I. INTRODUCTION -

The US Constitution placed all domestic jurisdiction over fish, wildlife,
and plants under State governments.  The Federal role in such matters was,
wisely in my opinion, limited to control of importations, interstate
commerce, and foreign aspects such as high seas fisheries and negotiations
with foreign powers. State authorities began to erode and flow to the Federal government late in the 19th century when Federal trappers assumed predator control
responsibilities on extensive Federal lands.  Settlers and western State
governments, totally unaware of where this would lead, welcomed the
eradication of wolves and the suppression of cougars, bears, and coyotes
that endangered livestock, working dogs, and people.

At the end of World War I the US signed a Migratory Bird Treaty with Canada
to protect certain named species of migratory birds.  While the PRIMARY
reason was the concern for a sustainable harvest of ducks, geese, and other
migratory game birds, almost 200 other migratory birds from Cardinals to
egrets were also listed.  (NOTE: This 90 years of protection and management
was recently abrogated by an unpublicized Congressional modification of this
Treaty at the behest of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to exclude all
"Non-Native Species" from any Federal protection.  At this writing the US
Fish and Wildlife Service is literally inventing which Migratory species
will be considered "Native and therefore protected" or "Non-Native and
therefore unprotected".)  Despite such recent display of environmental
hubris, the ratification of the Migratory Bird Treaty replaced State
authority with Federal authority over hundreds of species of birds.  This
not only has accounted for the explosion of species like cormorants that
today ravage fisheries, lakes, farms, and hatcheries but the Treaty also
formed the basis for the purchase and justification of the National Wildlife
Refuge System.

This coincided with the beginnings of the National Park System, the National
Forest System, and the decision to slow and then stop the conversion of
(mostly western) Federal lands to State and private ownership.  Whether for
the Congressionally authorized purpose of migratory bird management,
multiple use of forest and grassland resources, or the preservation of
"national treasures" the results were the same.  A growing Federal estate
administered by Federal bureaucrats convinced that they were legally
superior to State governments (a still extant myth) and therefore they (the
Federal agencies) were not like other landowners within a State, that is to
say they told States what to do and were not subject to "local" needs,
desires, or regulations.  Today over 40% of the nation falls into this
category and more land is purchased each year.

In the 1930's as the nation struggled with a Depression, the hunters
persuaded Congress to pass a bill authorizing the collection of an 11%
excise tax on guns and ammunition to be distributed to State fish and
wildlife agencies to be used only for wildlife restoration.  The States
eagerly complied by passing laws that all hunting license money and excise
taxes could only be used by the State fish and wildlife agency and only for
wildlife restoration.  The distribution and auditing of these excise taxes
was administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  The first approved
project was a 1938 botulism control project funded with $7500 of excise
taxes and $2500 of Utah Game and Fish money.  It began water control
management (this can control botulism outbreaks) at the mouth of the Weber
River on the shore of the Great Salt Lake.  (This location happens to be
where I worked my summer jobs during college with the Utah Game and Fish
Department in the early 1960's.)

In the 1950's a similar excise tax on fishing tackle was established for
State fish and wildlife agencies to use for restoring SPORT fisheries was
established.  In the 1970's a similar excise tax was established on archery
equipment.  Subsequent amendments called for the collection of fuel taxes
used in boating and earmarking of the funds for such things as Louisiana
wetlands, hunter education, shooting ranges, and North American Wetlands
mostly in Canada.  Very recently, secretive amendments to take the tax off
certain archery equipment and fishing tackle have met with varying success.
A large scandal in the late 1990's unearthed by the General Accounting
Office revealed the theft of $45 to $60 Million from the excise tax funds by
Federal administrators to introduce wolves and open new offices that
Congress refused to fund.  The administrators were never held accountable,
the funds were never repaid, and State fish and wildlife agencies never even
asked that the funds be replaced!

Today the Wildlife Restoration funds collect from $250 to $300 Million per
year.  The SPORT Fish Restoration funds total nearly $500 Million per year.
The steady flow of these funds to State fish and wildlife agencies is the
main reason that by the late 1960's and early 1970's the emerging
environmental and animal rights movements found stable and similarly
organized State fish and wildlife agencies with offices and personnel
distributed statewide with a strong dependence on Federal funds and Federal
administrators.

The early 1970's saw an explosion of Federal environmental and animal rights
legislation.  Working with UN bureaucrats and lobbyists from groups like the
Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, and the Humane Society laws such as the
Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Wild Horse and
Burro Act, the Wilderness Act, and the Animal Welfare Act were passed in a
frenzy in the midst of the Vietnam War and cultural deterioration in
American society.  Whatever else we might say of this chapter, the shift of
State authority over fish and wildlife and plants to Federal agencies
accelerated in a myriad of ways.  Endangered Species declarations shifted no
only named plants and animals to Federal regulators but also any "critical
habitats" as defined by the Federal regulators.  The Constitutional right of
property owners to "just compensation" when Federal regulators infringed on
their property was simply dissolved.  All marine mammals and all wild horses
and burros were placed under Federal regulators lock, stock, and barrel.
Animal Welfare was defined as a Federal matter and State authority made
inferior with a stroke of the Federal pen. The Wilderness Act was
established on an emotional argument that has no substance and was backed up
by pretty pictures and flowery language.  All in all the responsible Federal
politicians took great credit, the Federal bureaucrats began working closer
with the environmental and animal rights organizations that lobbied for the
new laws as they codified and solidified their new powers.  The States were
nowhere to be seen or heard.

Since 1970, these Federal powers have accelerated and grown beyond any
expectation.  Endangered Species abuses would take volumes to detail yet the
Act goes unauthorized for decades while being funded and any reforms
categorized as "gutting" the Act or the ravings of demented elitists.
Marine Mammals like exploding seal populations decimate salmon runs, cod
fisheries, and rock lobster fisheries but either go unnoticed or are shot at
sea by the thousands to feed sharks.  Wilderness has been the excuse for
Federal land agencies to concoct Roadless Areas, logging extermination, area
closures, entrance fees, and the hiring of management-ignorant employees
while fires ravage the West and ever more restrictive policies are
developed.  Animal Welfare started with medical experiments and spread to
all research and then to dog breeders and now agricultural production and
the very food to be available to us.  Activist veterinarians and other such
Federal Animal Committee members have spread philosophies under the guise of
"science" and animal "rights".  Again, the end result is an accelerating
shift from Constitutional State authorities to Federal agencies working with
and often influenced by radical organizations and activist Federal
employees.  Again, the States (not their agencies or their Governors or
their legislatures) are nowhere to be found or even heard from.

Today, Congress struggles to pass incredibly vast and dangerous Federal
authority over all Non-Native (i.e. Invasive) plants and animals.  This will
almost complete the elimination of any State authority to manage it's plants
and animals for the benefit of State residents.  It is currently being snuck
through Congress in the dark of night by an unnamed US Senator who dropped
it into a $3 Billion +, 1,000 page + Transportation Bill.  This will give
the Federal regulators the mandate to tell everyone (as they did western
ranchers and Midwest hunters regarding wolves) what plants and animals they
may or may not have on their property, in their parks, or on any other
lands.  Think of the implications for hunting, fishing, trapping, ranching,
farming, horseback riding, public land access, etc., etc. Consider the
influence of the whole spectrum of environmentalists and animal rights
radicals in the agencies and having the ear of Federal politicians and
political appointees.  Still the States are nowhere to be found or even
heard.

I have written extensively over the past six years about the relationship
between the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the State fish and wildlife
agencies.  This shift of the US Fish and Wildlife Service from traditional
Federal Constitutional authorities to an all-powerful central authority over
the nation's fish, wildlife, and plant resources has dangerous implications
for a whole host of national issues.  The change of State agencies,
Governors, and legislatures from powerful political entities that defend our
communities and minorities (trappers, hunters, fishermen, ranchers, dog
owners, etc.) from ever more powerful Federal bureaucracies and far away
urban activists is likewise a matter for grave concern.

My most recent articles (in the past 6 months and available at:)
http://www.allianceforamerica.org/bb/viewforum.php?f=91 have described the
loss of Millions of dollars of excise tax funds by cheating manufacturers,
Federal bureaucrats interested in hidden agendas, and crooked audits that
purposely cover up misuse of funds at both the State and Federal level.  It
is my belief that this nexus (Federal and State fish and wildlife
interactions) has been manipulated and distorted to achieve the goals of
radical groups and that the misuse and abuses of the excise taxes must be
dragged into the sunlight and exposed if to effect necessary reforms and
change these agencies from enemies of the people to the responsible natural
resource managers that they were created to be.

Several readers of those articles have challenged me to provide
documentation for what I have written.  That is a legitimate request that I
have wrestled with for some time now.  I have concluded that it would be too
dangerous for those that call me or write me or send me things to share
those documents or even many of the confidences.  In most cases it would not
take a Dick Tracy to figure out where I got them.  So, in order to try and
respond to those that want more documentation, I intend to write a series of
articles titled, Exposing Fish & Wildlife CHAF.  The articles will be
numbered and contain a subtitle for the subject of the article.  It is my
intent to stress numbers and tables recognizing that it is very difficult to
communicate specifics to a general readership without either causing your
eyes to glaze over or putting you into a sound sleep, but I will try.  The
number of articles and the subject distribution are still a work in progress
but I do want to complete such a series in the near future.

I hope this will satisfy those wanting more information and more importantly
help you to understand why an all powerful central government authority over
our environment is a bad thing, why the State governments are AWOL, and what
we must do to set things right.

Jim Beers
5 May 2005



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This article and other recent articles by Jim Beers can be found at
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Jim Beers is available for consulting or to speak.  Contact:
JimBeers7@earthlink.net