The past few years have seen attempts to get Federal Invasive Species
authority inserted in Transportation Bills. Invasive Species authority
is
mentioned and requested at every opportunity by the US Fish and Wildlife
Service for it's Refuges and for State agencies. The National Park
Service
and the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management mention it in
writing and verbally at every opportunity with Congressmen and their staffs.
Even the Bureau of Reclamation and US Army Corps of Engineers are in
constant fear of "Invasive Species" and so tell the Congressmen that
approve
their budget requests.
Always they mention the Brown Tree Snakes on Guam or Killer Bees or Kudzu or
Snakehead Fish. Truth be told, the Brown Tree Snakes on Guam (the snakes
kill birds and bite children on this American Protectorate) could be
exterminated now if Congress would authorize the money. Killer Bees are
a
problem but the Federal government could fund research on how to exterminate
them right now under existing authority and then States and property owners
and towns could take care of the problem. Kudzu, while a problem in the
South, was developed as a ground cover (which it does very well) and control
as with Killer Bees could be handled under current authorities. Which leaves
Snakehead Fish. Snakeheads are not nearly the problem being featured
right
now but the ONLY real Federal responsibility in the US for 2 centuries
regarding such species was and remains PREVENTING IMPORTATION. Well they
failed that test so now THEY WANT US TO GIVE THEM AUTHORITY WHEREVER
SNAKEHEADS ARE SPREADING! How nuts is that?
The real agenda is doing away with Pheasants and Brown Trout and Rainbow
Trout and Great Lakes Coho Salmon and Chukars and Hungarian Partridge and
Largemouth Bass in the West and all the hunting and fishing that they
support. Then there is the power over grazing on both public and private
property. The same goes for the timber management and logging that has
somehow survived to date. Then there is farming. Pasture plants,
domestic
animals, crops, orchards, etc., etc. are all "Invasive" and all
intended to
be brought under Government control to realize the wishes of radicals and
extremists opposed to all those things.
Federal Activities
One such example should suffice here. Less than one week ago I received
a
copy of a US Fish and Wildlife Service "Refuge Update". A
"touchy-feely"
picture shows a Service employee talking to some old (like me?) folks on a
deck. He is identified as an "exotic plant management liaison at
Imperial
National Wildlife Refuge". A few pages on is an article titled
"The Reality
of managing Wilderness Values: Charles M. Russell National Wildlife
Refuge",
the author is identified as "an invasive species strike team leader"
who
proclaims " Closing roads within proposed wilderness was an unpopular
decision for some refuge visitors but, in the end, it has allowed CMR (sic,
the refuge mentioned above) to better protect wilderness resources".
This (Invasive Species job proliferation) is not only going on in every
agency imaginable, within each agency the land manger vies with the law
enforcement division and the research function and future State requests
(through the US Fish and Wildlife service) for Invasive Species money and
increased authority. The only loser in these races is all the rest of
us.
State Activities
Again one recent example should suffice. Two nights ago a friend dropped
off two recent editions of WILDLIFE in North Carolina to show me two
references to current Eastern coyote perceptions. In looking through
these
two magazines, Invasive Species references were common.
- Regarding Pheasants on the Outer Banks we are told that "Pheasant
hunting
is not allowed at cape Hatteras National Seashore", that "The
trouble with
any park service monitoring of ring-necked pheasants is that the species is
not native to the area. If pheasants disappeared tomorrow, biologists
would
not particularly care.", and that "As a non-native species with a
tiny
presence in the state, the pheasant will probably not attract funding for
research".
- An article called "Trout Travelogue" informs us that trout occur
"brookies
at the highest elevations, rainbows down a little lower and brown trout at
the lowest elevations". The only photos of freshly caught large
trout
feature brown trout. Nowhere is there any mention of how these rainbows and
browns or the pheasant on the Outer Banks will be exterminated with gusto by
the US Park Service on the Outer Banks and along the Blue Ridge parkway
where most of the trout fishing pictured in the article takes place if and
when Federal Invasive Species authority becomes law. There is no mention
of
where such State fascination with "Native" v. "Invasive"
will lead us.
- Two articles about "Urban Trails" inform us that while "the
greenway
morphs into a sidewalk with concrete walls and recessed concrete
benches",
"Streamscaping improvements beside the paved greenways include plantings
of
native trees and flowers." Further we are informed "These
native treasures
compete with invasive shrubs that have been introduced from cultivated
sources by wildlife or the elements."
- The last article is titled "Alien Rats and Mice". Each
species is
prominently identified as "native" or "nonnative".
We are informed,
"Nonnative rodents cause problems in the natural environment, too."
Also,
"Yet native mice and rats are important parts of their environment,
essential prey for hawks, owls, snakes, foxes, and other predators.
While
conservationists are working to keep nonnatives from threatening other
wildlife, they also want to make sure that alien rodents don't give all mice
and rats a bad name." Where to start? Both alien and nonnative
rodents
carry disease. Both provide predators with food. Both cause problems in
the
domestic and wild environment. Oooh, some wildlife will give other
wildlife
a "bad name". Thank you government for saving us from such
things!
Aren't Invasives problems? Are you "against" a "Native
Ecosystem"? Yes and
No. Some plants and animals that weren't "here" (wherever that
is) a
hundred or a thousand years ago are just as liable to human judgment as to
whether their "harm" outweighs their "benefit". The
US and your State are
no more what they were a hundred years ago or a thousand years ago than you
are what you were 25 years ago. Sure we should manage all plants and
animals. Some should be exterminated in some places and controlled in
others and stocked in others. These are decisions that are best done at
the
local level and not at the national or international level. Such
decisions
should not be the means to eliminate hunting or fishing or farming or forest
management. The costs are no small factor here; the idea that
"professors"
or "scientists" or bureaucrats should dictate this is ludicrous and
un-American.
But there is an anomaly here. If government is supposed to represent the
interests of those they represent, how can we return government to the role
of protecting people, property, and American culture and traditions and away
from selective nature worship? If government should control brown trout
because of harm; why not grizzly bears? If government is supposed to
eliminate snakeheads because of economic and environmental harm; what about
wolves? If pheasants and Hungarian partridge are harmful; what about
coyotes and beaver and raccoons, blackbirds, etc.? If spreading disease
is
a concern about "alien" rats and mice; what about urban Canada geese
and
wolves? If escaped parakeets and cattle egrets must be eliminated by
government; what about cormorants and crows that far exceed any
"damage" by
other birds. If endangered fish hatcheries must be protected from
marauding
birds; what about domestic bird farms or private fish hatcheries with
similar problems? If "alien" rodents are a problem because of
disease; what
about the migratory birds we are expecting to bring avian flu to the United
States or that reside in our cities by the millions? You will notice that
government does what they and their national money sources want. Local
folks be damned.
Crooked Agendas Breed Lying & Cheating
Since the future of getting Congress to cough up Millions or Billions to be
spent "just like the hunting and fishing excise taxes" the
administration of
the hunting and fishing taxes has become an "Enron-like" operation.
Any
scandals are covered up so that nothing jeopardizes the safe delivery of the
big cash cow in Washington.