Baxter Black: Potential new endangered species act a hit

December 3, 2005

That huge gasp, clutching at the chest and cracking of a big smile that was heard across the US of A this fall was farmers and ranchers reading the headline, "U.S. House of Representatives pass bill to restrict Endangered Species Act!"

Even though we know the Senate may not sign on, it's a step in the right direction. For some of us, it is too late. It's a little bit like wanting a bicycle when you were 10 years old in 1973 and now, 30 years later, it's under the Christmas tree, but it's not the same.

What offended most was the injustice of the law and then its blatant misuse by the Anti's to inflict economic injury on those they seek to destroy. Because of the strictness of the law, it's politically correct intentions, and our subsequent unimagined technology, judges seemed impotent to inject common sense or moderation into their decisions.

The change in the act does not limit the frivolous lawsuits and endless obstructive tactics of the Anti's, but it now would require livestock and property owners to be compensated if their production were affected.

There is a two-edged sword to the new law if passed, and that is that developers wishing to convert desert, farm ground or mountain valleys into condos, trailer parks or gated communities also will benefit.

Developers wishing to speculate in a piece of ground are required to fight their way through a blizzard of environmental regulations and can be stopped in their tracks by a spotted owl, Tasmanian tansy wort or short-nosed sucker. The revised law would make it easier for them to build.

The developers are coming no matter what - just like Wal-Mart. It is the inexorable roll of civilization.

When I called it a two-edged sword, I meant the most active ranchers in Missoula or corn farmers in Fort Dodge or citrus growers in Orlando look with a heavy heart at the encroachment of suburbia. Now, farmland prices are at record highs, a lot of retiring farmers can sell out, and it's the developers who are paying the millions!

But we who run cows or work the land can't have it both ways. So, I'm philosophical about it. The developers are coming no matter what - just like Wal-Mart. It is the inexorable roll of civilization.

But the new bill will bring us relief and great joy not to be the whipping boy for well-intentioned but unjust laws that fell into the hands of the Sheriff of Nottingham. It was like arming orangutans and turning them loose in a Farm Bureau meeting. A lot of people got hurt.

Baxter Black is a veterinarian and cowboy poet. His column appears weekly and airs each Monday at 6:20 a.m. on KGNC Talk Radio 710. He can be reached at baxterblack.com or (800) 654-2550.

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On the Edge of Common Sense: Potential new endangered species act a hit Baxter Black Opinion

On the Edge of Common Sense: Potential new endangered species act a hit

Baxter Black
Opinion