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.
May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Homo sapiens, Endangered Specious, Bears
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.
May 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Homo sapiens, Wolves
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.
May 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Homo sapiens, Wolves
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!
May 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Homo sapiens, Deer, Elk, Bison
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].
Read more
May 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Homo sapiens, Wolves
by Jim Beers, Jim Beers Common Sense [here]
The current argument in Nevada about whether the Governor should appoint an advocate of “managing” wildlife or an advocate of “saving” wildlife to a State Wildlife Commission is a scenario being replayed all over the nation. The gross stereotypes and character assassinations are part and parcel of the scenario, and the hidden agendas and distortions of facts present in one article [here] would take pages to decipher.
The following brief explanation is based on 30 plus years with the US Fish & Wildlife Service; nearly ten years of writing and speaking about such matters, and two appearances before the US House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Committee concerning the theft of $45 to $60 Million by the US Fish & Wildlife Service from the hunting and fishing excise taxes that, by law, could only be used for state fish and wildlife programs.
There are national and international campaigns to eliminate hunting, fishing, and trapping. All so-called animal “rights” organizations and most environmental organizations “partner” with select bureaucrats and politicians to attain this goal. Intimately interwoven with this movement are anti-gun, anti-animal ownership, and anti-private property organizations that are intermingled with US and UN government land and animal ownership schemes intended to force their views on the rest of us by using the coercive power of government.
State Wildlife Commissions (New Jersey and Maryland are current examples) are objectives to be controlled by the anti-“management” (i.e. anti-hunt/fish/trap) cabals. There are either the outright anti- animal ownership/use zealots as appointees or there is the supposedly benign Veterinarian or “hunter” who simply advocates “all animals” as objects of government benevolence. These are always opposed by hunters and fishermen and trappers that are characterized as unsophisticated “bumpkins” (clinging to guns and religion?). Politicians are either “progressive” (if supportive of the “new” visions) or are “conservative” with voting records distinguished as “Crimes Against Nature”.
Read more
April 21, 2008 | 6 Comments | Topic: Homo sapiens
What is going on in the Environmental Movement? Most people think of the enviros as pro-wildlife, and maybe they once were, but that does not seem to be the case anymore.
When the Biscuit Fire roared through the Kalmiopsis Wilderness six years ago, it decimated wildlife and wildlife habitat. Some fifty spotted owl nesting stands were destroyed permanently. Did the wildlifers care? Not one bit. The 180,000 acre Kalmiopsis itself was almost entirely consumed by high-severity fire. Even today the effects are still extreme. From Wilderness.net [here]:
The nearly 500,000 acre Biscuit Fire of 2002 included the entire wilderness area. The environment has changed dramatically and provides a unique opportunity to observe a natural response to fire disturbance through plant succession, erosional and depositional occurrences and changed habitat for flora and fauna. While the lightning caused fire was a natural event for the wilderness it did provide damage to the nearly 160 miles of trails and trailhead facilities. Large areas of high fire severity occurred, killing much of the overstory trees in these areas, which will result in continued damaged to the trail system over time. The trails have always been challenging due to their steepness and narrow rocky surface. The impact from the fire includes added challenges, such as large numbers of downed trees, missing trail signs, holes and lose rock on the tread etc. For now and in the foreseeable future, wilderness users should recognize the need for increased safety awareness when traveling and camping.
A unique opportunity to observe erosion? That’s the value today? The Baby Foot Lake Botanical Preserve once held a stand of rare Brewers spruce. They all died in the Biscuit Fire and spruce is not returning. The recommendation from the USFS? Decommission the Preserve.
The vaunted Center for Biological Diversity obtained a Court Order forbidding Wildland Fire Use in the Mexican spotted owl habitat on the Kaibab NF. Less than a year a later Kaibab personnel allowed the Warm Fire to burn 40,000 acres of the off limits habitat. Did the CBD complain to the judge? Heck no. It turned out they really didn’t care about that habitat in the first place but were just playing legal games for fun and profit.
The Sierra Club is pro-wildlife right? Not really. They are happy to see wolves kill elk for sport. The more the merrier. Ditto the ten other enviro-litigant groups who sued to stop wolf delisting in the Northern Rockies. Wolves are in no way endangered there anymore, but plenty of other wildlife are. Do those enviro outfits care if the wolves drive elk, deer, antelope or bighorn sheep to extinction? Not on your life.
The Wilderness Society wants unrestrained fire to burn everywhere. Does that benefit wilderness, non-wilderness, streams, airsheds, wildlife, habitat, or any other wilderness value? Not hardly. But that’s their current trip.
Last summer the Murphy Fire alone destroyed sage grouse habitat across half a million acres. Do any wildlife groups give a golly gosh darn? No way, no day. Just peachy with them. Their attitude: let’s burn some more.
In December the WildEarth Guardians sued the USFS to force NEPA review of Fire Management Plans in four Region 3 National Forests [here]. Their real goal was to get the USFS to implement Let It Burn. Gail Kimbell pulled a fast one on them and waived fire planning on those forests altogether. Will the WEGs protest or appeal? Don’t count on it. They got what they wanted, Let It Burn. The NEPA process was just a means to get there.
Andy Stahl and the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics are suing to ban the use of fire retardant. What’s ethical about that? Or more to the point, how will that benefit wildlife and wildlife habitat? It won’t, of course, but benefiting wildlife is not the goal. Burn, Baby, Burn is.
Is a charred wasteland your idea of a protected, preserved environment? Probably not, but then you’re most likely out of touch with the modern Environmental Movement. The trend is to incinerate environments, not to conserve or preserve them.
Did Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Henry Thoreau, or any of the original philosophers of Environmentalism yearn for scorched earth? I doubt it. They had greener ideas. Green is not the color of choice anymore; charcoal black is.
The quest to protect Mother Nature has turned into a rabid scramble to destroy nature, to make the planet unfit for all life, and especially human life. A darkness has descended on the Green Movement, and hatred has replaced whatever positive motives that once were. Make no mistake about it. It’s not your father’s Environmental Movement anymore. If, indeed, it ever was.
April 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Homo sapiens
by Admin at Wolf Crossing [here]
Finally, a few of the kids from the Reserve School District in New Mexico, will be sheltered from both the weather and from local wildlife while they wait for the bus.
Wolf-Proof Bus Stop Shelter (built from donated funds raised by Louis Oliver and Mimbres Farm Bureau)
In May of 2007 two Catron county Reserve School district school children were followed home from the bus stop by what appeared to be a Mexican wolf although later two sets of wolf tracks were found in the immediate area of the incident.
In a separate incident a 14 year old camper was surrounded by three Mexican wolves while on a hunting trip with his father and family friends. Locations determined the wolves were likely members of the Luna pack. The incident lasted 5-10 minutes and the young man although armed and afraid for his life, chose to wait patiently while the wolves investigated him. Thankfully the incident ended with the wolves moving away, possibly due to the smell and presence of a rifle the young man was carrying. However, these incidents have underscored the need to protect rural children from escalating encounters with Mexican wolves.
This incident among others prompted the Catron County Commission to pass an emergency ordinance directed at protecting children and defenseless persons from mismanagement that is prevalent in the program and growing worse as power struggles become common within the adaptive management oversight committee overseeing the project and the ongoing development of the environmental impact statement that will eventually lead to program expansion.
March 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Homo sapiens, Wolves
By Byron Delk and Ralph Ramos, for the Las Cruces Sun-News [here]
Man has become part of the landscape as much as the absence of man was in historical times. The mere presence of wilderness will not change the dynamics of wildlife populations. There are other factors, which include the state’s authority and management of wildlife and predators, the presence or absence of yearly precipitation, and the enhancement or absence of habitat management, that will alter such dynamics. Wilderness will affect access. Access is only one issue that will alter populations, but, if wilderness and access are indistinguishable, there are now historical details worthy of investigation.
Arizona’s Department of Game and Fish has compiled a document entitled “Comprehensive Historical Perspective of the Department’s Activities that have been Restricted Resulting from Special Land Designations and Anticipated Future Restrictions.” Every sportsman should seek a copy and read it. A summary of the contents is described in a quote that appears in the historical section that says, “The Arizona Game and Fish Department has experienced restrictions resulting from Special Land Designations (wilderness) including project delays, increased costs, (and) increased man hours. This ultimately leads to decreased efficiency in protecting and managing Arizona’s wildlife resources.” The document describes 16 pages of project derailments dealing with federal land agencies in wilderness areas.
Conflicts include the Paria Canyon Wilderness desert sheep herd that was exposed to predator threat when forced to travel long distances to water because the BLM reneged on an agreement to place water in that area. In the Aravaipa Wilderness, AGFD was denied helicopter access when they needed to determine what was causing a die-off of desert bighorns. Water projects in the Harcuvar, Maricopa Complex, Juniper Mesa, Paiute, and other areas have been denied after initial agreements prior to wilderness designation. Winter grid surveys of deer in the Kanab Creek area of the Kaibab have been discontinued because AGFD was disallowed placement of visual references in that wilderness, and bat populations in a major cave in the Superstition Wilderness are continuing to decline because the department is not allowed to place a simple gate to control human access. Perhaps what is more appalling is the legal action taken by Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society and other groups (all related to the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance) to deny the maintenance of 16 water sources in the Sonoran Desert National Monument.
March 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Homo sapiens
