Posted on 09/27/2009 1:32:16 PM PDT by jazusamo
Inter Lake editorial
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy has raised the bar to insufferable heights when it comes to recovering a species under the Endangered Species Act, so much so that, if his ruling were upheld, American jurists should be prepared to slave over ESA litigation for eternity.
Molloy's recent ruling that restored ESA protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears must have U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials wondering just what it will take to succeed with recovery. Molloy ruled their conservation strategies and plans for grizzly bears, developed through years of expensive efforts, were inadequate. Guidelines and standards for monitoring and managing bears and their habitat are "discretionary" and "unenforceable."
This was not a go-back-and-adjust-your-approach ruling. It appears it will require some type of binding legislation — maybe even with guaranteed funding — to ensure that grizzly bear management, monitoring and habitat protection will be in place forever.
The ruling also asserts that Yellowstone grizzly bears are inextricably dependent on a single food source, whitebark pine nuts.
"The identifiable best available science indicates that whitebark pines are expected to decline due to a variety of causes, including climate change, increased forest fires, the mountain pine beetle epidemic, and infection by white pine blister rust."
We think the Wildlife Service reasonably argued that grizzly bears could adapt to changes in pine-nut availability, considering that the blister rust fungus long ago caused a rapid mortality of whitebark pine trees. The grizzly bear population still managed to grow.
But the ruling cites studies and concludes that "the record contains scant evidence for this proposition" that bears can adapt to a food source decline.
"In the face of a shortfall in nutritious foods, bears move widely in search of food, which may bring them into contact with humans (and) substantially increases the risk of direct human-caused mortality," the ruling states.
So, climate change, forest fires and all manner of other influences on an ecosystem are on the platter for environmental litigants to pursue, regardless of whether a species successfully responds to those influences.
The mountain to climb for recovering and delisting grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem just got much steeper. There's good reason to believe that it can never be conquered.
Judge Molloy loves to legislate from the bench.
Well, if the grizzly bears are really thriving, maybe a couple will turn up in his courtroom. That should convince him.
This judge is a proven incompetent and should be removed immediately. Everyone knows bears are omnivores and don’t just survive on pine nuts. And if worse comes to worse they can steal picnic baskets.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Environazis are useless and have been for a long time. Ever since they did away with their hunting and fishing background and started hiring libs more interested in “Environmental Education” and “Species Diversity”. They are now nothing but tools of the socialists. There is a wildlife refuge near where my dad lives - used to be a great place to hunt and fish, now they are more interested in doing birder tours.
I doubt Molloy even met an econazi he didn’t like.
Especially in Yellowstone. :)
Cutting to the chase, yes, this scumbag Molloy is just another corrupt p.o.s. appointed by Clinton.
US F&W has been infiltrated with enivronuts but they are for delisting in this case, it’s this judge that’s the problem and he has been a problem in many other cases as well.
Amen to that!
Wouldn’t it be interesting to know when these agencies abdicated their responsibilities to judges? Sorta like congress. I spose sometime in the 50s or 60s. It still stinks. These types of lawsuits have thoroughly buggered up everything for decades, which is the idea. Thousands and thousands of jobs, revenues for state and local governments, it’s just sickening that this could happen in this country.
Yep, it started when the conservation movement gradually changed to the environazi movement. They appealed to the masses with emotion and donations built up to a point they could bring lawsuits on anything they didn't like which is most everything
As long as judges like Molloy remain on the bench it's not going to change.
I guess he never read the excellent (true account) book “Night of the Grizzlies” where there were three separate grizzlies attacking and killing people in Glacier National Park in the 70’s I think. They weren’t after white pine tree bark.
Well, there's always the "nuclear" option that Andrew Jackson pulled when he basically informed the courts to go out and enforce their own laws (because he wasn't going to).
Of course, those times are long gone. The executive branches as well as the legislative branches (state and fed) are entirely submissive now to the judiciary.
Absolutely appalling.
Yea, and when you want a good steak you can go the the supermarket and buy one all neatly wrapped in a see-through plastic package. Sure, you work for the paycheck to pay the grocery bill. Big Griz works too, he has to eat so he hunts his food. He doesn’t hunt for sport — he doesn’t hang trophies on walls or walk on people rugs.
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