and another doozy for wildlife

[Guest guest]

you know, sometimes screaming at the computer monitor can leave you so hoarse

 

Bush Administration to Ramp Up Aerial Gunning and Introduce Wildlife Poisons in

Designated Wilderness and Research Natural Areas

 

June 14, 2006 — By the Center for Biological Diversity

TUCSON, Ariz — The Bush administration proposed last week to relax

restrictions on aerial gunning and poisoning of " problem " wildlife such as

coyotes, foxes, mountain lions and wolves in designated Wilderness areas and

Research Natural Areas on Forest Service land. Wilderness and Research Natural

Areas are the two most protective land management classifications the Forest

Service has, and both were formerly off-limits to predator control programs

except in limited circumstances.

 

Wilderness areas are designated by Congress and are set aside as places where

natural processes are free to take their course. The 1964 Wilderness Act

describes Wilderness as " an area where the earth and its community of life are

untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain " [16

U.S.C. 1131©]. Wilderness areas are a popular destination for hikers and

horseback riders who wish to see wildlife and remote natural areas. Currently,

predator control actions are only permitted in designated Wilderness areas when

they are needed to protect an endangered species or human life, and all control

is done on a case-by-case basis with strict provisions designed to ensure that

wilderness values are not impaired.

 

Research Natural Areas are small areas that, according to Forest Service policy,

" may be used only for research, study, observation, monitoring, and those

educational activities that maintain unmodified conditions " (Forest Service

Manual 4063.03).

 

The changes the Forest Service announced last week would reverse the

long-standing policies that protect wildlife in Wilderness areas and Research

Natural Areas. The new rule would permit motorized and aerial trapping and

killing of wildlife in both land designations. It would also make predator

control an " objective " in Wilderness management, rather than reserving such

activities for times when they are necessary to protect human life or endangered

species. Worse, the new rule permits predator control when it is advised by a

" collaborative process " that is undefined in the rule, but which presumably

would entail meetings by livestock interests that are typically hostile both to

Wilderness and to wolves, coyotes, cougars, bobcats, bears, lynx, foxes and

other wildlife.

 

" This rule is a dramatic and devastating blow to our nation's wildlife and

wilderness areas, " said Erik Ryberg, Staff Attorney for the Center for

Biological Diversity. Piece by piece the Bush administration is stripping away

every protection, every refuge, our wildlife formerly enjoyed. Few Americans

consider a wilderness experience to include people in helicopters and on

motorcycles tracking coyotes through the forest and killing them, but that is

exactly what this rule authorizes. "

 

Along with relaxing the conditions under which predator control may occur in

Wilderness areas and Research Natural Areas, the rule would also permit the use

of poisons such as M-44 cyanide guns, which are currently banned in Wilderness

areas. Domestic dogs are often killed by M-44's, and the poisons are also a

significant danger to children.

 

Furthermore, the proposal would exempt the Forest Service from conducting an

environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act of the

impacts of predator control actions. Thus, members of the public would be less

likely to know in advance which Wilderness areas they might spot helicopter

gunmen shooting coyotes or witness the dying convulsions of their family dog.

 

The Center for Biological Diversity is a non-profit conservation organization

with more than 22,000 members dedicated to the protection of imperiled species

and their habitats.

 

Contact Info:

 

Erik Ryberg

Center for Biological Diversity

Tel: 520-260-4157

E-mail: eryberg

 

 

Defending this corruption on which you are sat

You tell me what to think, you tell me this and that

`Freedom is O.K. you scum` but make sure it`s never used

In your defence of liberty I always stand accused