Archive for the 'Wildlife' Category

I am sure that the blogs are completley covering the abdication of the Attorney General’s seat by Alberto Gonzales today.  One Win.

The Republicans, I mean the insiders, got together this weekend and decided (72 to 14, yeah 96 people decided for you) that they don’t care about their party members and loyalists don’t matter to them, only the “up to 3,000″ or so party officials votes matter.  Don’t bother to show up at the primary, the decision will be made for you on February 5, 2008, as to who will represent the Republicans in the Presidential Race of 2008.  *Pats on head* You poor ignorant voter.  Just vote for who we have already decided is the best candidate.  You don’t know enough to vote for yourself.  Time to defect?  One Loss.

Why should you Hold Onto Your Hats?  Well, I might be remembered as someone who did some in-depth coverage of the initiatives last election season.  (Toot Toot).  The infamous Trio of Doom (CI-97, CI-98, and I-154 (which Wulfgar covered much better than I did)).

So I sit here today, and I see that the Governor has called a Special Session of the Legislature to appropriate funds from our savings to cover the costs of this fire season.  I have choked on smoke for the past couple of months; not being able to see the Sleeping Giant, or the Valley, and on the terrible days, even Mount Helena; the time has come to address the issue. 

Why does this come to mind?  Well CI-97, Stop Over Spending Montana, had it not been thrown out of the Courts as unconstitutional, would have left all us Montanans swimming in smoke.  We would have had to wait until the next statewide election, to vote in some money to deal with the issue.  Wait, when is the next statewide election?  Oh yeah, choke on that Montanans.

“Rumor has it” (the name of a game created by an old friend) that Howie Rich will be back in action in the election season of 2008.  Whether or not he trusts Trevis Butcher with it again, or can find anyone to support him remains to be seen.  Unfortunately, I know he will be back, trying to shove his ideas down Montanan’s throats again.  You heard it here first.  Hang Onto Your Hats, and remember to watch what is going on.  Better yet, look at things as they might have been had Montanans passed that proposed initiative.  Now do you understand?

Things will be more complicated this time, as I am headed to law school, but I promise to maintain my contacts, and keep fighting the good fight in the name of truth.

Sometimes it occurs to me that between the fear and loathing in Helena and the fear and loathing in Washington DC, I forget that there are a lot of other things going on that we are ignoring. A readers letter this week pointed out one of those things; our national parks. You see, these are our treasures. They are our showcases, our history and our heritage. Just like all things of great value, once they are lost they can not be replaced.

The reader’s letter pointed out to me that it might be worth taking a look into how they are doing, particularly our own Big Hole National Park. It did not take too long to find out that there might be some problems in our National Park Service in general.

In 2004 the National Parks Service was instructed to begin cutting services at parks throughout the country. Though the parks budget had actually increased over the years, it was not increasing at the rate of expenses. In short, they were falling behind.

Facing what some people warn is a “crippling” budget shortfall, many national park superintendents are being asked to consider cutting their ranger staffs, services, and visitor center hours—and possibly even closing down completely on certain days.

Several advocacy groups now charge that the entire National Park System is menaced by a hidden crisis, and that Park Service officials are trying to cover it up.

This is a very bad thing people, but at least we found out about it early enough to correct the problems, right? Sure we had. Did we actually do anything? Not a chance.

We see that today park police staffing is at a 20 year low, even as park visitation increases and problems are compounding. President Bush has proposed a 3 billion dollar infusion over the next 10 years called the Centennial Initiative. While this sounds like a great idea, there are always string attached. In this piece, Ann Whisnant points out that Bush’s plan relies on an infusion of private dollars. She see the problem as

giving the administration another privatization wedge is a dubious proposition. No one knows what the quid pro quo will be. Private control of yet another area of public policy? Private interests, rather than public needs, dictating Centennial Initiative priorities? Routine park maintenance neglected in favor of glossier (and more fundable) specialty projects? Parks or park features named for corporations? The Google Grand Canyon, perhaps? Disney’s Dinosaur National Monument? Harrah’s Blue Ridge Parkway?

Far-fetched as these sound, an inescapable lesson of recent years is that things can (and will) get worse than we can possibly imagine in advance.

Read her whole piece for a real historic perspective on why the Centennial Initiative is simply not enough.

We can judge the health of our parks system by looking at our own Big Hole and how it is doing. I remember growing up and reading stories of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce as they fought all across the west, seeking freedom from the government’s reservations. Against great odds, they fought the good fight. The image of Joseph and their stand at Big Hole and the travesty that followed has long been burned into my mind. The phrase “I will fight no more forever” is a part of our national conscience, we all know exactly what it means and what part of the soul it comes from. This is a piece of American heritage, honoring a group that typified the American spirit in a monumental quest for freedom. As a reminder of this spirit, I have pasted Joseph’s speech below the fold.

According to a report by the National Park Conservation Association, Big Hole is having problems. The park only received ‘fair’ ratings and is declining overall. It would be another travesty to let go of this piece of our history. The natural resources of this park are not being minded in the way that we would expect such an important piece of American heritage to be minded and I will remind you, once this is done it can not be undone.

I appreciate the President’s attempt to revamp our parks, but I come at it from another angle. In real dollar terms, 3 billion is simply not enough and it’s reliance on private contributions is bothersome. To be sure, I think that this is a bi-partisan issue if ever there was one and I would like to see a real effort made on both side of the aisle to come up with a working long term solution.

Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve all heard about the investigations into the altering of scientific findings on global warming by the Bush administration. You’ve no doubt heard too about the decision to re-write the Endangered Species Act to make it easier to de-list certain species in certain parts of their range. The grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone were to be the first to be de-listed. Democrats in Congress have vowed to block this decision, and rightfully so, and deserve a hearty round of applause for doing so. One of the key elements of the ESA is the protection of critical habitat for a given species. This revision of the act was a blatant attempt to waltz right around the current law and in effect potentially open much of our public land to logging, mining and other development. It can and must be stopped.

It turns out that a high-ranking official over at Interior, a Bush appointee named Julie MacDonald, has been doing some creative editing of scientific findings by Fish & Wildlife biologists, as well as leaking non-public agency policy information to her friends in various industry groups. You know, make the science fit the policy decisions. It’s bad enough changing the findings of your own biologists even if you’re a biologist yourself. She’s not. She’s trained as a civil engineer. What the hell is she doing re-writing the findings of trained biologists? The cronyism displayed by this administration just keeps plunging to new depths. Oh well — you gotta take care of your friends I guess. On and on it goes…

More about it here and here and here.

Carrying on with the theme of yesterday , sort of. First I found this piece in the Helena IR rather interesting. Montana Democratic Senator Larry Jent of Bozeman has proposed a trio of bills to help law enforcement deal with poaching. The first makes some forms of poaching a felony, the second would use the increased fines collected from poachers to hire two additional investigators and the third would provide money to the Fish Wildlife and Parks to hire additional game wardens.

Game wardens, outfitters and sportsmen from around the state asked lawmakers Thursday for stiffer penalties for poachers.

They told the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee that poachers are “despicable cutthroats” who are robbing Montanans of material and natural wealth. They asked the committee to support three bills by Sen. Larry Jent, D-Bozeman, that they said would boost the state’s efforts to curb illegal hunting and fishing.

Pretty strong words, and rightly spoken I believe. I think there is a special urgency to these laws when, as this article points out, the bears are going to wake up to a different set of circumstances than when they went to sleep. I am not a conservation bilogist, so it is difficult for me to know exactly how to feel about the delisting of grizzles.

“This isn’t only a serious occasion, but an occasion to celebrate the success of the Endangered Species Act and the effort to recover grizzly bear populations,” said Doug Inkley, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation.

I have not seen a lot of opposition to the delisting, so I would suppose that it is not unreasonable to trust that the Endangered Species Act actually worked. Now we are dependent on the powers that be to manage them appropriately. That brings us full circle to why I think that Senator Jent is on the right track.

If so, I thought I’d pass along some pertinent information regarding dogs and mountain hiking. I received this in an email today, and figured some folks may be interested. I sure wouldn’t know what to do in this situation.

Hi friends,

Join us for a free Pet Emergency Workshop on November 18, 2006, from 1 to 3 p.m., in the Weaver Room of the Emerson Center,
111 South Grand Avenue, Bozeman.

Lethal traps set for wildlife increasingly pose a threat for companion animals.
If your dog got caught in a trap, would you know how to rescue your furry friend? Learn how to at the Pet Emergency Workshop, sponsored by Predator Conservation Alliance (Bozeman), Humane Society of the United States Regional Office (Billings), and The Animal Ethics Coalition (Missoula).

Dave Pauli, of the MT regional office of the Humane Society of the United States, will demonstrate trap release methods. Veterinarian Dr. Patti Prado from Missoula will show emergency first aid techniques for an injured pet.

Be aware of traps. Know how to help your pet! Come to the workshop!

Let’s see if I can open up some old wounds here. The ‘hunting season’ on Bison as they leave Yellowstone Park heading to winter grounds begins Wednesday. According to the Helena IR, the number of Bison to be hunted increases this year to 150. You will remember that the main reason behind the hunt was to control brucellosis and keep it from spreading to domestic cattle. As I recall there are no documented cases of this happening. Despite this former argument, a new one seems to be making the rounds now. This from Shane Colton of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission:

‘‘There is more to this hunt that just tipping over big bulls for trophies,’’ he told The Billings Gazette. The hunt is a step toward having bison treated as wildlife ‘‘as opposed to a nuisance animal,’’ he said.

While I am a strong supporter of hunting rights and public access, I was never convinced that a bison population of 3500 is one that needs thinning.