By Judith Kohler Associated Press The Santa Fe New Mexican Santa Fe, New Mexico http://www.freenewmexican.com/ To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@sfnewmexican.com Denver, Colorado - Biologist Rob Roy Ramey figures he has
risked his life many times for endangered species -- scaling
cliffs to help with peregrine falcons and California condors,
challenging sheep poachers in Mongolia, being chased by elephants
in Africa. He said millions have been spent protecting
mouse habitat from southeast Wyoming to Colorado Springs in
Colorado. A Denver area water and sanitation district even added mouse
tunnels and bridges to a project. [USFWS] is considering taking more public comment because Ramey
recently revised his study, now scheduled for publication in late
summer in the British journal Animal Conservation. He believes some of the wrath stems from his upending a 1954
study that declared the Preble’s meadow mouse a subspecies. Fish and Wildlife said eight of the 14 original peer
reviews of the study agreed that the mouse wasn't a distinct
subspecies. He said that could be misinterpreted by those eager to weaken
the 30-year-old law. He joked that he felt safer when he faced those elephants in
Zimbabwe. Copyright 2005, the Santa Fe New Mexican. http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/29207.html *Additional researched,
recommended reading: Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse
Research http://www.dmns.org/main/en/General/AboutTheMuseum/News/Story/preblesMouse.htm Animal Conservation Paper
(62-page pdf paper) (Note: Please see pages 45 and 48 for detailed maps of the
mouse's range.) May 30, 2005 http://www.dmns.org/NR/rdonlyres/8405012A-78B1-4713-94A8-1EB7306A9270/956/ RameyetalAnimalConservationinpress1.pdf The mitochondrial DNA sequences
used in research on the Preble's meadow jumping mouse
(Zapus hudsonius preblei) can be found at GenBank.
The accession numbers are AY598142-AY598316 and AY971529-AY971575.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS) 2001 Colorado Boulevard Denver, Colorado 80205-5798 303-370-6443 or 303-492-8239 (at this number Monday 3-4 p.m.
and Tuesday 2-3 p.m. MST) Fax: 303-331-6492
Endangered Species Act Reform ...
REPEAL
June 18, 2005
To:
Chairman Richard Pombo and all members of the House Resources Committee
US House of Representatives
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Pombo:
I ask that you and each member of your committee take the time to give this
entire comment a thoughtful read. It was not written hastily and the facts
contained herein are valid.
The only proper and honest reform of the Endangered Species Act, is total
REPEAL of the Endangered Species Act, with immediate and full restitution to
the myriad people and businesses the Act has harmed.
The Environmental Movement is the modern home of the Communist Party in the
United States of America.
The Endangered Species Act is a wrecking ball that the Environmental
Movement uses to tear down America’s Constitutional government and impose
the bankrupt policies of Socialism. It is a mechanism used as a
fundraiser by environmental organizations.
Enactment and application of the Endangered Species Act directly violates the
10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Endangered Species Act is a vehicle used to punish productive
Americans. In both content and application, the Endangered Species Act is
not about ‘saving’ species.
The Endangered Species Act is about shutting down productive use of land,
running people off their land, and enlarging the government estate.
With its professed agenda of "restoration," the ESA flies in
the face of natural evolution, adaptation and extinction of species --
all of which occur without the ESA and in spite of it.
The Endangered Species Act has wasted vulgar amounts of money and
resources and accomplished little -- if anything -- of value.
The Endangered Species Act has been used to corrupt, kill and
bury our U.S. Constitution.
The Endangered Species Act is a failure at saving species.
There is no valid reason for fixing or retaining the Endangered Species Act.
The expired Endangered Species Act must be REPEALED.
While you work toward total REPEAL of the Endangered Species Act, there are
many changes that must to be made. Here are some:
1) Stop ALL transfer of wealth and property, for ’species’ projects, from
the federal government to state and local governments, individuals and private
organizations. This includes immediately ending reimbursement of legal
costs of organizations that sue a government agency for ‘species’ reasons,
and for all other ’environmental’ reasons. Everyone will soon see just how
many organizations still "care" so much about species when there is
no pot of gold in it for them. A judge is not a wildlife biologist must
be forbidden to make any decision regarding species recovery. Ending
transfer of money and property also includes stopping all grants to
universities and other institutions for research on ‘endangered species,'
issues related to ‘endangered’ species and related issues.
2) End the practice of tax-exemption for environmental organizations, land
trusts, and federal agencies. All organizations that own or control land must
pay, to the county or city in which the land is located, the same yearly
property tax money that would be paid by private property owners on the same
land. That includes payment to Counties by federal agencies such as the Forest
Service and Bureau of Land Management. The tax exemption on
income for land trusts and so-called ‘not-for-profit’ environmental
organizations -- some of which have enormous yearly income and property
holdings that are not now taxed -- must end.
3) Outlaw ‘regulatory takings’ of privately owned land and property. If
there is a valid reason for denying the use of a landowner’s property to aid
in the recovery of a plant or animal, negotiate (do not coerce) with the
landowner for a short-term lease and land rental fee to be paid for the
recovery use. If recovery is important enough to be worth shutting down
private land, then recovery is worth paying the landowner for the PRIVILEGE of
using that land for a government-sponsored species recovery program.
Restitution must be made immediately for ’regulatory takings’ that
have already occurred. The current application of ‘regulatory takings’ is
nothing more than un-Constitutional theft of private property, which must
result in substantial fines and prison time for the environmental
organizations, people and government agency people involved in that theft,
with no plea-bargaining permitted.
4) Land which is legitimately needed for an environmental project, or for any
other government project such as a highway or reservoir, must be LEASED in
almost all situations, with payment to the landowner for the privilege of
using privately owned land, and with title to the land and property tax
liability remaining with the private landowner. Income to the landowner must
be exempt from taxation. If there is a price, and a continuing yearly cost, to
pay when a government agency uses privately owned land, there will be much
less incentive for the agency to acquire and hold large areas of private
land..
5) Species must not be listed as ‘endangered’ or ‘threatened’ or in
any other category of concern, simply because they are decreasing in number in
one area, when they exist in large numbers elsewhere. To list a bird as
‘endangered’ in California, when large flocks of the same bird numbering
hundreds of thousands of individuals, live in Baja, California, is dishonest
and a corruption of the legal process. There must be consideration of
protection only for species -- not for subspecies, varieties, local
population segments and other phony categories currently used solely
to shut down use of land.
6) There must be severe penalties for individuals and organizations that
transplant ‘endangered’ or ‘threatened’ species, including fur,
feathers and other body parts cited as evidence of the species’ alleged
presence, for the purpose of shutting down use of a forest, stopping housing
construction, or for any other reason.
7) Economic Impact Analysis must be part of the process. Shutting down the
economy of an entire region to ‘save’ some creature is an abomination. If
the creature is living there, it is adapted to conditions, including
human economic activity. Demanding that all logging stop in Northwestern
forests to ‘save’ the Spotted owl is not species recovery, it is
application of a Socialist political agenda designed to drive people and
business out of the area and increase government ownership and control of the
land. Critical Habitat designations that shut down use of vast acreage for
the supposed benefit of some bird or beast are an abomination, and doubly so
when the designation is made on the basis that habitat is ‘suitable’ or
'potential' -- even though the creature does not live there and has not
lived there. Breaching dams and infrastructure destruction for the supposed
benefit of a creature must be forbidden. Local human economies really ARE of
higher priority than making life comfortable for some bird or fish. If a
species is listed as ‘endangered’ or another category of concern, and the
listing is later determined to be in error, all persons and
agencies that participated in the listing must be responsible for paying full
restitution to persons, businesses, communities and others who suffered
economic or other harm because of the erroneous listing and the resulting
restrictions and enforcement actions.
8) The phony ’Unanimous Consent’ ploy must be forbidden for
re-authorization of all ’Species’ legislation. Require species to be
re-listed, or dropped from the list, after 10 years.
9) Write an ironclad no-net-loss of private property provision. Eminent Domain
and other legalized property theft is entirely inappropriate, unless done for
a truly public project [needs to be rewritten, because it presents a mixed
message] such as a highway, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers and
enshrined in the Fifth Amendment. Stealing land through legal and regulatory
means is still stealing, must be [replace "must be" with
"is"] forbidden, and must result in fines and prison time --
neither of which can be plea-bargained away -- for the government
personnel and agencies attempting to acquire the land.
10) Most major environmental organizations support Socialist policies
regarding land ownership and use. Those Socialist policies are in
opposition to the principles of American Constitutional government.
Environmental organizations that support Socialist policies must be publicly
identified, eliminated from receiving any money or assistance from
federal agencies, and their members must be immediately and permanently
removed from federal, state and local government employment.
11) End the practice of ‘re-introducing’ creatures, dangerous creatures in
particular. Introducing wolves, bears, panthers, rattlesnakes and similar
dangerous creatures is both expensive and destructive. Wolves were eliminated
from most States for good reasons that remain valid today. Identify the
private and government agencies responsible for re-introducing dangerous
creatures, and make the agencies and the individual people who re-introduced
the dangerous creatures PERSONALLY responsible for the death, destruction
and damage that result from their actions. Large fines and prison time
are appropriate, especially in cases of death or personal injury caused. If
wolves, cougars and grizzly bears are in conflict with people and livestock,
it is the wolves, cougars and bears that must go. The the persons
responsible for re-introducing the wolves, cougars and bears must be
legally responsible for PERSONALLY guarding hikers and livestock until the
wolves, cougars and bears are gone.
12) Apply species actions uniformly. Don't exempt eastern places such as
New York City or Washington D.C. from species enforcement actions that are
applied arbitrarily only to Western states.
13) If declining species are worth ‘saving,’ breed them for release. It is
generally inexpensive and effective to set up a captive breeding program to
increase numbers of a creature and then release the captive-bred creatures
back into their native area. Salmon are an example. Hatcheries produce salmon
by the gazillions and return the fish to their native streams, very
successfully and inexpensively. The current use of the Endangered Species Act
to shut down all human contact with a stream, even within the entire watershed
feeding the stream, ostensibly so salmon numbers can increase, is
wasteful, ridiculous, immoral, criminal, and un-Constitutional. It also is
ineffective and very costly.
14) International ‘species’ treaties and agreements must be forbidden, and
existing treaties and agreements, and U.S. domestic laws and regulations based
upon those international treaties and agreements, immediately terminated.
Environmental and species treaties and agreements are nothing but a means
to circumvent the U.S. Constitution and empower federal authorities to act in
violation of the Tenth Amendment. Governments may cooperate with regard to
migratory species and other creatures of mutual interest, but must not be
allowed to make treaties or other formal agreements that can be used to expand
government power under the guise of species management, or that can be used in
any manner to degrade Constitutional protections. Repeal of treaties and
international agreements, and repeal of laws and regulations based upon those
treaties and agreements, is a high-priority item that must be addressed and
completed before another year's federal budget may be approved.
A
mouse and a man: researcher finds himself in uncomfortable
spotlight after asking that mouse be removed from endangered list
June 18, 2005
Rob Roy Ramey II, Ph.D., curator of
Vertebrate Zoology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science,
holds a Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, right, from El Paso
County, Colorado, and a meadow jumping mouse, left, from Mercer
County, North Dakota, up for comparison. According to a study by
Ramey, the Preble mouse is no different from the meadow mouse
and should be taken off of the endangered species list. -
Associated Press. http://www.freenewmexican.com/photos/20050618/17125.jpg
His toughest encounter, though, could be with a mouse thought to
exist only in a narrow corridor along the east face of the
Rockies. His conclusion that the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse
isn't unique has made it the poster animal for critics of the
Endangered Species Act and outraged fellow scientists and
environmentalists who accuse him of faulty science.
The study by Ramey and his colleagues says the Preble’s
mouse is the same as the more common Bear Lodge meadow jumping
mouse and shouldn't be listed as a threatened subspecies.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed and has started the
process to drop the mouse from the endangered species list. A
final determination is expected next year.
The decision comes as members of Congress and others say the law
has failed to help most threatened and endangered animals and
should be rewritten.
“It’s a great example of what’s wrong with the Endangered
Species Act,” Denver attorney Kent Holsinger said of the 1998
decision to protect the mouse. “We're spending
more money on a species that doesn't exist than
on the humpback whale.”
Holsinger represents Coloradans for Water Conservation and
Development, a group of landowners, farmers and businesses, which,
along with the state of Wyoming, petitioned in 2003 to delist the
mouse.
“I think it’s high time to act on the information and delist
the Preble’s mouse,” Holsinger said.
The tiny mouse that can jump more than a foot in the air isn't
going away quietly.
The American Society of Mammalogists wrote to federal officials in
April, assailing Ramey’s work as “inconclusive at best, and
methodologically flawed at worst.”
“If I were still at Fish and Wildlife and received a letter like
this, I think it'd be absolutely clear the service should pause
before moving forward,” said Jamie Clark, the agency’s
director under President Clinton and now executive vice president
of Defenders of Wildlife.
Ramey, chairman of the zoology department at the Denver Museum of
Nature and Science, stands by his work.
“My research and paper came as a challenge to the traditional
approach,” Ramey said.
He has also been accused of crossing the line from science to
advocacy for testifying before Congress last year about the need
to revamp the Endangered Species Act.
What riled the mammalogists was Ramey’s research methods, said
Roland Kays, curator of mammals at the New York State Museum.
“Being a maverick can be admirable, but quite
often those people are just wrong. There’s a
reason that traditional science is not a bad thing,” Kays said.
The society also took a shot at the study for being partially
funded by one of the petitioners for delisting: the state of
Wyoming.
Ramey said he and his team initiated the study, which was also
funded by Fish and Wildlife and the Denver museum.
“Based on what data they gave us, it looks fairly clear cut,”
said Robert Bradley, an associate professor of biology at Texas
Tech University who agrees with Ramey’s findings.
Critics contend some of the more positive reviews still questioned
the methodology and said the mouse should be protected
because of shrinking
habitat. Biologist Dave Hafner originally sided
with Ramey, but said he changed his mind after realizing he made a
mistake “that Ramey has continued to make.”
Because Ramey appears to be viewing the Preble’s mouse as a
species rather than a subspecies, he mistakenly concluded that
genetic similarities with the Bear Lodge mouse means the two were
the same, Hafner said. The team should have focused on differences
between the mice because those support recognizing the Preble’s
mouse as a subspecies, he said.
Ramey said the latest study expanded the genetic testing --
and that still supports his conclusion.
Hafner, chairman of biological science at the New Mexico Museum of
Natural History and Science, also criticized Ramey for testifying
that the Endangered Species Act should be overhauled to shore up
the science.
Ramey acknowledged feeling embattled since releasing his
preliminary findings in December 2003.
“I think what’s important here is the realization that we can
always do a better job,” Ramey said. “Sometimes it’s a good
idea to utilize an objective approach to evaluate how we're
setting our priorities.”
On the Web
*Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse:
http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/preble
Julie Kay Smithson
213 Thorn Locust Lane
London, OH 43140
This concludes my Official ESA 'Reform' Comments; everything in this line
and everything above it are to be accepted and construed as my comments.
