1/27/14

Provisions in farm bill spell doom for wildlife




The Anthropocene has tripped a trophic cascade.

The Missoulian's Rob Chaney tells readers that the US Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services wants the slaughter of bison and elk to be part of a farm bill:
A $35 million provision in the proposed federal farm bill has some wildlife advocates worried that cattle ranchers want to treat Montana’s elk the same as bison – as a disease threat to be managed. The problem, according to the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), is that the country around Yellowstone National Park harbors the last reservoir of brucellosis bacteria in the United States. Where this spills off the ranch and into the woods is APHIS’ stated commitment “to the successful elimination of brucellosis from bison and elk in the Yellowstone ecosystem.” Yellowstone National Park officials decided last week to kill a proposal to shoot bison with “bio-bullet” vaccine doses, saying it was cost-prohibitive and ineffective. [Rob Chaney, Farm bill provision worries wildlife advocates; brucellosis threat could lead to elk slaughter]

For the record: i called Susan Wismer and asked her to run for governor long before last October.


Moral hazard is the flip side of self-reliance.

Lawsuits are waiting to be filed by animal rights groups furious after livestock producers who allowed thousands of cattle, horses and sheep to perish in an October blizzard are getting relief from industry groups:
Silvia Christen, executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, said she never dreamed the Rancher Relief Fund would top $4 million. [Deb Holland, Rapid City Journal]
Representative Kristi Noem (earth hater-SD) is facing fallout after her inability to produce a food/farm bill left many of her donors without a federal safety net.

President Obama: it's time to rewild the West: tear out the main stem dams, extend the CM Russell Wildlife Refuge to Oacoma, South Dakota along the Missouri River and to Yellowstone then to the Yukon.

It’s time for cougars to enjoy Endangered Species protection and for you, Mr. President, to dissolve the Black Hills National Forest; and, in cooperation with BIA Forestry and Wildfire Management, rename it Okawita Paha National Monument then make it part of the Greater Missouri Basin National Wildlife Refuge.









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