Bureaucrats and political appointees, while important spark plugs for the
Invasive Species juggernaut aren't worth consideration. Bureaucrats will,
long after you reason with them and cajole them and meet all their
"NEPA"
and "public involvement" "requirements" will do and try to
do what is best
for themselves. Political appointees are no better with one important
exception, their job is to make expedient moves for the elected officials on
whose patronage they depend.
Invasive Species is a nondescript (meaning a liberal or a conservative or
moderate can love it or hate it depending on whose ox is being gored)
political issue. Liberals tend to always go to the extreme of loving every
environmental scam that comes down the pike. Conservatives tend to be more
skeptical but they realize that it is not a first tier issue and that, like
the moderates, they can court folks on both sides of the issues depending on
who they are talking to. The outgoing Secretary of the Interior was a big
Federal Invasive Species supporter. Her replacement from Idaho will no
doubt be no better. The Interior Science Advisor is a big Federal Invasive
Species pusher and he used to work for incoming Secretary Kempthorne on a
nondescript Endangered Species Act that was little more than window
dressing.
If the current party keeps control of the White House and the Congress it is
likely that Federal Invasive Species authority will continue to gain
momentum. If the other party gains control, the pace will likely be
faster.
If the latter, the bureaucrats will form a steady stream of tales and
proposals that their new appointee bosses will love to death as a legacy of
environmental and animal rights "progress".
So after all this what do you suggest? What to do except whine?
I suggest three things to put this Invasive Species genie back in the lamp
and the sea.
1.) We should tell our Federal and State elected officials
that we are
unalterably opposed to any governmental (State or Federal) role to either
establish "Native Ecosystems" or manage ANY plants or animals based on
whether they are "Native", "Non-Native", or
"Invasive". Whether on Federal
property or State property or private property, the role of the Federal
government should solely concern controlling importations and managing
Federal properties in concert with the communities they are located in and
the language in the Congressional authorizing legislation for that area.
Likewise State activities regarding harmful plants or injurious animal
species should reflect State laws and the needs and desires of local
communities.
If we relate this to our elected officials it should be possible to get such
language inserted in Federal Appropriation language, Federal Acquisition
Authorization language, and in appropriate State laws and regulations.
This
is related to the next two recommendations.
2.) On 20 March 2006 I wrote an article titled
"Counting Bears a Suspect
Science & LIABILITY". That can be read on my blogsite or website
identified
at the end of this article. I believe that more accountability and
LIABILITY for State and Federal employees is necessary to stem the tide of
these expensive, wasteful, and freedom-consuming environmental proposals.
Please read that article about how to begin holding public employees liable
for public decisions that they perpetrate without legal justification.
What
I say about grizzly bears applies not only to wolves but to every other
plant and animal mentioned in this article.
3.) On 20 February 2006 I wrote an article titled "Saving
Hunting,
Fishing, and Trapping" in that article I recommended 4 Steps. These 4
Steps
are meant to make over a Billion dollars available to State fish and
wildlife agencies in the first two years and then $100 Million per year
thereafter while reducing Federal control of State agencies, returning the
States' Washington lobby group to State governments, and cleaning up the
lying and cheating that is going on in the State programs and limiting the
Federal government to collecting and distributing the hunting and fishing
taxes and assuring honest and timely audits.
The 4 Steps would be:
- Cutting the taxes held unspent
in half from $ 2 Billion to $1
Billion.
- Reduce the amount withheld
annually for Federal administration
from $16 Million to $3 Million.
- Stop $3 Million per year going
to the State Lobby Group in
Washington and send the money to the State agencies.
- Redirect $80 Million per year
in boat gas taxes from Louisiana
Counties' Operating funds and distribute that money to all the states.
Certainly these 4 Steps, like this 4 Part explanation of what is going on
with Federal Invasive Species authority creation, require more than I have
mentioned here so like in #2 above, I commend you to this article on
"SAVING
Hunting, Fishing, and Trapping".
Federal politicians must realize they cannot continue to build the federal
government at the expense of our freedoms and rights. Federal and State
bureaucrats have to realize that they are LIABLE for the harm their
decisions cause and the property and welfare they destroy. The
environmental extremist groups and animal rights radicals must be reined in
before their agendas change this nation irrevocably. Elected politicians
work for us. Bureaucrats work for the elected politicians, if they do not
provide for our "domestic Tranquility" as the Constitution requires,
then
they should be replaced and the laws should provide for that. That said,
State authority is always more amenable to citizen control than trying to
influence a Federal politician. Even in the New Jersey's and Illinois' and
Massachusetts' where a big city controls the State agenda, the hopes and
needs of those of us affected by these scams and schemes are easier to
protect than when faced with Federal schemers working with UN counterparts
and international groups playing with Billions of dollars.
The ONLY thing that will stop this Invasive Species nonsense from becoming
the bitter pill we have seen in other similar legislation in recent years is
making politicians and bureaucrats fearful that we really know what we are
talking about and that we mean business! Otherwise, we will wake up one
day
wringing our hands in some assigned urban apartment asking our selves "what
happened" and "how did this happen"?
END OF PART IV
Jim Beers
- If you found this worthwhile, please share it with others. Thanks.
- This article and other recent articles by Jim Beers can be found at
http://jimbeers.blogster.com (Jim Beers Common Sense) or at
http://www.jimbeers.net/
- Jim Beers is available for consulting or to speak. Contact:
jimbeers7@verizon.net
- Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist,
Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow.
He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and
Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western
Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the
Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security
Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress;
twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60
Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to
expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Centreville,
Virginia with his wife of many decades.