Free Republic

In an obvious tongue-in-cheek propostion, Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter has sent Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber an offer to "replace" the collared wolf from Oregon that was shot by a hunter in Idaho. "I am offering to send you 150 wolves from Idaho," Otter wrote. "Idaho has more than a sufficient number, in fact many more than the federal government originally required we have, and can spare a few." Washington Times.

The scimitar horned oryx . . . the addax . . . the dama gazelle - three elegant desert antelope that you'd hope to see on a journey through Africa, except that their numbers are dwindling there. Which is why Lara Logan went to Texas -- yes, Texas. There, on large grassland ranches, some exotic species that are endangered in the wild have been brought back in large numbers. But there's a catch: a percentage of the herd is hunted every year by hunters who pay big money for a big catch. The ranchers say this limited "culling" gives them...

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature is officially declaring the western black rhino of Africa extinct. In its latest assessment of the situation, the IUCN says two other sub-species of rhinoceros also are close to extinction. Despite the action of conservation programs, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature warns many sub-species of rhinos may soon be a thing of the past. The deputy director of IUCN’s Global Species program, Jean-Christophe Vie, tells VOA poaching is the main threat to the survival of the rhinoceros. “People just shooting them to take their horn. So, that is it,"...

The Energy Department's inspector general has launched more than 100 criminal investigations related to 2009 economic stimulus spending. In written testimony prepared for delivery to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today, Inspector General Gregory Friedman said the investigations have involved "various schemes, including the submission of false information, claims for unallowable or unauthorized expenses, and other improper uses of Recovery Act funds." So far, the investigations have led to five criminal prosecutions and brought in "over $2.3 million in monetary recoveries," Friedman said. "This includes a series of cases involving fictitious claims for travel per diem resulting in...

Millions are being spent on the latest conservation wheeze – bat bridges, which enable the creatures to safely negotiate new roads like the last dualled section of the A11. The Patons were told they could possibly leave two thirds of the roof for the bats, and convert the remaining third for themselves. "Everywhere else in the English justice system there are checks and balances, there’s always a right of appeal, but this is a complete closed shop." Charlotte Paton Manchester Airport has had to build three large barns to accommodate thousands of Pipistrelle, Brown Long-eared and Brandt’s bats made homeless...

A source on the Rick Perry campaign tells Hot Air that the Texas governor conducted some Texas-size fundraising in the third quarter. Coming in just a little over halfway through, Perry raised $17.1 million. That number would put Perry somewhere between $4-6 million ahead of Mitt Romney’s rumored total for Q3, according to this report last week from the Boston Globe. It’s also likely to far outpace Herman Cain’s fundraising or that of the other Republicans currently in the race. The pace is even more impressive. Perry had 49 days in which to raise funds, rather than the full 92...

Janet Parker has a clear shot at becoming the first woman to compete in the Bassmaster Elite Series. From Little Elm, Texas, Parker said if she qualifies she won't hesitate to commit for the 2012 Elite Series season. "I am on top of the world," she said. "I can't tell you how excited I am to have this chance." Parker took a big step toward the Elite Series on Sept. 10 with a 10th-place finish on the Arkansas River in the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Central Open division. The high finish jumped her from sixth to second place in the...

“Nature is almost everywhere. But wherever it is, there is one thing nature is not: pristine,” writes science journalist Emma Marris in her engaging new book Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World. She adds, “We must temper our romantic notion of untrammeled wilderness and find room next to it for the more nuanced notion of a global, half-wild rambunctious garden, tended by us.” Marris’ message will discomfort both environmental activists and most ecologists who are in thrall to the damaging cult of pristine wilderness and the false ideology of the balance of nature. But it should encourage and...

Federal authorities are investigating the deaths of at least six golden eagles at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Pine Tree Wind Project in the Tehachapi Mountains, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday. So far, no wind-energy company has been prosecuted by federal wildlife authorities in connection with the death of birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. A prosecution in the Pine Tree case could cause some rethinking and redesigning of this booming alternative energy source. Facilities elsewhere also have been under scrutiny, according to a...

Back in power, House Republicans may have poisoned the well with their austere spending strategy, including the fiscal 2012 interior and environment spending bill that is on track for approval Tuesday in the Appropriations Committee. Under the legislation, the Interior Department’s overall budget would fall $720 million from fiscal 2011. A popular land and water conservation fund would see a more than 80 percent cut to $62 million, while funding for the North American Wetlands Conservation Act would get a 47 percent reduction to $20 million. State Wildlife Grants would also be cut 64 percent to $22 million. Wildlife-themed riders...

I remember taking a forestry class my freshman year of college. The curriculum, presented by a veteran instructor from the California Department of Forestry, covered several related topics that included ecology, biology, life cycles, wild-land fire control, conservation, and commerce based on those natural resources. I never heard the associate professor use the word "environment" or "environmentalist" during the course. Granted, it was years ago, and course outlines do change over time as new information on any given subject becomes available. But, the disconnect suggests the environmentalist movement is a recent concoction that has little basis in traditional resource management...

<p>A snake conservationist who kept one of Europe’s biggest colonies of king cobras in a compound behind his house died yesterday after one of them bit him.</p> <p>Luke Yeomans had 24 snakes at his home and was due to open his king cobra sanctuary to the public this weekend.</p>

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is promoting two opportunities for employment for young people who are interested in outdoor recreation and resources. Quinn's office made the announcement on June 24. Quinn and Illinois Department of Natural Resources Director Marc Miller have made getting youth outdoors with the "Leave No Child Inside" initiative and other established programs a priority for the Quinn administration.

TALLAHASSEE -- With head-spinning speed, the Florida House took up and passed a major rewrite of state environmental laws late Friday that Florida conservation groups call one of the worst environmental bills in decades. House lawmakers spent only seven minutes discussing, amending and voting on the 80-page bill just before the chamber was scheduled to adjourn at 8 p.m. In that time, lawmakers accepted six amendments that attempt to mitigate environmentalists’ concerns over provisions they had described as a “monstrous threat to the environment.” They added the content of another bill making it easier for ports to dredge to accommodate...

There is a lot wrong with the current state of affairs in Illinois. That's nothing new. Hit hardest by budget cuts in recent years has been the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Those budget cuts have continued to a critical mass for IDNR's programs, facilities and sites, its staff and - most importantly - the Illinois Conservation Police...

Calling higher prices “a key incentive for conserving,” President Obama told an audience of 500 employees at the Gamesa Technology Corp., a wind turbine manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania, that “we need to get used to higher gas prices for the sake of our environment.” “There is no gain without at least a little pain,” the President argued. “Paying a few dollars more at the pump will encourage people to cut back on unnecessary trips and use public transit when they have to travel. If we’re going to save the planet we all have to make sacrifices.” As an example of...

Washington- President Barack Obama called Wednesday for a series of steps to help Americans conserve and get in touch with nature, including full funding of the $900 million Land and Water Conservation Fund for only the third time in its existence.At a White House event, Obama also proposed creating a Conservation Service Corps to help young people find work in the outdoors, and extending the tax deduction for donating private land for conservation.

The US Government’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement unveiled new deep water drilling regulations that some are calling “incoherent” and “obstructive.” “We’re not saying that firms can’t drill,” said Bureau Director Michael Bromwich. “All we’re saying is that no oil can be extracted.” Bromwich defended the new rules as “suitable for the vast majority of drilling operations. Most of the wells drilled are what we call ‘dry holes.’ That is, they don’t strike oil. Our regulation banning the extraction of oil will not interfere with this typical outcome. So, the majority of drilling activities would continue to...

NEW YORK -- Number one, or number two? Share 42 Comments Under a law passed by the City Council today, new toilets will have to be high water efficient or "dual-flush," which allow users to choose between a high pressure flush for solid waste, and a low-pressure flush for liquid. The law, which significantly changes the city plumbing code starting July 2012, applies the same strict water efficiency standards to plumbing fixtures like showerheads, urinals and sink faucets. The package of water conservation bills also requires water fountains have separate spouts for drinking and for filling water containers; commercial buildings...

The Battle of Juarez is showing signs that the good guys are not prevailing. The Juarez newspaper, El Diario de Juarez, has cried uncle in its mixed stance of reporting the progress of the war. In the front page editorial that appeared recently, the editor waved the white flag and asked the cartels publicly what they want from him. The murder of a photographer and another reporter in the recent past are hitting far too close to home for him to continue to be a brave purveyor of the truth. In a city ravaged by nearly 7,000 deaths since 2006...

When the government regulates how much water a toilet can flush, or what kind of lightbulbs you can put in your table lamps at home, the Constitution looks pretty small in the rear view mirror. Exactly where in the Constitution does it say that it is the government's business how much water my toilet is flushing or what kind of lightbulb illuminates my household? But the busybodies in the environmental movement have folks convinced of a lot of things that just aren't so. Remember the campaign that passed the lightbulb bill? The holier-than-thou greenies told us that if we only...

Property Rights is not just a Western problem Over the past few weeks, we have been inundated with heartrending stories concerning the theft of Property Rights by various government agencies manned by unelected bureaucrats foisting their policy regulations with no valid constitutional basis. I believe it fair to say most of us are not only concerned, but getting damned angry in finding just how pervasive the usurpative practices are becoming in even the smallest of communities. Back in the early Eighties, I bought a small agricultural holding with an old eight room house, a tri-level 20,000 sq.ft. post-and-beam barn, ...

Who owns the rights to YOUR property? Is it you, the county or your neighbor? That is the question that property owners in Huntington County Indiana are asking. And the answers from the county surveyor and the county Drainage Board only bring anger and dismay from property owners......

• Turtle advocates urge halt to shrimping By HARVEY RICE HOUSTON CHRONICLE April 26, 2010, 9:56PM Share Print Share Del.icio.usDiggTwitterYahoo! BuzzFacebookStumbleUponGALVESTON — A group devoted to saving endangered sea turtles Monday asked state and federal officials to halt all shrimp trawling on the upper Texas Gulf Coast because a large number of dead Kemp's ridley turtles washed ashore this month. Carol Allen, the Sea Turtle Restoration Project's Gulf Coast director, told the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that shrimp trawlers were responsible for the deaths of more than 20 Kemp's ridley turtles on...

Why do you turn off the lights when you leave a room or buy a more fuel efficient car? There are two basic reasons for reducing energy consumption, the first is to reduce your energy bills and the second is to conserve a ‘limited’ resource which in many people’s eyes will help save the planet. Trying to reduce your energy costs, whether in a personal or business setting, is generally a good idea for obvious reasons, however, the idea of conserving energy because it is limited resource is sheer folly and will probably do more harm than good to the...

"Under President Obama's vision for a "21st century conservation agenda," the federal government would bring together cities, states, tribes and nongovernmental organizations working on conservation efforts, and encourage families to spend more time outdoors, officials said."

Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States of America, 1901-1909, leader of the Republican party, and (in 1912-16) the Progressive Party. Roosevelt is best known for his remarkable personality and commitment to democratic process. He was strongly committed to law and order, active leadership, civic duty, and individual self-responsibility, and was more concerned with the process of change than its direction. A strong and vigorous man both personally and in politics, it was through Roosevelt that the world identified America with cowboy values of courage, initiative, and hardiness while it watched TR expand American influence in world...

In Russia, the big bad wolf is for real, says an important new book. In the heat of media frenzy about the environment, one must always remember to think critically and be on alert for romanticism, exaggeration and what Teddy Roosevelt called "nature fakers." In the U.S., we have been led to believe that wolves are not dangerous to people. In books and movies like Farley Mowat's "Never Cry Wolf", Michael Blake's "Dances With Wolves," and Barry Lopez's "Of Wolves and Men", wolves are "nature's sanitarians" who prefer eating lemmings more than larger mammals. They are presented as secretive, adverse...

Go to http://www.lobowatch.com/WolvesNearYou.html to read the full story of this adult mountain lion killed by wolves in Idaho. The wrecking ball is out and wiping out everything in its path. Time to wake up to what uncontrolled wolf populations are doing in the lower 48 people.Ear Tag identifies Lion as an adult relocated by Idaho Fish and Game earlier in the year.Look in the background and you will see the residential community of Parker Idaho. Only 1/4 mile from the cougar kill site.Audience members at a meeting called by Sun Valley Mayor Wayne Willich saw many pictures of wildlife in...

Using fossil fuel in vehicles is better for the environment than so-called green fuels made from crops, according to a government study seen by The Times. The findings show that the Department for Transport’s target for raising the level of biofuel in all fuel sold in Britain will result in millions of acres of forest being logged or burnt down and converted to plantations. The study, likely to force a review of the target, concludes that some of the most commonly-used biofuel crops fail to meet the minimum sustainability standard set by the European Commission. Under the standard, each litre...

Date: February 18, 2010 To: Diane F. Boyer-Vine, Legislative Counsel of California From: Oscar Alejandro Braun, Co-founder of the California Watershed Posse Subject: Submission of text of proposed law (Government Code Section 10243) Total Electors Signatures Pages Attached: 6 We, the People of the Republic of California, hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the...

Though the Glenn Beck clips are classic examples of the nonsense this nitwit pushes out all day on his radio and TV shows, the interview with Samantha Bee from the CPAC future is the funniest thing I ever did see. Gunfloss... All independent voters should be rounded up, hog tied, have their eyelids stapled open like Alex and forced to watch this 3 minute video. One viewing would be enough for these 40% of the voters to end of all this crazy right-wing crap once and for all.

Plug-In Vehicles: Unconscionable Waste And Pollution Masquerading As Conservation by: John Petersen January 07, 2010 For eighteen months I've been blogging about the energy storage sector and discussing the current and potential markets for batteries and other manufactured energy storage devices. A recurring theme that I've discussed many times is the unrecognized but undeniable truth that while plug-in vehicles masquerade as conservation measures at an individual level, they're incredibly wasteful at a societal level. The conclusion is counter-intuitive and my articles on the subject invariably draw heated criticism from self-anointed defenders of the faith. Their arguments, however, do not change...

THE Federal Government must stop counting trees and start counting koalas as the animals suffer dramatic declines, it was claimed yesterday. Scientists will meet today in Canberra to debate whether koalas should be made a threatened species under federal laws. The Australian Koala Foundation yesterday released figures which it claimed showed falls in koala numbers across NSW and Australia were so dramatic it was vital they were granted federal government protection. And the conservation group said it feared Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett would refuse to list koalas as endangered because there was supposedly enough bush for them.

A Chicago suburb could not get anyone to fork over $1 for a home, the Belleville News-Democrat reported. The village of Barrington, Illinois put three older homes up for sale for just $1 each, but was not able to get any interested buyers. The suburb hopes to sell and relocate the homes in order to make way for redevelopment in the downtown area, according to the paper. If no buyers come forward, the village will demolish the houses, which many residents say hold an historic value.

Taxes fund environmental suits - Environmental law firms reap billions in fees to fund lawsuits October 15, 2009 The federal government has paid out billions of dollars to environmental groups for attorney fees and costs, according to data assembled by a Cheyenne, Wyoming, lawyer. Karen Budd-Falen of Budd-Falen Law Offices [main@buddfalen.com or 307-632-5105] said the government between 2003 and 2007 paid more than $4.7 billion in taxpayer money to environmental law firms -- and that's just in the lawsuits she tracked. The actual figure, she said, is far greater. "I think we only found that the iceberg exists," she said....

Obama Administration task force closing in on deadline for 'health care' for nation's shorelines, waterways IRVINE, Calif. USA - October 5, 2009 - A recently published administration document outlines a structure that could result in closures of sport fishing in salt and freshwater areas across America. The White House created an Interagency Oceans Policy Task Force in June and gave them only 90 days to develop a comprehensive federal policy for all U.S. coastal, ocean and Great Lakes waters. Under the guise of 'protecting' these areas, the current second phase of the Task Force direction is to develop zoning which...

Utah's elected leaders will present a united front this week against a bill backed by environmentalists that would turn vast swaths of the state's redrock country into federal wilderness. They say the legislation, which a House committee will discuss Thursday, covers too many acres, impedes private property rights and is little more than "propaganda" pushed by outsiders, like the bill's sponsor Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y.

Who Owns the Rain? Hint: It's Not Always Homeowners Across the country, resourceful homeowners have embraced rainwater capture as a way of conserving community water supplies while maintaining healthy gardens. Unfortunately, rain barrels are sometimes at odds with the law. Facing certain water scarcity, cities and states have begun to wrestle with the conundrum of water rights versus conservation. When it all shakes out, will you own the rain that falls on your own property? =============================================================================================================== Capturing rain may be one of humanity's most ancient methods of acquiring water, but now it's coming back in vogue. Rather than press their...

New projects could tackle the genomics of species both critically endangered and already extinct. On the first weekend in April, a couple of dozen leading molecular biologists, conservationists and museum curators gathered at Pennsylvania State University in University Park to brainstorm about ways of harnessing the power of the latest molecular sequencing techniques to conservation goals."The cost of genome sequencing is falling at an extraordinary rate," says workshop co-organizer Stephan Schuster of Penn State University, who was a driving force behind the 2008 sequencing of a woolly-mammoth genome, the first complete genome of an extinct animal. "Now it is possible...

Americans may have come to the point where average consumers frown upon Hummers, but for some reason, we draw the line at toilet paper. We believe so strongly in three-ply and cottony softness that many of us equate recycled toilet paper with cardboard. Toilet paper pushers from Kimberly Clark to Georgia Pacific tout the higher quality of their soft papers and sales for the high-end brands like Charmin Ultra and Quilted Northern Ultra have increased by 40% in some markets, according to a recent NY Times article.

Angelo Alderuccio, a 94-year-old retired public works employee from New Britain, might not strike everyone as an American hero. But in a country desperately seeking economic salvation, his tales of surviving the Great Depression are anecdotes for our times. During the 1930s, Alderuccio spent what he now considers "the best years of my life" in the Cobalt section of East Hampton, at the Civilian Conservation Corps' Camp Jenkins. He worked with 250 other men building trails in the Meshomasic State Forest, weatherproofing posts and rails for state roads and building a fire tower overlooking the central Connecticut woods. Like 3.5...

Two-faced California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday, urging urban water systems to cut usage by 20%. “This drought is having a devastating impact on our people, our communities, our economy and our environment, making today’s action absolutely necessary,” the so-called Republican governor said. According to Brietbart.com,....

It's hard to imagine Valentine's Day without chocolate, but some scientists say that it's possible that chocolate could one day be in short supply.

It's been 62 years since conservationist Virgil McCroskey gave the Boy Scouts 400 acres of timberland near this village in Idaho's panhandle, with big ideas for a big new camp. But don't expect any pup tents or even the faintest whiff of smoke from Camp McCroskey these days. Rarely used for camping, the land instead has become a moneymaker for the Inland Northwest Council of Boy Scouts. Over the past 35 years, the council has repeatedly logged the property, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some of the money helped pay the mortgage on council headquarters in far-off Spokane, a...

Hundreds of birds that dropped dead on Somerset County cars, porches and snow-covered lawns, alarming residents over the weekend, were all of a rather foul breed of fowl -- the notorious European starling, which the United States Department of Agriculture killed on purpose…. Yesterday, the USDA acknowledged a few mistakes of its own in spreading the word in the area around a Princeton Township farm, where it applied a pesticide Friday to kill 3,000 to 5,000 starlings plaguing a livestock farmer. "It was raining dead birds," said Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine….

Only two sperm whales out of a pod of 50 are believed to be alive after a mass stranding off Tasmania's north-west tip. The whales grounded at Perkins Island, near the mouth of the Duck River at Smithton on Thursday night. Police were notified about 8.30pm (ADST) but were unable to get close to the whales due to the location and the tide. The area is only accessible by boat. Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Services spokeswoman Liz Wren said a helicopter flew over the island on Friday morning to assess the situation. "It's going to be difficult to get to...

Fishermen and hunters are outraged about a plan tucked in the governor's proposed California budget to shift $30 million out of wildlife programs. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to borrow money from the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, which comes from hunting and fishing license fees, and use it to prop up other state programs.

The Senate on Thursday approved a sweeping conservation measure as it tries to reverse years of rollbacks in environmental protection by the administration of outgoing President George W. Bush. On a vote of 73-21, it passed a package of nearly 170 land and water bills and sent it to the House of Representatives, which was expected to give it final approval. Barack Obama is set to sign it into law after he is sworn in as president on Tuesday, one of the first moves in what is likely to be a more aggressive approach toward the environment. Democratic Sen. Jeff...

The Air Car, made by French company MDI, could be launched by Tata Motors in India by 2010-11. Replying to an email query, the French company said, "We will release in France the first cars for the Air France company before June 2009. The cars will be available for the public at the end of 2009." Mumbai-based Tata Motors, India's third biggest car manufacturer had signed a licensing agreement with MDI for manufacturing the car in India. The agreement between the two envisages development and refinement of the technology. The Air Car doesn't require traditional fuel options like petrol, diesel,...