STAY AWAKE
Recent news items have detailed how the Secretary
of the Interior (and the
US Fish and Wildlife Service) have "unveiled a new
regulation Monday that
expands the authority of States and Native
American Tribes with
Service-approved wolf management plans to manage
gray wolves in the Northern
Rocky Mountains population." Secretary Norton and
Assistant Secretary
Manson and USFWS Director Williams are to be
thanked for this sensible
gesture. To those that say it is merely an
enticement to get the first two
States (Montana and Idaho) to agree to abide by an
FWS-approved Wolf
Management Plan (a condition to get the
aforementioned accommodation) I say,
you are probably right. Getting Montana and Idaho
on board with wolves
(like Minnesota and Wisconsin and Michigan) will
assure that ALL the other
western States (where wolves will surely be in a
decade or less) are
powerless to stand alone against future Federal
wolf demands.
I wish to use the Wolf as a typical product of the
Endangered Species Act.
The gray wolf was "listed" as Endangered under the
Act while there were more
than 70,000 of the same wolves in Canada and
Alaska (the latter as you must
know is a State of these United States that
periodically has to "control'
wolves to maintain game populations and to protect
property.) At the same
time a Russian wildlife biologist told me, over
lunch in Brussells, that
there were "millions" of wolves in Russia from the
Urals to the Pacific
Ocean. In truth, this clearly indicates that
ANYTHING can be "listed."
The fact that wolves were purposely extirpated by
State and Federal and
private landowners from the West in the early part
of the last century meant
nothing.
The fact that wolves had come under the authority
and jurisdiction of State
governments since the ratification of the
Constitution meant nothing.
The fact that Alaska (every bit as much of a State
as Minnesota or North
Carolina) had robust, (indeed too-robust) wolf
populations meant nothing.
The fact that wolves were widespread worldwide
from Europe clear around
Russia to the Atlantic coast of North America
meant nothing.
The fact that wolves killed livestock and
watchdogs and hunting dogs and pet
dogs meant nothing.
The fact that wolves decimated and then kept
permanently depressed big game
populations that were, until recently spectacular
examples of US ingenuity
and largesse as well as primary funding sources
for State fish and wildlife
agencies meant nothing.
The fact that wolves attack people and have caused
school bus stops to be
closed and kids kept indoors during breaks meant
nothing.
The fact that the Federal government seized and
holds all wolf authority and
the only change anticipated is a conditional
return to States of authority
dependent on continued Federal approval meant
nothing.
The fact that there are wolves now established in
9 States (AK, MN, WI, MI,
MT, ID, AZ, NM, NC) and getting established in
(how many?) others (IL, IN,
UT, OR, WA, CO, NV, NE, ND, ??) has meant nothing
to Federal power and
authority over wolves.
Remember this key point about EVERYTHING you are
hearing recently about
"delisting" and "approved Wolf Management Plans"
and "turning over
management authority to the States." They are all
done "BY" the Secretary
of the Interior or the Director of the US Fish and
Wildlife Service or even
by the President. That's what is meant by
"Service-approved." What they
"GIVE" can be just as blithely taken away by their
successor. The
Constitution placed this authority at the State
level because that is the
most (compared to the Federal) responsive to
citizen redress. In other
words, States protect communities and citizens
while the Federal government,
like any other strong central government tends to
tyranny and dictatorial
increases for its own (as opposed our) good.
The next Director of the US Fish and Wildlife
Service could easily be some
animal rights radical from the Humane Society of
the US or even PETA. The
next Secretary of the Interior could very easily
be an environmental
extremist from the Wildlerness Society or the
Sierra Club or even one of
their "conservation partner wannabees" like Trout
Unlimited or the Rocky
Mountain Elk Foundation. The next President could
get elected thanks in
large part to New Jersey and Massachusetts. This
latter would mean a
political debt to the folks that banned traps,
have strict gun control, and
are famous for coyotes attacking children, beavers
flooding homes and
communities, and teaching school kids to keep all
food in their hands to
throw at the bears (as the kids run for their
lives) that New Jerseyites
refuse to manage.
The President and his Secretary of the Interior
and the Assistant Secretary
for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and the Director of
the US Fish and Wildlife
Service did not have this Endangered Species power
35 years ago and they
SHOULD NOT have it now or in the future. (FYI
There is a similar Endangered
Species power "food chain" in Commerce for marine
plants and animals.)
The danger that all of us (who have been harmed by
the Endangered Species
Act and those of us that see how this Act is
perverting our very government)
face is false complacency. As long as the
Endangered Species Act remains
unchanged and/or in place none of us are safe.
Unless the Act is amended
radically or even repealed, it holds evil and
deadly future creations beyond
anything we can even imagine. It can easily be a
major factor in the end of
this nation as we know it.
Today we are considering a new generation of
superhighways (1/4 mile wide
with car lanes and truck lanes and trains and
utilities) to replace the
interstates that have spurred our economy and
lifestyles for 50 years; does
anyone think such a project is conceivable with
this Endangered Species
authority hanging over our heads?
Every year State fish and wildlife agencies become
more and more insolvent
and irrelevant due to Federal power grabs and
increasing dependence of
federal funds. Who will protect natural resource
managers and users from
the voracious and rich anti-use and
anti-management radicals?
Freedoms and rights that have existed in this
nation for over two hundred
years from animals as property and agriculture and
ranching and logging and
hunting and fishing and trapping and circuses and
rodeos to pets and work
animals and use of private property are
increasingly vulnerable as court
decisions expand Federal powers under the Act,
bureaucrats profit from the
Act, scientists and public land purchase of
private property profit from the
Act, posturing politicians profit from the Act,
and radical organizations
from animal rights radicals and environmental
extremists work with
anti-globalists and groups like the Ruckus Society
to control, manipulate,
and profit from the Act.
Don't be duped by bureaucratic kindness. The Act
is a time bomb ticking
away and it cannot be "fixed" by putting a
temporary Christmas wrapping on
it. The reelection of the President has everyone
talking "reform". As
Social Security and the tax code are mentioned let
us start mentioning
Endangered Species Act reform. The politicians
will tackle this matter now
(first year after a big reelection with one party
controlling the House,
Senate, and the White House) or never.
The bureaucrats are of two types. There are the
long-term top managers
appointed by the last Administration. They will
work surreptitiously day
and night with the extremists and radicals to
undermine any reform. The few
career Federal employees that do not think of
Federal power and their
careers before the good of the nation and its
natural resources will try to
help but they have not been promoted and will be
oppressed by the truly
corrupt layer of managers above them.
Likewise the appointees will be of two types.
Most are tinkerers that enjoy
the camaraderie of federal employees and try to
soften any reforms that
upset the employees. There are a few appointees
that understand and will
support reforms but they tend (like the career
employees mentioned above) to
be in lesser positions. That however, is not the
current problem that faces
us.
We need to support Federal politicians that will
draft and vote for real
reforms. State politicians need to tell their
Federal cousins that they
need to restore States rights in this area.
Passing a reformed ESA will
give the appointees with grit in the Departments
the backing they need.
Bureaucrats then need to be told what to do (next
year?) with regulations
and policies and partnerships and US positions to
the UN by appointees. At
most they have two years before the next
presidential elections heat up and
everything is diverted to that race for power.
So don't be lulled to sleep by the nice lady in
the Interior Department or
the kindly bureaucrats cutting ribbons. Either we
get real reforms now or
maybe never. It is up to all of us to protect our
liberties and get back
those we lost or face a future where our children
will never know what we
had.
Jim Beers
5 January 2005
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This article and other recent articles by Jim
Beers can be found at
http://www.allianceforamerica.org/bb/viewforum.php?f=91
Jim Beers is available for consulting or to
speak. Contact:
JimBeers7@earthlink.net
