Pedantic Political Ponderings: Oregon

Showing posts with label Oregon. Show all posts

10 July 2012

10 July 2012: Marriage News Watch

25 October 2011

Repudiation: Jason Chaffetz Wants To Dispose of Wilderness

Representative Chaffetz (R), Utah, has proposed a bill titled: Disposal of Excess Federal Lands Act of 2011. According to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the idea is to sell off over three million acres across ten Western states. Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington State are the ten. The specific lands to be sold are not specified in the legislation, but are expected to include wilderness areas, endangered species habitat, wetlands, and other pristine acreage.

It is ironic that it was Republican President Theodore Roosevelt who was a significant proponent of conservation. One of his most lasting legacies was his significant role in the creation of 5 national parks, 18 national monuments, and 150 National Forests, among other works of conservation. Roosevelt was instrumental in conserving about 230 million acres (930,000 km²) of American soil among various parks and other federal projects.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, “While there are national treasures worthy of federal protection, there are lands that should be returned to private ownership,” Chaffetz said in introducing his legislation earlier this year. “If the land serves no public purpose and is ‘identified for disposal,’ let’s return it to private ownership.”

Incredibly obvious to anyone who has spent time in our National Forests or worked with the conservationists and environmentalists, empty land is not empty and does serve a public purpose. Teddy Roosevelt saw the value in setting aside lands for all time. Once developed, these lands would take decades, if not centuries, to restore. The birds and animals that reside in these lands would have their habitat destroyed. Land does not have to be built upon and industrialized to have value. Land is not disposable.

Some, perhaps most, of the sold land would undoubtedly be stripped of extant forests. This would exacerbate the ongoing climate change. This is the problem that Republicans continue to deny and hide facts that prove climate change is occurring. For our own sake, we must conserve the wild lands that remain.

Thanks to Joe My God for the heads up.

Small update. Above, Mr. Chaffetz says "lands that should be returned to private ownership." As I was reminded by the commenters at Joe My God, those lands were never privately owned. Those lands never should be.

13 October 2011

Repudiation: Wolf Killers, Oregon Dept of Fish and Wildlife

This is not a fantasy tale of werewolves or something fun. There are only fourteen wolves in the state of Oregon. Those fourteen are about to drop to twelve, including the planned murder of the pack leader.

It is not easy to defend wolves. Our society has a long history of vilifying the wolf. The Brothers Grimm always had the wolf as the murderer. We fear for our pets, our children, and our livestock if there are any wolves in a very wide vicinity.

Let's clear up some of the myths. Wolves are very good at culling the weak and the elderly from wild herds of deer and other smaller animals. They do not kill for sport or because an outer garment is a nice shade of red. Wolves are an endangered species because, in our irrational fear, we have hunted them to near extinction. Since being placed on the Endangered Species List, wolves have made somewhat of a comeback. Still, we prefer to bring in sharp shooters to control deer populations than risk living with wolves within a hundred miles of us. Wolves do not prefer human prey. As scary as they are, wolves fear us even more than we fear them. Wolves do not tend to spread diseases.

There are more myths out there. Learn more about wolves from National Geographic, the International Wolf Center, Western Wolves, and Defenders of Wildlife. While these are wild and sometimes dangerous animals, we do not have to live in terror of them.

For the moment, the hunt is on hold by court order. That order may be lifted soon. The Center for Biological Diversity is seeking help to stop the hunt.

The fewer species that we have on our planet, the thinner the web of life that supports and sustains us. We need to stop wiping out species. The latest Department of the Interior Report on Endangered or Threatened Wildlife and Plants in the Federal Register notes on its next to last page the loss of two more species in Florida:

Florida Fairy Shrimp and South Florida Rainbow Snake

Because the information presented by petitioners as well as information in our files suggests that the species are already extinct, they do not meet the definition of an endangered species or a threatened species under the Act (section 3(6) and 3(20), respectively). Therefore, an analysis of the five threat factors was not appropriate.

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