 In the budget compromise, Republicans defunded the BLM Wild Lands program. Ostensibly, its to promote oil drilling, but the “wilderness plan” also happens to be the latest right-wing conspiracy. “Wilderness policy” is the 2010’s black helicopters and FEMA. Keep reading Also sold out in the budget: “Wilderness Policy,” the right’s current “black helicopters”  Did Obama cave on political riders in the budget compromise? Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson de-listed wolves in Idaho and Montana in a closed-door deal. NOAA almost protects orcas in Puget Sound. PA to declare open season on porcupines. Keep reading Budget compromises wolves, other politics shafts orcas, PA porcupines  A controversial grazing deal has the federal government paying $3.3 million to graze on land that it should be able to buy outright for $4-8 million. Keep reading Why are the feds paying $3.3 million to graze for 30 years on land worth only about $4 million?  Church near Yellowstone charges taxpayers $313 per month for wild bison to graze. Mother Jones measures how much Obama sucks on wildlife. Escaped prairie dogs and wandering leatherback sea turtles.  El Salvador: Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Blau thinks the environmental group is just a sham of the hard-line left opposition. Is it? Keep reading What Wikileaks says about wildlife –El Salvador  President Obama talked grandly about how he would “restore the scientific process to its rightful place at the heart of the Endangered Species Act, but now his interior secretary doing incompetent backroom horsetrading on wolves. Keep reading Why is Obama trying to gut the Endangered Species Act?  You know how Americans are appalled every time there’s a story out of China or Iraq about the government thugs primitively rounding up dogs and shooting them? Well, we do that, too. On purpose. Federal agents are out there killing dogs, more than one a day. They shot 157 dogs to death. And it’s not just in the yahoo states out west, either. (Although Texas and Arizona are the top states of dog-killing.) The USDA somehow insinuated itself into dog situations in 32 states. They went out and shot two dogs in Ohio and 30 in California. And it wasn’t because they feared they were rabid, either. They only tested 14 dogs for rabies. Keep reading USDA Kills Another 4 million animals, including 477 dogs and 1,991 feral cats 
Sarah Palin – Caribou Hunt,courtesy Grizzly Bay by way of Kinship Circle. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar created a new panel for citizens to tell the federal government what to do about conservation and wildlife. But, instead of having the Wildlife Hunting and Heritage Council include the growing portion of Americans who just want to watch animals, not gun them down, he geared it to the dwindling minority of hunters. More Americans have fun watching wildlife than shooting it (71 million wildlife watchers versus 12.5 million hunters), according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Hunters already have advocates in the NRA. State wildlife a encourage hunting. The Pittman Robertson Act makes sure of that. As any NRA member can tell you, there’s a 10-11% tax on guns that supports wildlife and conservation. That tax makes the agency beholden to hunters. Seven states have commissions that specifically require hunters or anglers, the HSUS says. What NRA members won’t tell you is that the tax is on all guns, not just those used in hunting. The NRA tells members that the tax is on “sporting arms” Which weapons does the NRA consider sporting? Pretty much all of them. (I think it’s their effort to get hunters–by far the most respectable and respectful gun contingent–in on the government-fearing bandwagon.) The tax on pistols and revolvers is 10%. What percent of handguns do you suppose are used for hunting? Very few. But the portion of the gun market that buys for self protection, crime or militia purposes doesn’t have a strong lobby. Hunters Keep reading Feds Overlook Wildlife Watchers Again in New Conservation Panel  President Obama wants to freeze the tiny part of the federal budget that applies to programs in the environment, parks, education and transportation. I’ve seen this movie before and know this political gimmick doesn’t have a happy ending for wildlife. But here are four easy way to cut the federal budget by $280 million a year and help the environment, wildlife and animal watchers. Discount Grazing on Public Lands: $121 million Wild Horse-Roundups and Permanent Holding: $85 million a yearKilling Coyotes, Starlings and other “Bad” Animals: $71 million a yearRounding up Yellowstone Bison $3 million 1) Stop Cattlemen Welfare $121 million Cattlemen get to graze on federal land for about one-tenth the cost they would have to pay the private sector. This is a program both the left and right hate. The CATO Institute calls it “land-use socialism.” Ranchers now pay about $1.35 per animal unit per month (AUM), compared to $13.50 in the real world. Just to break even the federal government should be charging between $7.64 and $12.26, a GAO report found. We could stop losing $121 million by charging market rates. I’m a meat eater and amid the myriad choices of grass-fed and dry-aged, I’ve never gotten a special deal on federal land beef. If the massive federal lands were put on the free market, it would probably drive down costs for all ranchers–and consumers.(Photo courtesy of Sharat Ganapati) 2) Stop rounding up wild horses : $85 million a year We really have more wild horses in captivity that we know Keep reading 4 Budget Cuts that Save U.S. Taxpayers $280 Million AND Help the Environment, Animals and Wildlife Watchers  Today a federal judge in Washington will hear wild horse advocates argue that 2,700 wild horses in Nevada shouldn’t be rounded up and held indefinitely in holding pens. Seems like an obvious choice, but under the antiquated U.S. wild horse protections, it’s not. Wild horses in America are like a beleagured employee who has somehow gotten stuck with a totally inappropriate manager who doesn’t understand their charm or why he can’t just get rid of them. Horses somehow fall under the The Bureau of Land Management, despite its mission to provide land for energy producers, cattle ranchers and miners. Since 2000 the BLM has gone on a spree of rounding up wild horses, creating what has become a vast, money-sucking collection of 11,000 in corrals and 22,000 in Midwestern pastures–the same number that run wild. In 2008 the BLM started openly talking about mass euthanasia for mustangs. (To save them, Madeleine Pickens proposed a private sanctuary.) The BLM announced its final decision Monday to remove 2,700 horses near Reno in what it calls the Calico Complex Round-up, which includes five herd management areas: Black Rock Range East and West, Calico Mountains, Granite Range, and Warm Springs Canyon. The BLM decided the right amount of horses for the area is 600-900 and it counts about 3,000 out there. If they don’t round up the horses, some might die, the BLM threatens. Well, yeah, they’re wild animals. That’s what they do. It’s not as if this is a magical species that would Keep reading 2,700 Wild Horses Fight Eviction in Federal Court |
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