Crowdog
01-24-2002, 07:06 AM
By JEFFRY MULLINS, Associate Editor
Saving the lynx is more than a passion to some people.
While congressional hearings are under way this week into allegations that state and federal officials planted fraudulent evidence of lynx fur in national forests, lynx preservation also was the motive behind one of the costliest acts of eco-terrorism in the United States.
Earth Liberation Front took credit for the October 1998 torching of buildings and facilities at a ski resort in Vail, Colo., an area represented by Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo.
McInnis is co-chairman of the Forest and Forest Health subcommittee conducting this week's lynx fur probe.
The Vail Ski Resort had proposed an expansion into what some environmentalists saw as the last available lynx habitat in the state.
The words of ELF's own statement released after the attack describes its attitude toward plans to reintroduce lynx in several Western states:
"On behalf of the lynx, five buildings and four ski lifts at Vail were reduced to ashes on the night of Sunday, Oct. 18. Vail Inc. is already the largest ski operation in North America and now wants to expand even further. The 12 miles of roads and 885 acres of clearcuts will ruin the last, best lynx habitat in the state," the statement said.
"Putting profits ahead of Colorado's wildlife will not be tolerated. This action is just a warning. We will be back if this greedy corporation continues to trespass into wild and unroaded areas.
"For your safety and convenience, we strongly advise skiers to choose other destinations until Vail cancels its inexcusable plans for expansion," the group continued.
Today, some congressmen are concerned that people with similar feelings are working for the federal agencies responsible for listing species under the Endangered Species Act and designating "critical habitat" for them.
Others believe that radical environmentalists have been involved inside the government all along.
"While mainstream environmental groups may try to distance themselves from ELF and its "eco-terrorist' methods, the truth is that ELF did directly what mainstream environmentalists have been doing indirectly for years via the U.S. government's Endangered Species Act," said an article by Glenn Woiceshyn in Capitalism Magazine.
Anarchists vs. fascists
Woiceshyn goes on to describe the effects of the ESA on timber production in the Northwest when the Northern Spotted Owl was listed as a protected species, the shut-off of water in the Klamath Basin to protect sucker fish, and the halting of construction of a medical center in San Bernardino to protect a sand fly.
But from the perspective of radical environmental groups, "capitalists" and their unbridled greed are considered the enemy. They refer to the leaders of powerful, multinational corporations as "fascists."
Groups such as ELF talk about a multi-faceted approach to protecting the Earth's species, including acts of destruction.
An increasing number of violent acts caught the attention of the FBI, which has included groups such as ELF and the Animal Liberation Front in the agency's annual terrorism reports to Congress.
In fact, prior to Sept. 11, environmental extremists and animal rights activists were the No. 1 terrorists in the United States, according to the FBI.
"Eight of the terrorist incidents occurring in the United States during 1999 have been attributed to either ALF or ELF. Several additional acts committed during 2000 and 2001 are currently being reviewed for possible designation as terrorist incidents," former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh told a senate committee last May.
There were only 12 terrorist attacks in the U.S. that year, which means radical environmentalists were responsible for two-thirds of the total.
"Special interest extremists continue to conduct acts of politically motivated violence to force segments of society, including the general public, to change attitudes about issues considered important to their causes," Freeh said.
"These groups occupy the extreme fringes of animal rights, pro-life, environmental, anti-nuclear, and other political and social movements. Some special interest extremists -- most notably within the animal rights and environmental movements -- have turned increasingly toward vandalism and terrorist activity in attempts to further their causes."
Terrorist fallout
The Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon reshaped America's attitude toward terrorism within our borders. Even liberal newspapers have begun to draw links between violence committed by foreign terrorists and acts of those wreaking havoc from within.
"On Sept. 20, as much of the country was still in shock from the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, self-proclaimed members of the Animal Liberation Front firebombed a primate research lab in New Mexico, causing $1 million in damage," the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Jan. 8.
The article lists other attacks by environmental extremists and describes McInnis's planned hearings in Congress.
"While even the harshest critics acknowledge that there is no proportionate comparison between al Qaeda and groups like the Earth Liberation Front -- particularly because these radical environmental and animal rights groups have avoided taking lives -- they say that terrorism is terrorism," the Chronicle reported.
ELF describes itself as "an international underground organization that uses direct action in the form of economic sabotage to stop the destruction of the natural environment."
A photograph of a large building in flames greets visitors to the ELF Web site, earthliberationfront.com. Inside, readers can find instructions on how to set fires with electronically-timed devices.
The group boasts that it has "inflicted more that $40 million in damages to entities profiting from the destruction of the environment" since 1997.
Their targets have included timber companies, fur farms and even government facilities operated by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, which often are accused of not doing enough to protect endangered species and their habitat.
Choosing sides
Federal agencies are directed to manage land under national laws passed by Congress. But they also are ordered to take local public opinion into consideration when implementing those laws.
In many areas of the country, public opinion is strongly oriented toward environmental preservation.
Many experts working for federal agencies have been trained as "conservation biologists" under a science that teaches the importance of biodiversity. Some take that idea to the extreme, believing that nature's diversity has its own "intrinsic value" regardless of the presence of man.
It's a value system that borders on the religious.
National Park Service biologist David Graber is often quoted touting the "intrinsict value" philosophy, which has a negative view of man and his use of natural resources.
"I know scientists who remind me that people are part of nature, but it isn't true," Graber is quoted as saying in several publications. "Somewhere along the line ... we quit the contract and became a cancer. We have become a plague upon ourselves and upon the Earth."
In this week's probe into the lynx fur incident, congressmen are attempting to determine if the fur was planted by pro-environmental officials who wanted to keep people out of the Gifford Pinchot and Wenatchee national forests in Washington state.
Some people within the agencies have said the fur from a captive lynx was sent to the laboratory in order to test the tester.
"It's really about well-intentioned scientists trying to make sure a process works properly but who got caught crosswise by political actors who took what happened and twisted it," Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, told a reporter in the Christian Science Monitor.
Congressmen such as McInnis suspect more sinister motives behind the incident. They are collecting reports from people across the West who claim federal officials have defrauded the American public in order to promote their personal, preservationist agenda.
Elko County officials are among those claiming federal agents are guilty of other incidents of deception that should be considered in the lynx probe.
Saving the lynx is more than a passion to some people.
While congressional hearings are under way this week into allegations that state and federal officials planted fraudulent evidence of lynx fur in national forests, lynx preservation also was the motive behind one of the costliest acts of eco-terrorism in the United States.
Earth Liberation Front took credit for the October 1998 torching of buildings and facilities at a ski resort in Vail, Colo., an area represented by Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo.
McInnis is co-chairman of the Forest and Forest Health subcommittee conducting this week's lynx fur probe.
The Vail Ski Resort had proposed an expansion into what some environmentalists saw as the last available lynx habitat in the state.
The words of ELF's own statement released after the attack describes its attitude toward plans to reintroduce lynx in several Western states:
"On behalf of the lynx, five buildings and four ski lifts at Vail were reduced to ashes on the night of Sunday, Oct. 18. Vail Inc. is already the largest ski operation in North America and now wants to expand even further. The 12 miles of roads and 885 acres of clearcuts will ruin the last, best lynx habitat in the state," the statement said.
"Putting profits ahead of Colorado's wildlife will not be tolerated. This action is just a warning. We will be back if this greedy corporation continues to trespass into wild and unroaded areas.
"For your safety and convenience, we strongly advise skiers to choose other destinations until Vail cancels its inexcusable plans for expansion," the group continued.
Today, some congressmen are concerned that people with similar feelings are working for the federal agencies responsible for listing species under the Endangered Species Act and designating "critical habitat" for them.
Others believe that radical environmentalists have been involved inside the government all along.
"While mainstream environmental groups may try to distance themselves from ELF and its "eco-terrorist' methods, the truth is that ELF did directly what mainstream environmentalists have been doing indirectly for years via the U.S. government's Endangered Species Act," said an article by Glenn Woiceshyn in Capitalism Magazine.
Anarchists vs. fascists
Woiceshyn goes on to describe the effects of the ESA on timber production in the Northwest when the Northern Spotted Owl was listed as a protected species, the shut-off of water in the Klamath Basin to protect sucker fish, and the halting of construction of a medical center in San Bernardino to protect a sand fly.
But from the perspective of radical environmental groups, "capitalists" and their unbridled greed are considered the enemy. They refer to the leaders of powerful, multinational corporations as "fascists."
Groups such as ELF talk about a multi-faceted approach to protecting the Earth's species, including acts of destruction.
An increasing number of violent acts caught the attention of the FBI, which has included groups such as ELF and the Animal Liberation Front in the agency's annual terrorism reports to Congress.
In fact, prior to Sept. 11, environmental extremists and animal rights activists were the No. 1 terrorists in the United States, according to the FBI.
"Eight of the terrorist incidents occurring in the United States during 1999 have been attributed to either ALF or ELF. Several additional acts committed during 2000 and 2001 are currently being reviewed for possible designation as terrorist incidents," former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh told a senate committee last May.
There were only 12 terrorist attacks in the U.S. that year, which means radical environmentalists were responsible for two-thirds of the total.
"Special interest extremists continue to conduct acts of politically motivated violence to force segments of society, including the general public, to change attitudes about issues considered important to their causes," Freeh said.
"These groups occupy the extreme fringes of animal rights, pro-life, environmental, anti-nuclear, and other political and social movements. Some special interest extremists -- most notably within the animal rights and environmental movements -- have turned increasingly toward vandalism and terrorist activity in attempts to further their causes."
Terrorist fallout
The Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon reshaped America's attitude toward terrorism within our borders. Even liberal newspapers have begun to draw links between violence committed by foreign terrorists and acts of those wreaking havoc from within.
"On Sept. 20, as much of the country was still in shock from the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, self-proclaimed members of the Animal Liberation Front firebombed a primate research lab in New Mexico, causing $1 million in damage," the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Jan. 8.
The article lists other attacks by environmental extremists and describes McInnis's planned hearings in Congress.
"While even the harshest critics acknowledge that there is no proportionate comparison between al Qaeda and groups like the Earth Liberation Front -- particularly because these radical environmental and animal rights groups have avoided taking lives -- they say that terrorism is terrorism," the Chronicle reported.
ELF describes itself as "an international underground organization that uses direct action in the form of economic sabotage to stop the destruction of the natural environment."
A photograph of a large building in flames greets visitors to the ELF Web site, earthliberationfront.com. Inside, readers can find instructions on how to set fires with electronically-timed devices.
The group boasts that it has "inflicted more that $40 million in damages to entities profiting from the destruction of the environment" since 1997.
Their targets have included timber companies, fur farms and even government facilities operated by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, which often are accused of not doing enough to protect endangered species and their habitat.
Choosing sides
Federal agencies are directed to manage land under national laws passed by Congress. But they also are ordered to take local public opinion into consideration when implementing those laws.
In many areas of the country, public opinion is strongly oriented toward environmental preservation.
Many experts working for federal agencies have been trained as "conservation biologists" under a science that teaches the importance of biodiversity. Some take that idea to the extreme, believing that nature's diversity has its own "intrinsic value" regardless of the presence of man.
It's a value system that borders on the religious.
National Park Service biologist David Graber is often quoted touting the "intrinsict value" philosophy, which has a negative view of man and his use of natural resources.
"I know scientists who remind me that people are part of nature, but it isn't true," Graber is quoted as saying in several publications. "Somewhere along the line ... we quit the contract and became a cancer. We have become a plague upon ourselves and upon the Earth."
In this week's probe into the lynx fur incident, congressmen are attempting to determine if the fur was planted by pro-environmental officials who wanted to keep people out of the Gifford Pinchot and Wenatchee national forests in Washington state.
Some people within the agencies have said the fur from a captive lynx was sent to the laboratory in order to test the tester.
"It's really about well-intentioned scientists trying to make sure a process works properly but who got caught crosswise by political actors who took what happened and twisted it," Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, told a reporter in the Christian Science Monitor.
Congressmen such as McInnis suspect more sinister motives behind the incident. They are collecting reports from people across the West who claim federal officials have defrauded the American public in order to promote their personal, preservationist agenda.
Elko County officials are among those claiming federal agents are guilty of other incidents of deception that should be considered in the lynx probe.