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Re: NFC: endangered species



Fully Prepared wrote:

> I am afraid that the ESA has actually worked for
> species. Bald eagles and peregrine falcons are now in
> much better shape. 

Have you any *actual* figures on the cost in human lives of that recovery?
Don't forget that Rachel Carson and her activist followers managed to murder
far more human beings than any other US mass murderer, by getting DDT banned
(a small part of that particular "solution").

> But it is really habitat
> preservation that is the issue. Devils Hole Pupfish
> only live in one spring. 

Simply not a true statement. [Habitat preservation is, I agree, primary to
any species maintenance effort.] The *diabolis* live in at least three other
refuges beside Devil's Hole, and at one time were actively being studied by
skilled hobbyists in aquaria. [That latter effort now seems to be totally
prohibited, tho.]

> If that spring is lowered
> because of groundwater pumping the fish disappear.

Possible, but only in that location.

> That almost happened in the 1970s. But the Supreme
> Court ruled in the fish's favor under the ESA. Many
> think that is trampling property rights. 

Of course it was. It takes an unimaginitive simpleton to not realize that.
The ill-designed law was unable to deal rationally with a complex issue and
simplistic interpretations were all the court could legally use (misuse,
according to some). It is an utter crap shoot whether the results will be
good or terrible when laws are badly written. The fish won this one. Private
property was usurped, unconstitutionally.

The struggle and the complications are far beyond the crap in the Wash. City
press releases.

> But the
> habitat was preserved. 

Primarily through the efforts of local ranchers, like the late Bob Love, and
the Nature Conservancy, that bought out USING PRIVATE MONEY the properties
using the water in a way harmful to the fish. [The bureaucrats promptly used
the stupidly-written law to seize 100% control, though.]

> It is now owned by the horrible
> US government. And the fish survive. A bad outcome?

Well... The beautiful nature walk from headquarters to Crystal Spring,
designed to impress a few visiting congress leeches, ate up too much of the
budget, so vital maintenance was neglected and a pump failure at one refuge
wiped out a major fraction of the world's population of *Cyprinodon
diabolis* males. The kill was probably far greater than any single event of
the 70s. [Accurate figures tend to be shrouded in secrecy, though. They are
*never* reported by the conventional press, either.]

One advantage to the perpetrators of such fiascos is that they can't be
fired (or even disciplined, properly) and indeed end up with promotions and
bigger budgets next year. That's the feature that makes government such a
truly bad custodian of our precious natural resources.

Failure to eliminate the bass still is a significant threat to the
wonderfully-recovered *Cyprinodon nevadensis mionectes*, The Ash Meadow
Pupfish, and the level of neglect of the habitat of *Cypr. N. pectoralis* is
an utter disgrace. One species has gone extinct, and another is very close,
but serious work to reduce the bass still appears years away.

It would help, "Boo" if you would get more of your information from the
field, and less from Time Magazine. It might open your eyes. Hundreds of
great, dedicated, smart government workers are driven crazy by this system,
and sometimes are terribly frustrated at how hard it is for them to get
their work done effectively under the commissars and their ignorant 5-year
plans.

They get blamed for the fiascos, and the "suits" get promoted and spend next
year's budget on favorable publicity stuff and not on the fish. It isn't
just at the FBI and DEA that such political crap runs the show. F&WL and the
National Park system have just as deep-rooted problems.

An ignorant and extremely slothful press is a major part of the problem. The
LA Times, the NY Times, and Time Magazine run the Washington City press
releases as if they were actually covering news. Reporting the truth would
be hopelessly embarrasing to those editors, so you never get to hear what is
really happening in the field, any more than they will report the annual
number of human malaria deaths -- once almost reduced to zero. That would
call for a level of integrity they decided to bypass years ago.

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley,  Fremont CA, USA,  510 494-8679     wright at killi_net

   An open letter challenging the beliefs of "statists" --
   people who tend to view government as the solution to
   every social problem. 
                 http://www.mackinac.org/3555
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