landusepbb
04-19-2005, 03:03 PM
Friends or foes?
By Jim Beers
April 15, 2005
Imagine the United States' natural resources users as a medieval community living peacefully around a large castle. Think of the castle as the U.S. Constitution, a bulwark against those who would do away with all the members of the community. Lately, we, the natural resource users and property owners, have been seeking refuge in the castle, as the Animal Welfare Act attempts to eradicate the concept of animals as property; as the Endangered Species Act attempts to place growing amounts of unprecedented power over plants, animals, and property in the hands of federal bureaucrats; and as federal land managing agencies abjure any resource management and eliminate human uses, access roads, and rural economies, and communities.
The two latest threats (as of April 2005) are federalizing authority over Invasive Species and a multi-billion dollar raid on the federal treasury, intended to give federal land managing agencies, and their state counterparts, the financial resources to undercut and phase out resource uses, from hunting and fishing, to logging and public land recreation. Each of these egregious programs has been quietly placed in seemingly harmless legislation, in the dark of night, by U.S. Senators.
Federal Invasive Species authority has been hidden in the many-paged National Transportation Bill by an unnamed Senator. The language is not appropriate to a Transportation bill, but is intended to merely start the campaign of giving the federal bureaucrats authority over all non-native plants and animals, that they now have over Endangered Species.
Likewise, language to give billions of taxpayer dollars to federal and state natural resource and land managing agencies to help "wildlife" and conduct "conservation" is nothing but disguised financial resources meant to further undercut natural resource use and management, by placing more land and resource managers under the current no-management/no-use bureaucracies that are causing so much trouble today. This latter language was placed in the Alaskan oil drilling authority bill (ANWR) by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.
I strongly suggest that if the unnamed Senator, who dropped in the Invasive Species language, and the Senator from Tennessee wish to help "wildlife" and "conservation," they step back and realize they are doing exactly the wrong things. If you want to help hunters, fishermen, trappers, and landowners - support audits and sound management of the Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson funds and the agencies that administer and use them. Millions are being wasted, uncollected, and avoided by inept management and greedy bureaucrats and manufacturers. If you want to "set-aside" natural areas for taxpayers, support overhauling the federal land managing agencies and hiring federal natural resource managers to manage the timber and grazing and recreation for the benefit of all Americans. Also, why not repeal the Wilderness Act and Wilderness designations, to reinstitute management and uses of millions of acres of public land for all citizens?
Senators, your proposed giveaway of billions of tax dollars for bureaucratic mischief and a new Federal Mandate for Invasive Species are more of what have caused all of the problems and losses being suffered by natural resource-oriented citizens, and landowners everywhere. Your proposals merely pander to the worst elements of our society, those animal rights organizations, seeking to destroy our human society, and environmental organizations out to control directly, and indirectly, the property rights of all citizens.
But hey, I am not really writing about Invasive Species and the giveaway of billions for "conservation." Remember our castle? These two threats are at the ramparts of our castle, and we are fighting them with all we have. A sad truth is there are traitors in the castle, that we believe are helping us, but who are really trying to discourage us and convince us that things aren't so bad. In the past, there were the Trout Unlimiteds and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundations telling us we should join hands with the Sierra Club. (This latter outfit was bad enough before, but now they are in the throes of a hostile takeover by animal rights factions from Greenpeace and some "wolves" in "sheeps" clothing.) But no, it is not them I am writing about. There are all the hunting and fishing and camping retailers and manufacturers who tout non-native plants and animals, but then remain silent when Federal Invasive Species authority is up for consideration. But no, it is not them either. This latest Quisling in our community just sent me an e-mail, to wit.
TRCP Action Gram
Getting Better Funding For Fish And Wildlife Management
Dear James,
Created by Congress in 2001, the State Wildlife Grants program is our nation's core program for keeping wildlife from becoming endangered. State Wildlife Grants continue to provide critical funding to virtually every state fish and wildlife agency for essential on-the-ground conservation work to ensure abundant fish and wildlife throughout the U.S.
They then go on to give me a sample letter to write my elected politician, and tell him or her how I "strongly value wildlife." To quote the eminent Mr. Stoessel, "give me a break."
The State Wildlife Grant Program was quietly started by the U.S. Congress, at the behest of state and federal bureaucrats, five years ago, when similar raids on the federal treasury (CARA, GO, Non-Game Funding, Chickadee Check-offs, etc.,) were stalling in Congress as regularly as proposals for the U.S. to go back on the Gold Standard. So, while the distinguished Tennessee Senator drops wording into an Alaskan Oil Drilling Bill to spend billions on "conservation," the State Wildlife Grants from the same federal treasury grow annually.
The State Wildlife Grants started as just a few million for the "poor states." Each year, millions more are added, because of "critical needs," and the high purpose of "keeping wildlife from becoming Endangered." Excuse me, while I ask the stewardess for one of those bags.
Today, they are up to over $60 million per year. There is no requirement, as with Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson, that there be any public access to a project. There is no requirement that the money be used for some human purpose, only "good stuff." Even land bought with the funds can be closed to management and use, just like is happening with federal lands today. The animal rights and environmentalist employees in the federal administering agency (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and the state fish and wildlife agencies look on this as "their" money, and will assure it is spent, or shared, with the "right kind of professors" to show that hunting over there and fishing down there endanger the watershed, causes global warming, and must be stopped before more dire things result. To sum up, it is "feel-good" money for all those folks and causes that have been importuning natural resource management and use, causing the corrosion of property rights, and elimination of so many of our precious and unique American freedoms.
This state Wildlife Grant Program, that cropped up in Congress one night five years ago, has some dangerous things in common with CARA, GO, and all the other multi-billion dollar pass-throughs of federal taxes to state fish and wildlife agencies.
1. They are intended to replace the hunting and fishing taxes (that go uncollected, unaudited, and misused) that are the backbone of hunting, fishing, and trapping in the United States.
2. They are intended to give federal bureaucrats and politicians more power over state fish and wildlife agencies.
3. They are intended to further imbalance the state fish and wildlife agency workforces with more anti-resource management and resource use personnel.
4. They are intended to increase federal authority (through requirements to state agencies) over Native Ecosystems, Endangered Species, state and private lands, and the resource users from hunters and fishermen to loggers and ranchers.
5. They are intended to harmonize federal bureaucrats' schemes with U.N. bureaucrats for a future Invasive Species Treaty, and other such chicanery.
6. Finally, they are meant to eradicate any remaining possibility of a state politician or state bureaucrat even thinking about complaining about any federal behavior in the future ("what about the grant money for next year?").
Even though they (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state fish and wildlife agencies) are "only" asking for another $15 Million per year, to bring it up to $85 Million per year, and even though the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership assures me this will "ultimately save taxpayer dollars down the road" - I'm afraid I'll have to pass on this one, before I have to ask for that bag again. I didn't even "click" to "see what my state received." Heck, even with all the "lack of funds" that we hear about constantly, my state of Virginia managed to send the top 3 fish and wildlife agency guys and the top Governor's appointee (the "Chairman") over to Zimbabwe (that's right, Zimbabwe, the bastion of African dictatorship) for a "safari," called a "fact-finding trip" on state fish and wildlife agency funds. I guess I just have a hard time believing they need "more," especially if it just this environmental "walking-around money" that will only cause more mayhem.
So, take it from a veteran, while we fight for our freedoms and traditions at the ramparts, knowing who is a friend, and who is a foe, is just as important as recognizing an enemy uniform. Whether they disguise themselves to cleverly conceal their agendas to betray us, or disguise themselves simply because they are in the castle and want to be on whichever side wins, recognizing friends and foes is probably the most important thing to surviving any battle, and it is vital if we are to win the battle we are engaged in.
Jim Beers is a retired Refuge Manager, Special Agent, & Wildlife Biologist U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
http://eco.freedom.org/el/20050402/beers.shtml
By Jim Beers
April 15, 2005
Imagine the United States' natural resources users as a medieval community living peacefully around a large castle. Think of the castle as the U.S. Constitution, a bulwark against those who would do away with all the members of the community. Lately, we, the natural resource users and property owners, have been seeking refuge in the castle, as the Animal Welfare Act attempts to eradicate the concept of animals as property; as the Endangered Species Act attempts to place growing amounts of unprecedented power over plants, animals, and property in the hands of federal bureaucrats; and as federal land managing agencies abjure any resource management and eliminate human uses, access roads, and rural economies, and communities.
The two latest threats (as of April 2005) are federalizing authority over Invasive Species and a multi-billion dollar raid on the federal treasury, intended to give federal land managing agencies, and their state counterparts, the financial resources to undercut and phase out resource uses, from hunting and fishing, to logging and public land recreation. Each of these egregious programs has been quietly placed in seemingly harmless legislation, in the dark of night, by U.S. Senators.
Federal Invasive Species authority has been hidden in the many-paged National Transportation Bill by an unnamed Senator. The language is not appropriate to a Transportation bill, but is intended to merely start the campaign of giving the federal bureaucrats authority over all non-native plants and animals, that they now have over Endangered Species.
Likewise, language to give billions of taxpayer dollars to federal and state natural resource and land managing agencies to help "wildlife" and conduct "conservation" is nothing but disguised financial resources meant to further undercut natural resource use and management, by placing more land and resource managers under the current no-management/no-use bureaucracies that are causing so much trouble today. This latter language was placed in the Alaskan oil drilling authority bill (ANWR) by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.
I strongly suggest that if the unnamed Senator, who dropped in the Invasive Species language, and the Senator from Tennessee wish to help "wildlife" and "conservation," they step back and realize they are doing exactly the wrong things. If you want to help hunters, fishermen, trappers, and landowners - support audits and sound management of the Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson funds and the agencies that administer and use them. Millions are being wasted, uncollected, and avoided by inept management and greedy bureaucrats and manufacturers. If you want to "set-aside" natural areas for taxpayers, support overhauling the federal land managing agencies and hiring federal natural resource managers to manage the timber and grazing and recreation for the benefit of all Americans. Also, why not repeal the Wilderness Act and Wilderness designations, to reinstitute management and uses of millions of acres of public land for all citizens?
Senators, your proposed giveaway of billions of tax dollars for bureaucratic mischief and a new Federal Mandate for Invasive Species are more of what have caused all of the problems and losses being suffered by natural resource-oriented citizens, and landowners everywhere. Your proposals merely pander to the worst elements of our society, those animal rights organizations, seeking to destroy our human society, and environmental organizations out to control directly, and indirectly, the property rights of all citizens.
But hey, I am not really writing about Invasive Species and the giveaway of billions for "conservation." Remember our castle? These two threats are at the ramparts of our castle, and we are fighting them with all we have. A sad truth is there are traitors in the castle, that we believe are helping us, but who are really trying to discourage us and convince us that things aren't so bad. In the past, there were the Trout Unlimiteds and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundations telling us we should join hands with the Sierra Club. (This latter outfit was bad enough before, but now they are in the throes of a hostile takeover by animal rights factions from Greenpeace and some "wolves" in "sheeps" clothing.) But no, it is not them I am writing about. There are all the hunting and fishing and camping retailers and manufacturers who tout non-native plants and animals, but then remain silent when Federal Invasive Species authority is up for consideration. But no, it is not them either. This latest Quisling in our community just sent me an e-mail, to wit.
TRCP Action Gram
Getting Better Funding For Fish And Wildlife Management
Dear James,
Created by Congress in 2001, the State Wildlife Grants program is our nation's core program for keeping wildlife from becoming endangered. State Wildlife Grants continue to provide critical funding to virtually every state fish and wildlife agency for essential on-the-ground conservation work to ensure abundant fish and wildlife throughout the U.S.
They then go on to give me a sample letter to write my elected politician, and tell him or her how I "strongly value wildlife." To quote the eminent Mr. Stoessel, "give me a break."
The State Wildlife Grant Program was quietly started by the U.S. Congress, at the behest of state and federal bureaucrats, five years ago, when similar raids on the federal treasury (CARA, GO, Non-Game Funding, Chickadee Check-offs, etc.,) were stalling in Congress as regularly as proposals for the U.S. to go back on the Gold Standard. So, while the distinguished Tennessee Senator drops wording into an Alaskan Oil Drilling Bill to spend billions on "conservation," the State Wildlife Grants from the same federal treasury grow annually.
The State Wildlife Grants started as just a few million for the "poor states." Each year, millions more are added, because of "critical needs," and the high purpose of "keeping wildlife from becoming Endangered." Excuse me, while I ask the stewardess for one of those bags.
Today, they are up to over $60 million per year. There is no requirement, as with Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson, that there be any public access to a project. There is no requirement that the money be used for some human purpose, only "good stuff." Even land bought with the funds can be closed to management and use, just like is happening with federal lands today. The animal rights and environmentalist employees in the federal administering agency (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and the state fish and wildlife agencies look on this as "their" money, and will assure it is spent, or shared, with the "right kind of professors" to show that hunting over there and fishing down there endanger the watershed, causes global warming, and must be stopped before more dire things result. To sum up, it is "feel-good" money for all those folks and causes that have been importuning natural resource management and use, causing the corrosion of property rights, and elimination of so many of our precious and unique American freedoms.
This state Wildlife Grant Program, that cropped up in Congress one night five years ago, has some dangerous things in common with CARA, GO, and all the other multi-billion dollar pass-throughs of federal taxes to state fish and wildlife agencies.
1. They are intended to replace the hunting and fishing taxes (that go uncollected, unaudited, and misused) that are the backbone of hunting, fishing, and trapping in the United States.
2. They are intended to give federal bureaucrats and politicians more power over state fish and wildlife agencies.
3. They are intended to further imbalance the state fish and wildlife agency workforces with more anti-resource management and resource use personnel.
4. They are intended to increase federal authority (through requirements to state agencies) over Native Ecosystems, Endangered Species, state and private lands, and the resource users from hunters and fishermen to loggers and ranchers.
5. They are intended to harmonize federal bureaucrats' schemes with U.N. bureaucrats for a future Invasive Species Treaty, and other such chicanery.
6. Finally, they are meant to eradicate any remaining possibility of a state politician or state bureaucrat even thinking about complaining about any federal behavior in the future ("what about the grant money for next year?").
Even though they (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state fish and wildlife agencies) are "only" asking for another $15 Million per year, to bring it up to $85 Million per year, and even though the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership assures me this will "ultimately save taxpayer dollars down the road" - I'm afraid I'll have to pass on this one, before I have to ask for that bag again. I didn't even "click" to "see what my state received." Heck, even with all the "lack of funds" that we hear about constantly, my state of Virginia managed to send the top 3 fish and wildlife agency guys and the top Governor's appointee (the "Chairman") over to Zimbabwe (that's right, Zimbabwe, the bastion of African dictatorship) for a "safari," called a "fact-finding trip" on state fish and wildlife agency funds. I guess I just have a hard time believing they need "more," especially if it just this environmental "walking-around money" that will only cause more mayhem.
So, take it from a veteran, while we fight for our freedoms and traditions at the ramparts, knowing who is a friend, and who is a foe, is just as important as recognizing an enemy uniform. Whether they disguise themselves to cleverly conceal their agendas to betray us, or disguise themselves simply because they are in the castle and want to be on whichever side wins, recognizing friends and foes is probably the most important thing to surviving any battle, and it is vital if we are to win the battle we are engaged in.
Jim Beers is a retired Refuge Manager, Special Agent, & Wildlife Biologist U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
http://eco.freedom.org/el/20050402/beers.shtml