March 5, 2003

By Jim Slinsky slinskyj@ptd.net

Sportsman's Connection: Outdoor Talk Network

66 Dogwood Drive

Jim Thorpe, PA 18229

570-325-5560

Fax: 570-325-5537

http://www.outdoortalknetwork.com

Month 47

The response to the columns of the past few weeks has been nothing short of phenomenal. Emails, letters and sympathy cards came in from literally all over the country. The passing of my beloved bird dog, Jesse, hit a tender spot with countless people. I want to thank all that took a few moments to offer their sympathy and tell me their stories of the great dogs in their lives. I answered everyone, but my efforts were pale in comparison to the compassion that permeated these heartfelt contacts.

However, condolences for Jesse were only about one-third of the contacts I received. I now realize the contempt there is for wolves, mountain lions, the Nature Conservancy, the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Audubon Society, Biodiversity, the USFWS and the Wildlands Project. I now realize there is something terribly, terribly wrong happening in America. There is so much you don't know and most of it you will find nearly impossible to believe.

Hunters were the first to contact me. I was informed by one cowboy that "your columns are making the redneck circuit in the West." I can't remember a greater compliment in my entire life. Wolf encounter stories and tales of the lack of wildlife in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho came pouring in. Stories of wolves and lions killing pet dogs and cats right before their owner's eyes were especially infuriating. Disdain for the USFWS and its arrogance and behavior were common themes.

By the way, did you know the USFWS sells permits to "photography outfitters" to go into Yellowstone and film wolf attacks on our wildlife? For $300 to $1200 a day one can be guided into Yellowstone and film a wolf pack massacring a dozen elk calves just as they take their first breath of air. If one is really lucky he or she might capture on film a wolf pack disemboweling a trophy bull elk. Just before he hits the ground one might even film the part when the wolves rip out his esophagus while he is still alive. These films will make wonderful learning experiences for one's children. (Incredibly, they call hunters savage and heartless.)

Private landowners just flooded me with emails. Ranchers, farmers and those who own large properties have countless horror stories. The USFWS trespassing on private property without permission seeking endangered plants is a common story. The Nature Conservancy buying hundreds of thousands of acres of our West and closing it to all access and usage is a repetitive tale. Dave Foreman and his Wildlands Project immediately moves in for the kill to have these areas designated Biospheres and the pressure begins to remove all Americans out of the area and create Biosphere Buffer Zones and Wildlife Corridors. Environmental extremists are acting out the 1991 UN Treaty on Biodiversity even though our US Senate rejected the treaty as a fatal threat to our Constitutional rights.

If you think the successes of the Wildlands Project (WP) have been small and insignificant, slap yourself. Their crowning achievement has been the Sky Islands Alliance in Arizona and New Mexico where they have tied up 70,000 square miles. The WP has successful projects in Florida, Washington, California, Oregon to mention only a few. This radical group advocates depopulating 50% of the landmass of the USA. PA is on their short list as evidenced by their recent meeting in State College.

The WP has also suffered some losses. In Missouri they tried to tie up the Ozark Mountains as a Biosphere and in Kentucky they tried to corral the famous "Land Between the Lakes." Missouri's and Kentucky's legislature threw them out of their states. I truly hope our landowner groups in PA will read this column and turn up the heat on our legislators.

I want to direct you to two excellent websites.

Visit Julie Smithson's site at www.propertyrightsresearch.org for a real eye opener.

Judy Keeler from New Mexico is a powerful writer and her series of columns at www.matsuvalleynews.com will put a lump in your throat.

The ESA has been corrupted and proselytized. It has become the legal tool for environmental extremists and the USFWS to attack private property rights. The ESA must be repealed or vastly modified. Please review the recent press release by our PGC and PFBC. Two and a half million federal dollars have been awarded to various national environmental groups to begin the process of evaluating the landscape of PA for endangered plants, wildlife and critical habitats.

I am totally supportive of our obligation as human beings to protect our environment and ecosystems. I also realize the "three pillars of freedom" are our First and Second Amendments and the right to own property.

Without the later, freedom will become a mere fairy tale to tell our grandchildren.

Merger Talk is Double Talk

By now you have probably heard State Representative Bruce Smith, Chairman of our House Game and Fisheries Committee, requested a House Resolution to investigate the feasibility of merging our Game and Fish Commissions. If you've been reading this column you are aware that I predicted this would occur. For many of us, this has been the "end game" for quite some time. With the election behind us, I suppose more than a few politicians are hoping this debacle will be a distant memory by the next election.

SR Smith states in his resolution that 49 other states have combined their agencies and poses the question why hasn't PA. Let me tell you I talk on a regular basis to those 49 other states and I have yet to find someone happy about their combined Agencies. In many states Fish and Game are lumped with the Parks Department and enormously de-emphasized in the process. Fish and Game becomes categorized as "politically incorrect" and its needs and desires draw little political concern. Frankly, the people that I speak with praise PA for keeping our Agencies separate and theoretically, independent. "You don't know how lucky you are" is the most frequent remark I hear when discussing our un-merged status.

Furthermore, SR Smith is being deceptive in his assertion that there are only two options, separate or combined Fish and Game Commissions. What he is not telling you and probably doesn't know is that some states have additional agencies. In Florida "Coastal Fisheries" is a separate Agency. In Arkansas "Scenic Rivers" are handled by a separate agency, just to name two quick examples. One must put the budget of that additional agency into the equation to keep the analysis fair.

Are our Commissions really in deep financial trouble? Is merger really necessary or is there a political agenda that is so vile that our politicians have created this "cash crisis" to achieve their long-term goals? Are our present license costs at the highest level our sporting class is willing to pay?

The Game Commission presently has $33 million dollars in its cash reserve account. With a yearly budget of almost $70 million the PGC has almost six months of working capital on hand. This is not a crisis situation. Frankly, the PGC is sitting fat. I can think of many private businesses that wish they had 6 months of working capital on hand. The Fish Commission has $11 million in their cash reserve account. With their annual budget approaching $43 million this constitutes about 3 months of working capital on hand. This is less than ideal, but the Fish Commission is not going down the tubes, as many would like you to believe.

So what is the problem you ask? It's simple, "infrastructure." The Fish Commission has 15 hatcheries, 64 dams and 320 boat ramps and public access areas that are financed with fishing license revenue. The Fish Commission spent $15 million in the past 10 years on these projects and hasn't been reimbursed one nickel by the legislature. These projects and responsibilities benefit all Pennsylvanians and to ask fishermen to pick up the entire tab is absurd. Reimburse the Fish Commission the $15 million they spent and the Agency will have $26 million in its reserve account. Problem solved.

In comparison, our Game Commission has insignificant infrastructure responsibilities, but has perhaps billions in assets captured on our State Game Lands. In other words, the Fish Commission has the enormous costs of infrastructure while the Game Commission holds the assets. This is only one driving force behind the merger talk. The intent is for the assets on SGL's to finance the infrastructure needs of the Fish Commission. Is this acceptable to you?

I noticed that SR Smith's resolution does not call for the creation of a "Super Agency." There is no mention of merging Fish and Game under DCNR. He knows that this plan will meet a resounding defeat. I hope you realize if a Fish and Game Commission merger goes forward, it is only a matter of time before the suggestion to put the new combined Agency under DCNR will evolve. It will only be a matter of a short time before the new agency asks for a license increase.

The core problem is funding for the Fish Commission's infrastructure needs, plain and simple. It is not a structural or organizational problem. Putting the agencies together will resolve very little. It is a funding problem that will remain even after merging the agencies.

It is not possible to tell this entire story in one column. In an upcoming column I will share with you the secret agenda to all of this madness. As this story unfolds, you will come to realize merger talk is really double talk.

What Have We Become?

The farmers of Klamath Basin (California & Oregon) need water to raise their crops. These farmers (or their fathers) were granted their land by the US government in exchange for their heroism during WWII. Their water comes from an irrigation system originating from the Klamath River. Two years ago there was a major drought in that area. When it came time to release the water from Klamath Lake, the environmentalists were there to object. A court battle ensued. The environmentalists argued that diverting the water to farms would impact the endangered "suckerfish" living in the Klamath River. The judge agreed. The American farmers of the Klamath Basin, heroes and sons of heroes of WWII, were denied the necessary water to maintain their farming heritage. The federal government turned off the faucet.

Twelve hundred farm families went into financial ruination. One hundred and seventy thousands acres went without water. The area turned into a dustbowl. The economies of the local communities collapsed. Property values plummeted from $800 an acre to $50 an acre. The Nature Conservancy offered to buy the farmers out (another Biosphere?). The same Nature Conservancy that receives almost $200 million of taxpayer dollars each year from the US government. That's your dollars and my dollars. What kind of nation have we become?

Some time ago a woman was jogging in urban California. She was viciously attacked and killed by a mountain lion that stalked her from behind. She was dragged into the woods and partially consumed by the time the authorities came to her aid. They tracked the lion and killed it, but captured her lion kitten alive. This woman was a loving wife and a mother of three. When news spread across the nation of her demise, money poured in from across the world. Incredibly, the donations were not for the dead woman or her family. The money was to provide for the future of lion kitten. What kind of civilization have we become?

The spread of illegal drugs and the resulting violence has become a national epidemic and an international embarrassment. Cities across this nation have adopted the strategy of suing firearm manufacturers for the violence within their communities. The suits allege the manufacturers of a perfectly legal device used illegally by the degenerates of our society are responsible for the violence. This is the equivalent of suing an automobile manufacturer because someone got drunk, drove their vehicle and killed an innocent person. The logic defies the understanding of even the most distorted mind. What kind of country have we become?

There is a madman on the other side of the earth that is committing genocide against his own people. He is murdering men, women and children. He is poisoning his people, raping them, hanging them and torturing them. He is developing and building bombs capable of leveling a city. He has no morals. He is the epitome of tyranny. He would kill every American on the planet without a whimper and smoke a cigar in the aftermath. The reasonable mind has come to accept we must stop him before he does the world even more harm. The rational mind realizes we can fight him now and put him down or we can fight him later when he is stronger and more capable of inflicting damage on us. And yet, the demonstrations continue and the rhetoric is furiously emotional. The American society that the farmers of Klamath and their fathers fought to protect is now telling us how wrong war is under any circumstances and for any reason. What kind of people have we become?

There is something terribly wrong in America. This is no longer the nation of my father's stories. This is not the nation of courage and bravery and pride that we were taught to love with all of our heart. These are not examples of a caring nation, a compassionate nation, or a nation seeking justice for all. These are not the stories of a nation that puts its people before causes, its principles before politics. These are not the actions of a God loving or a God fearing nation.

Why do so many remain silent? Where is the outrage against the assaults on our freedoms, rights, traditional values and our cherished way of life? Where are the visionaries and new leaders to bring us back to the principles and doctrines that made America the greatest nation in the history of the planet? Why do so many attack the backbone of American culture, our farmers, our foresters, our private landowners, our entrepreneurs and our sporting class?

If where we are is any indication of where we are going, we should all be asking ourselves the same question.

What have we become?

Elk Program Threatens Private Property Rights and Hunters' Image

Just in case you were in Guatemala for February enjoying the sailfish bite, I must tell you that back home tempers were getting a little hot around the campfire. The shortcomings of our elk program are coming to light and it is not a pretty sight.

If you saw the pictures of the damage these animals can cause in one night, you would be simply amazed. Our private landowners in our elk region have endured hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages in the past two years. Elk don't just eat apples from a tree. They strip the bark off the tree and then they pull the tree out of the ground and eat the roots! The damage they do is hard to believe and it is only getting worse.

The Honorable State Representative Merle Philips conducted a meeting on February 27 near Renovo to hear from those getting hammered by these non-native animals. The meeting was organized and well attended thanks to the people of the "Citizens Against the Exploitation of Private Property Rights." Yours truly was in attendance. (Go to my site and read my remarks) What ensued were three and half-hours of blistering testimony and supporting photographs of the carnage by elk upon private land throughout the area. The residents spoke with dignity and with great passion. Their properties are being destroyed. The PGC and DCNR were severely criticized for this program.

Please let me refresh your memory so you have all of the details straight. The elk reintroduction program was probably the brainchild of John Oliver, formerly with our DCNR. This program was conceived and executed without a period of public comment, without an environmental impact study or a cost/benefit analysis. Oliver did an excellent job of selling Vern Ross of the PGC on the concept. I remember the press announcements and asking, "Where is our Commissioner involvement?" Vern Ross acted nearly autonomously in this entire debacle.

Our two hunts have been nothing short of a massive embarrassment for hunters. These semi-tame animals are hanging out in people's yards foraging for food. They have been shot in people's yards and the stories abound of improper hunter and PGC personnel behavior to make a kill. The non-hunting public has witnessed these hunts and condemned hunters for their actions.

In this second year of the hunt applications by hunters for an elk license dropped from 52,000 (2001) to 32,000 (2002). Most of our revenue has been pledged by Vern Ross to DCNR to create additional elk habitat.

In the interim, DCNR has been going great guns building "interpretive centers" and "elk viewing" areas. DCNR is aggressively seeking TEA-21 federal highway funds to build a "Byway" around the entire elk region also known as our "Lumber Heritage Region."

At the meeting I presented two maps. One was of the elk region and the other was a "Biosphere" map per the "1991 UN Treaty on Biodiversity." Guess what? Our elk region is depicted perfectly on the UN Biosphere map.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has been a driving force of this entire project. They are throwing around millions to purchase large tracts of private land within the Biosphere. I am beginning to wonder if they are a conservation group or have they become part of the environmental movement determined to convert all land to government ownership.

Isn't it interesting that Dr. Gary Alt has declared war on the native deer herd of that region, only to have the PGC and DCNR aggressively stock a non-native species in the exact location? Millions of sportsmen's dollars are being spent to literally fabricate an environment for elk to survive in this region. We have even begun to herd these animals out of towns with helicopters and feed them to keep them away from landowners.

I am sorry, but the "pie in the sky" projections for an elk tourism boom are so exaggerated that it is insulting. Frankly, what I see is an animal being used to attack private property in the hope private landowners will sell out to complete building the Biosphere.

The elk reintroduction program is a loser and should be abandoned. Hunters have two black eyes from the two hunts. The program has cost hunters millions at time when the PGC's budget is under a legislative microscope. These animals will never be wild after 75 years of walking around towns.

No amount of tourism dollars and no amount of meat in the freezer is worth violating the property rights of our citizens. DCNR wants this program too badly to convince me it's only about tourism. We have the recipe and all the ingredients of a Biosphere right before us.

Hmmm? Looks like someone is preparing our first Wildlands Project to me.