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The Recovery and Restoration
of Rural America
As this is being written:
-Union rioters are seizing State Capitol buildings in Wisconsin, Indiana,
and Ohio.
-State legislators are fleeing their states to avoid the wrath of their
Union supporters.
-Chronic national unemployment is on everyone's mind.
-National and State debts threaten to bankrupt and even destroy government.
-National and State Budgets cause hostility everywhere as calls for comity
abound.
-Budget Cuts v. Tax Increases reflect the deep political division emerging
everywhere.
-Unfunded entitlements from government pensions to social and medical
promises loom.
-Housing prices and construction are in the worst shape since the 1930's.
-Banks, loans, business futures, insurance costs, and federal funds are all
questionable.
-Middle East and African governments are falling with unknowable future
rulers.
-Oil and energy prices are exploding as federal policies are unclear and
threatening.
Additionally, Rural America is depressed and reeling from 40+/- years of
federal government policies that treat federal lands as distinct from the
states and local communities wherein they are located (i.e. Wilderness
Declarations, Road Closures, abandonment of renewable natural resource
management and use, revenue-generating and revenue-sharing management
practices from grazing and timber management to wildlife uses,
"Travel-Management" Plans, Permits requirements, etc.); and from the effects
of steadily expanded and un-Constitutional federal powers under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA) from Taking without compensation and disregard
for both state authorities and private property to administrative takeover
of state agencies and changing the ESA from "saving species" to selectively
restoring species anywhere at will and even mortally endangering human
safety with "GI" (Government-Introduced) wolves and an arrogant disregard
for those affected.
A few of the many examples of this are:
-GI Wolves that are a growing menace to humans in half of the contiguous 48
states.
-GI Wolves that are destroying livestock, game animals, and dogs in Rural
America.
-Suckers being used to destroy agriculture in the Klamath Basin.
-Salmon being used to destroy dams and thereby energy production and users.
-Salmon being used to destroy fishing and to justify Marine Sanctuaries.
-Smelt being used to limit and eliminate California agricultural production.
-Snail Darters used to reduce dams and interject federal authority in
Tennessee.
-Black Bears that are increasingly destructive to rural interests in
Louisiana and Florida.
-Spotted Owls that destroyed western timber management over a vast area.
-Grizzly Bears that are steadily killing more people and livestock.
-Red-cockaded Woodpeckers that have greatly diminished Southern private
timber production.
-Ivory-billed Woodpeckers (extinct for 60+ years) used to buy and ease
Southern forests.
-Sage Grouse used to threaten and reduce western energy corridors and
ranching.
-Whales used to destroy and depress both commercial and sport fisheries.
-Sea Otters used to destroy abalone fisheries.
To summarize all this, America is in deep trouble for the foreseeable
future. The federal government must cut back because of debt, many state
governments are in desperate need of funding to avoid bankruptcy, and Rural
America has the additional burdens of unusable public-land renewable
resources and an Endangered Species Act that takes private property without
compensation and increasingly expresses authority over more and more of
Rural American life and Rural American economies to great detriment.
THEREFORE, in order to reduce future federal costs and future federal tax
demands while simultaneously increasing revenue to states and local
communities, I propose the following federal legislation to rescue an
Endangered Rural America and to restore Prosperity to the 50 states that
compose this great nation.
RURAL AMERICA RECOVERY AND RESTORATION ACT
This Act consists of two parts.
Part I
All lands owned or controlled by the US Government, except for those
controlled by the Department of Defense and other specifically named herein
lands, are hereby transferred to the ownership and control of the state
government within which such parcels of land are located.
(Note to reader - Canada did this in 1929. All those non-private lands in
Canada that are such tourist magnets; revenue-producers from forage
(grazing) and tree (forestry) management, hunting, fishing and trapping; and
energy producers are owned and managed by Provinces - the Canadian
counterparts to our States. Canada exports lots of timber, meat, and energy
AND they still have world-class wildlife, trees, and habitats that attract
tourists from around the world. The same thing here in the US is to be
expected if state governments controlled Rural America and state and local
needs and interests predominated in the management of Rural American
public-lands. Additionally, state and local politicians or bureaucrats that
did not manage those lands with the local community in mind would soon be
unelected which is not true of federal politicians and federal overseers.
Not only would federal bureaucracy costs be eliminated and thereby federal
tax needs and debt accrual similarly reduced: state coffers (and even the
national coffer) would be increased with the NEW revenues generated for the
rural communities and state budgets by the increased economic activity and
jobs generated by the renewal of the active management and use of renewable
natural resources for future generations that would once again have a STAKE
in the management of the RURAL RESOURCES that sustain them. State
bureaucracy employees would be surely only a small percentage of the army of
federal bureaucrats currently employed by federal agencies. State ownership
would also imply state (the new owners) priorities and the redefinition of
current federal legal mandates that currently suppress economic growth and
steadily evacuate Rural America while wasting American resources and
vitality.)
Part II
The Endangered Species Act is hereby amended in the following manner:
1. Only SPECIES; not subspecies, race, Population, Population Segment,
or Distinct Population Segment; may be considered under this Act.
2. Only species endangered World-wide may be considered under this Act.
3. Any Taking under this Act must be for "just compensation" as
described in the 5th Amendment to the US Constitution.
4. No authority under this Act may be used to restore Native Species
beyond the magnitude to assure their world-wide survival without the express
consent of the Legislature and Governor of the concerned State or States and
as expressly authorized by the US Congress.
5. Any action such as taking private property or directly affecting the
authority or economy of the State may not be undertaken without the express
consent of the Legislature and Governor of that State.
6. That the authority of State governments over the plants and animals
of that State and the authority of Local governments such as Counties and
Townships shall be protected and not diminished as far as is practicable by
any actions taken under this Act.
7. That before any recommendation for non-voluntary action under this
Act by either State government or the citizen is made, the federal role
should be first to publish research and recommendations for the recovery of
an Endangered Species, second to offer all available dispositions of help on
any and all federally-controlled lands, and third exhaust all means of
obtaining voluntary compliance of needed actions.
8. Each Species Restoration Program must be specifically and annually
authorized by the US Congress.
9. Native Species are hereby defined as subjects appropriate for
academic study and examination to determine expected outcomes of current and
future actions. Neither Native Species restoration nor Native Ecosystem
restoration is an appropriate goal or purpose of any federally funded action
not specifically approved by the US Congress. Invasive Species are hereby
defined as harmful plant or animal species that are or could an active
threat to the citizens or economic life of the nation or group of states.
Invasive species are not to be considered as simply plants or animals that
were not here before a certain date such as 1492 AD or 1776 AD nor are they
animals considered as game animals by any state. Invasive species are to be
excluded from import into the United States and federal cooperation with
states to conduct research or enable control or eradication is desirable and
must be authorized specifically by the US Congress. Such control or
eradication of such species may not be initiated in any state without the
express consent of the Legislature and Governor of such state.
There you have it! A simple two-part Act to transfer most federal lands to
state ownership and revise through a series of Amendments, The Endangered
Species Act. This Act would decrease federal budget requirements and
increase federal and state revenues while creating millions of jobs and
revitalizing Rural American Prosperity.
In times like these, how could anyone be opposed to something like this that
saves money, costs nothing, increases jobs, and restores prosperous rural
communities that have been a common hallmark of advanced and successful
nations from Europe and Britain to the United States and Canada?
Jim Beers
23 February 2011
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 Eagan,
Minnesota with his wife of many decades.
Jim Beers is available to speak or for consulting at jimbeers7@comcast.net
-Union rioters are seizing State Capitol buildings in Wisconsin, Indiana,
and Ohio.
-State legislators are fleeing their states to avoid the wrath of their
Union supporters.
-Chronic national unemployment is on everyone's mind.
-National and State debts threaten to bankrupt and even destroy government.
-National and State Budgets cause hostility everywhere as calls for comity
abound.
-Budget Cuts v. Tax Increases reflect the deep political division emerging
everywhere.
-Unfunded entitlements from government pensions to social and medical
promises loom.
-Housing prices and construction are in the worst shape since the 1930's.
-Banks, loans, business futures, insurance costs, and federal funds are all
questionable.
-Middle East and African governments are falling with unknowable future
rulers.
-Oil and energy prices are exploding as federal policies are unclear and
threatening.
Additionally, Rural America is depressed and reeling from 40+/- years of
federal government policies that treat federal lands as distinct from the
states and local communities wherein they are located (i.e. Wilderness
Declarations, Road Closures, abandonment of renewable natural resource
management and use, revenue-generating and revenue-sharing management
practices from grazing and timber management to wildlife uses,
"Travel-Management" Plans, Permits requirements, etc.); and from the effects
of steadily expanded and un-Constitutional federal powers under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA) from Taking without compensation and disregard
for both state authorities and private property to administrative takeover
of state agencies and changing the ESA from "saving species" to selectively
restoring species anywhere at will and even mortally endangering human
safety with "GI" (Government-Introduced) wolves and an arrogant disregard
for those affected.
A few of the many examples of this are:
-GI Wolves that are a growing menace to humans in half of the contiguous 48
states.
-GI Wolves that are destroying livestock, game animals, and dogs in Rural
America.
-Suckers being used to destroy agriculture in the Klamath Basin.
-Salmon being used to destroy dams and thereby energy production and users.
-Salmon being used to destroy fishing and to justify Marine Sanctuaries.
-Smelt being used to limit and eliminate California agricultural production.
-Snail Darters used to reduce dams and interject federal authority in
Tennessee.
-Black Bears that are increasingly destructive to rural interests in
Louisiana and Florida.
-Spotted Owls that destroyed western timber management over a vast area.
-Grizzly Bears that are steadily killing more people and livestock.
-Red-cockaded Woodpeckers that have greatly diminished Southern private
timber production.
-Ivory-billed Woodpeckers (extinct for 60+ years) used to buy and ease
Southern forests.
-Sage Grouse used to threaten and reduce western energy corridors and
ranching.
-Whales used to destroy and depress both commercial and sport fisheries.
-Sea Otters used to destroy abalone fisheries.
To summarize all this, America is in deep trouble for the foreseeable
future. The federal government must cut back because of debt, many state
governments are in desperate need of funding to avoid bankruptcy, and Rural
America has the additional burdens of unusable public-land renewable
resources and an Endangered Species Act that takes private property without
compensation and increasingly expresses authority over more and more of
Rural American life and Rural American economies to great detriment.
THEREFORE, in order to reduce future federal costs and future federal tax
demands while simultaneously increasing revenue to states and local
communities, I propose the following federal legislation to rescue an
Endangered Rural America and to restore Prosperity to the 50 states that
compose this great nation.
RURAL AMERICA RECOVERY AND RESTORATION ACT
This Act consists of two parts.
Part I
All lands owned or controlled by the US Government, except for those
controlled by the Department of Defense and other specifically named herein
lands, are hereby transferred to the ownership and control of the state
government within which such parcels of land are located.
(Note to reader - Canada did this in 1929. All those non-private lands in
Canada that are such tourist magnets; revenue-producers from forage
(grazing) and tree (forestry) management, hunting, fishing and trapping; and
energy producers are owned and managed by Provinces - the Canadian
counterparts to our States. Canada exports lots of timber, meat, and energy
AND they still have world-class wildlife, trees, and habitats that attract
tourists from around the world. The same thing here in the US is to be
expected if state governments controlled Rural America and state and local
needs and interests predominated in the management of Rural American
public-lands. Additionally, state and local politicians or bureaucrats that
did not manage those lands with the local community in mind would soon be
unelected which is not true of federal politicians and federal overseers.
Not only would federal bureaucracy costs be eliminated and thereby federal
tax needs and debt accrual similarly reduced: state coffers (and even the
national coffer) would be increased with the NEW revenues generated for the
rural communities and state budgets by the increased economic activity and
jobs generated by the renewal of the active management and use of renewable
natural resources for future generations that would once again have a STAKE
in the management of the RURAL RESOURCES that sustain them. State
bureaucracy employees would be surely only a small percentage of the army of
federal bureaucrats currently employed by federal agencies. State ownership
would also imply state (the new owners) priorities and the redefinition of
current federal legal mandates that currently suppress economic growth and
steadily evacuate Rural America while wasting American resources and
vitality.)
Part II
The Endangered Species Act is hereby amended in the following manner:
1. Only SPECIES; not subspecies, race, Population, Population Segment,
or Distinct Population Segment; may be considered under this Act.
2. Only species endangered World-wide may be considered under this Act.
3. Any Taking under this Act must be for "just compensation" as
described in the 5th Amendment to the US Constitution.
4. No authority under this Act may be used to restore Native Species
beyond the magnitude to assure their world-wide survival without the express
consent of the Legislature and Governor of the concerned State or States and
as expressly authorized by the US Congress.
5. Any action such as taking private property or directly affecting the
authority or economy of the State may not be undertaken without the express
consent of the Legislature and Governor of that State.
6. That the authority of State governments over the plants and animals
of that State and the authority of Local governments such as Counties and
Townships shall be protected and not diminished as far as is practicable by
any actions taken under this Act.
7. That before any recommendation for non-voluntary action under this
Act by either State government or the citizen is made, the federal role
should be first to publish research and recommendations for the recovery of
an Endangered Species, second to offer all available dispositions of help on
any and all federally-controlled lands, and third exhaust all means of
obtaining voluntary compliance of needed actions.
8. Each Species Restoration Program must be specifically and annually
authorized by the US Congress.
9. Native Species are hereby defined as subjects appropriate for
academic study and examination to determine expected outcomes of current and
future actions. Neither Native Species restoration nor Native Ecosystem
restoration is an appropriate goal or purpose of any federally funded action
not specifically approved by the US Congress. Invasive Species are hereby
defined as harmful plant or animal species that are or could an active
threat to the citizens or economic life of the nation or group of states.
Invasive species are not to be considered as simply plants or animals that
were not here before a certain date such as 1492 AD or 1776 AD nor are they
animals considered as game animals by any state. Invasive species are to be
excluded from import into the United States and federal cooperation with
states to conduct research or enable control or eradication is desirable and
must be authorized specifically by the US Congress. Such control or
eradication of such species may not be initiated in any state without the
express consent of the Legislature and Governor of such state.
There you have it! A simple two-part Act to transfer most federal lands to
state ownership and revise through a series of Amendments, The Endangered
Species Act. This Act would decrease federal budget requirements and
increase federal and state revenues while creating millions of jobs and
revitalizing Rural American Prosperity.
In times like these, how could anyone be opposed to something like this that
saves money, costs nothing, increases jobs, and restores prosperous rural
communities that have been a common hallmark of advanced and successful
nations from Europe and Britain to the United States and Canada?
Jim Beers
23 February 2011
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 Eagan,
Minnesota with his wife of many decades.
Jim Beers is available to speak or for consulting at jimbeers7@comcast.net