I think it highlights the importance of ensuring that remaining habitat, including habitat on the Sawtooth Forest, is kept as intact as possible.”
To the Sawtooth NF, “intact” means keeping the public out, with armed federal agents if necessary. You might disturb a wolverine, so you are forbidden to go upon federal land. You are requested, however, to pay the salaries of the federal agents like Mr. (or Ms.) Garwood, or else go to jail. That’s how the System works.
It’s not your land, it’s not my land. The land belongs to the Government and that means not you and not me. Only certified federal agents and eco-terrorists are allowed. Exclusion of the public is necessary to “save” the non-endangered wolverines.
