Free Republic

As 2020 wound to a close, pundits noted the growing toll of leftist policies on residents of blue states, prompting migration from California, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois to Republican-run states such as Texas and Florida, which offer lower taxes and a better business climate. In addition to losing Oracle, Charles Schwab, Hewlett Packard, and Elon Musk, for the first time in its history California is expected to lose a congressional seat in the upcoming decennial census allocation, due to stagnating population. Texas is expected to gain three seats, and Florida is expected to pick up two. Blue states...

It’s time for the Commonwealth of Virginia, my adopted home state, to repeal antiquated blue laws prohibiting public land hunting on Sundays. Not only are they outdated, they go against the very principles inset in the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. One of its seven principles, the democracy of hunting, stipulates the government must allocate “access to wildlife without regard for wealth, prestige, or land ownership.” The Virginia General Assembly will convene on January 13th for the 2021 legislative session to deliberate, among many bills, House Bill 1799 to undo these prohibitions.Lawmakers will have until February 27th to advance...

Lady I work with just came back after a week of being gone. Week ago she got a call that her aunt tested positive for covid. Turns out she is claiming she tests negative but 59 of her relatives were positive with nobody going to the hospital. She is one of the biggest members of the fear porn mob and now she is better after seeing her family members get it and it is not a death sentence. This all happened at a party she claims. I really do not know what to believe after hearing that. 59 get it...

Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) stands out in Congress as the lone registered forester. The third-term congressman representing Arkansas’ 4th Congressional District has emerged as a leading conservative voice on conservation issues. And for good reason. He recently told me his thoughts on forest management, why he supports market-based conservation, why conservatism isn’t at odds with conservation, and more. Forestry: A CallingCongressman Westerman said his love of the Great Outdoors greatly influenced his decision to pursue a career in natural resources. After graduating from the University of Arkansas with an engineering degree, he obtained a Master of Forestry from Yale University in a program established with...

During Wednesday’s VP debate in Salt Lake City, Vice President Mike Pence handily trounced his opponent, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), on the issues. What’s not getting much attention, however, is Pence’s answer on the environmental and conservation questions—issues our constituency cares deeply about. I believe the former Indiana governor cogently and clearly communicated the Trump administration’s record on environmental stewardship and true conservation very well.Free Market, Limited Government EnvironmentalismMany are quick to dismiss the Trump-Pence record on environmental matters. Why? Detractors claim deregulation, withdrawing from ineffective pacts, and repealing disastrous plans result in poor environmental standards. Quite the contrary. VP Pence began, “I'm very...

Should political observers write off Senator Cory Gardner’s (R-CO)’s re-election prospects yet? Not so fast. New polling suggests he’s gaining on challenger John Hickenlooper. The junior senator, first elected to office in 2014, is confident he can beat the scandal-prone former presidential candidate and Colorado governor. On a recent episode of my podcast, District of Conservation, Senator Gardner discussed how the campaign is going and how the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) will preserve our nation’s outdoor heritage.He said, “We have been able to take our message of accomplishment for the people of Colorado from corner to corner across our state, and I’m going to continue getting...

In our deeply-divided country, it’s rare for Congress to come together. One bill that put a momentary pause on the gridlock is the Great American Outdoor Act (GAOA), the bipartisan conservation bill heading to President Donald J. Trump’s desk.   Last month, the Senate passed their version by a 73-25 vote. The House of Representatives, after much delay, overwhelmingly passed it by a 310-107 vote on Wednesday. President Trump is expected to sign it by August 1, 2020.There are two key takeaways from the GAOA: it will permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) with $900 million annually in...

Chris D’Angelo, Huffington Post’s environment reporter, recently tweeted: “GOP Sens. Cory Gardner and Steve Daines, who have backed Trump's anti-conservation agenda at nearly every turn, are now fighting to shore up funding for public lands. Both face a tough road to reelection in 2020.”  This statement is problematic and visibly inaccurate. First, regardless of your personal feelings about President Trump, his Department of Interior has advanced true conservation policies. Of the agency’s many accomplishments thus far, opening over four million acres of federal public lands for hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities is chief among them.Second, Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO)...

Since the museum has already explicitly stated Roosevelt had 'troubling views on race,' its condemnation is not merely of the monument, but of the man. As the woke mob continues its crusade, pillaging cities and purging history, the next victim of the “tear it all down” impulse is Theodore Roosevelt, or at least a statue of him. But if Teddy is so problematic he must be canceled, mustn’t we also cleanse all the artifacts connected to his legacy, including thousands of animals?The desecraters never intended to stop at Confederate monuments, of course, and now the sculpture honoring the 26th president...

The sameness of the words conservative and conservation shows where the future of environmentalism lies.

White-bellied tree pangolins are being hunted illegally in large numbers in West Africa. Photo courtesy of Justin Miller/Pangolin Conservation ========================================================== ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Researchers from Florida and Illinois are leading a global effort to understand and protect the world's most trafficked mammal -- the little-known pangolin. Also called a scaly anteater, the cat-size pangolin is hunted and killed for its scales and meat in Africa and Southeast Asia. New research includes the so-called "Pango-Cam" attached to their backs to provide crucial information about the pangolin diet and territory. Without quick efforts to understand how to breed the...

The Arizona Department of Transportation has released its first-stage environmental review of a proposed new interstate from the border to north of Phoenix. The agency wants the public to weigh in on the controversial proposal, and is holding public meetings in Tucson and Marana this week. Three years ago, the state transportation department began evaluating the possibility of a new interstate highway, called I-11, which would connect traffic from the Mexican border to the Nevada border. In 2015 a federal act identified the route as a high-priority corridor eligible for federal funding. State transportation spokesperson Laura Douglas says her agency...

A proposed interstate into Myrtle Beach might be further delayed after a judge rejected most efforts to dismiss a lawsuit that raises concerns with the roads’ environmental impacts. It’s another chapter in the longstanding effort to bring Interstate 73 to the Grand Strand. The proposed Interstate 73 would run from Michigan to Myrtle Beach with about 75 miles of highway in South Carolina. Officials have long discussed the need for the route to help ease congestion and to serve as an alternative hurricane evacuation route. Late in 2017, the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League sued the U.S. Army Corps of...

LOWER SALFORD — There are times when Cassel Road should be closed down because of the mud on the road from the work to widen the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Lower Salford Township Board of Supervisors member Phil Heilman said at the board's Nov. 21 morning work session. He drove on the road on a recent day, he said. "It was solid mud," he said. Heilman said he was driving behind another vehicle. "His car was chocolate, just like mine," Heilman said. "We gotta keep an eye on that." Police Chief Tom Medwid said officers are checking on...

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) -  A quarter of a century later, local, state, and federal leaders still work to build Interstate 73. It would be the Grand Strand area's first interstate.I-73 would run from Michigan to Myrtle Beach. Now after Hurricane Florence, there's even more urgency, among some, to complete the project. As Hurricane Florence approached the South Carolina coast in September, so did the call for evacuations. "If any of your listeners or viewers were stuck on Highway 501 or Highway  9 or Highway 17 trying to dodge this storm and get their family to safety they understand how important it is...

Early in September, international news was awash with the claim that 87 elephants had been “killed by poachers” in Botswana. The story originated from the NGO Elephants Without Borders, which received massive publicity – and presumably donations – as a result. Even the beleaguered UK Prime Minister tweeted the story, while a petition calling for wildlife guards to be re-armed surpassed 150,000 signatures. I know a little of Botswana. A few years ago, I was declared “public enemy number one”, threatened by a government spokesman on television, and banned from the country. This was because Survival International was instrumental in...

After years of drought, the California Legislature has enacted severe restrictions on household water consumption. Under the new law, by the year 2022 residents in California will be limited to 55 gallons per person, per day. An eight-minute shower uses about 17 gallons. A bath uses about 80 gallons. A load of wash uses about 40 gallons. Each toilet flush uses about 1.5 gallons. Fines for exceeding the daily 55 gallon limit can rise to $10,000 per violation for repeat offenders. To enforce compliance, the state government will deploy surveillance systems to spy on all residents. Utility providers will be...

Hours before sunrise on a cool February night this year, a four-year-old male leopard waited behind a bush along the National Highway 8 that cuts through the Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharasthra. As vehicles zipped passed along the high-speed motorway, it waited for a break in traffic to make it to the other side. But traffic never ceases on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway and the leopard had no other option but to take the risk. It was the big cat’s last sprint. As it reached the middle of the road, the leopard was stunned by the bright headlights of an incoming...

UVALDE, Tex. — On a ranch at the southwestern edge of the Texas Hill Country, a hunting guide spotted her cooling off in the shade: an African reticulated giraffe. Such is the curious state of modern Texas ranching, that a giraffe among the oak and the mesquite is an everyday sort of thing. “That’s Buttercup,” said the guide, Buck Watson, 54. In a place of rare creatures, Buttercup is among the rarest; she is off limits to hunters at the Ox Ranch. Not so the African bongo antelope, one of the world’s heaviest and most striking spiral-horned antelopes, which roams...

On Fri., Sept. 15, Secretary of the Interior (SOI) Ryan Zinke signed Secretarial Order 3356, continuing the Department of Interior’s (DOI) efforts to support sportsmen and women and enhance conservation stewardship. The order seeks to improve wildlife management and conservation, increase access to public lands for hunting, shooting and fishing and puts a greater emphasis on the promoting outdoor activities among youth, veterans and minority communities. -----SNIP----- As noted in the DOI press release, SO 3356 directs bureaus within the department to: 1. Within 120 days produce a plan to expand access for hunting and fishing on BLM, USFWS and...