http://foranimals.org/whats-left-for-wildlife/
What’s Left for Wildlife
The recent rushed passage of the National Defense Authorization Act with numerous anti-environmental riders exposes the sham of representative democracy. The Public Lands Council correctly describes the overwhelming vote for NDAA as clear case of Congress siding with ranchers. The act overturned grazing regulations which have been in effect over 30 years. Valles Caldera in northern New Mexico became a livestock operation funded by the National Park Service. As Congress would not dare to question, let alone defeat, a military appropriation, passage of this bill was a forgone conclusion. While a few liberal senators such as independent Bernie Sanders voted against the bill, the overwhelming majority of Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren, supported the military funding. Anti-environmental riders were of no concern to them.
Does the Democratic Party’s loss of the U.S. Senate mean anything for wildlife? Democratic Party support for the Keystone XL pipeline was the key to a failed attempt to keep control this year. It was a Democrat, Senator Jon Tester of Montana, who pioneered the practice of using riders to “must-pass” legislation to reverse decades of endangered species protection. With no significant opposition, Tester removed protection for wolves in the Northern Rockies, encouraging the Federal government to follow suit for other wolf populations. A recent court decision has temporarily reinstated protection for wolves in the Great Lakes region, but it remains to be seen if this decision will withstand appeal.
The legislative process is a competition of special interest groups, primarily funded by the wealthiest 1%. Lobbyists write legislation in closed-door committee meetings, which Congress rubber stamps with no meaningful discussion. Without a background in radical critiques of society, wildlife supporters know only liberal politics. Environmental and animal protection organizations, once based on grass-roots activism, are now merely insignificant lobbying organizations, whose primary purpose is raising funds for their own professional staff. Liberals challenge the National Rifle Association on gun control issues, but don’t seem to be aware that the NRA’s positions reflect its nature as a hunting organization. By working with so-called “hunter-conservationists,” environmental lobbyists legitimize the NRA agenda.
If there is anything more threatening to life on this planet than climate change it is nuclear war. Of course, New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich, who has campaigned to increase hunting on Federal Lands, as well as supporting the Los Alamos nuclear lab, enthusiastically supported the military funding bill. It is particularly symbolic that the bill also included a national historic park commemorating the Manhattan Project, which launched the nuclear age. Perhaps we will someday see a national prehistoric park commemorating the discovery at Clovis of the weapons which launched the first anthropogenic mass extinction when humans arrived in the Americas during the Pleistocene.
The second anthropogenic mass extinction is now underway. In the latest Living Planet Index the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates that over half of the population of wild vertebrates has disappeared in the last 40 years. Among the report’s conclusions: “The loss of habitat to make way for human land use – particularly for agriculture, urban development and energy production – continues to be a major threat to the terrestrial environment. When habitat loss and degradation is compounded by the added pressure of wildlife hunting, the impact on species can be devastating.”
International climate conferences are a sham, as debates focus only on how to raise money to help people adapt to inevitable climate change. There is no way to reverse climate change without drastically reducing the human population, an issue which liberal humanists ignore. The so-called radical left advocates “environmental justice” to help poor people adapt to climate change, while ignoring the destruction of wildlife habitat. Environmental justice for wildlife requires a movement to establish corridors to help wildlife adapt, as they once did when climate change occurred. Without a political left for wildlife there will be nothing at all left for wildlife.
Exposing the Big Game 
Regional Lands Provincial Buffet Smorgasbord of Rider Bills Political Shenanigans
Rider Land Bills to NDAA (2015): Regional provincial shopping bag of land bills, including Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act ,and other land bills attachments are attached as a rider to 2014 NDAA (Defense Appropriation Act) manifest last minute political shenanigans of Tester and co. that tries, hopefully will not succeed, in undermining protections for public lands and wildlife in the guise of doing the opposite. There are some good parts, no denying that but there are some giveaways to logging and mining and ranching and some land losses. The land bills are attached as a rider to a defense appropriations bill, totally unrelated, and a Tester characteristic tactic. The assortment of western bills would further displace wild horses, give automatic renewal leases of BLM land without review by BLM for conditions of leases, like not degrading public lands by overgrazing, in effect giving millions of acres of public land in perpetuity to ranchers. The riders to the Defense Appropriations Act would undermine National Environment Protection Act (NEPA) and the Wilderness Act, would allow some sacred lands held by Native Americans to be sacrificed to mining, and essentially forfeit public lands held in trust to the government by all Americans, to be given away to leases, opens 70,000 acres of Alaska Tongass National Forest to logging, gives away public land in AZ to copper mining, undermines ESA such as sage grouse protection by allowing continued degradation of habitat on leased land without review, removes some Wilderness Study Areas from BLM land and national forest lands, undermines the National Wilderness Preservation System removing hundreds of miles of Rocky Mountain Front and Eastern Montana from such designation, and would in essence trade modest gains in wilderness protection for major losses on protections. These measures in essence are subterfuge for regional political shenanigans. The bills are provincial in nature and result in a net loss of wilderness and further encroachment. Another rider is the CFA (Cabin Fee Act) 2014 which freezes fees, leases, of cabins in National Forest lands, 14,000 of them with 700 of that in Montana, at 5% of the land’s value, rather than paying fair market value. Thousands of cabins, big time encroachment on public land and wilderness and wildlife, subsidized by the federal government and the public! pushed through the NDAA land grabbing tactics of politicians. In fewer words, encroachment continues on large scale and loss of habitat to encroachment is the major threat to wildlife and wilderness.
A Cabin in the Woods (of the National Forest)
Another sneaky provision rider to the 2014 National Defense Appropriation ACT (NDAA) for Montanans and other states’ encroachers on public land. The lease fees were capped at 5% of the land’s value increasing only with inflation. Montana Cabin Owners on National Forests Lands (700, in Montana), 14,000 permits nationally: Why should they be on national forest lands? Why are they paying a relative pittance to be there? As one comment said, put a 20 year cap on the leases, save the difference between what they are paying and fair market value, give them notice and buy them out and retire the leases. The “renters” then can get out of national forest and go get another place on private land at market value. Why should they be encroaching on national forests, 14,000! of them in , being subsidized by the federal government, by the public. They even have an association (NFH) to look after their privileged, encroaching interests. This is another bad deal for the public attached to the NDAA (2014) as a rider that would not have passed on it’s own; and a way of sneaking through some stink that is evidently widespread with a history expanding 100 years..
No habitat, no wildlife: 47% of BLM land is leased to grazing allotments. There are 63000 oil and gas wells on BLM land. There are over 300 coal mines. There are 23,000 grazing allotments either on BLM land (18,000) or national forests lands. There are 14,000 cabins on national forest lands. Then there is the timber sales.
Grazing on Public Land is Encroachment on Wildlife and Wilderness and the Public: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administers 245 million acres of land and has grazing allotments on 145 million acres of that land, which is 57 % of that land. Grazing allotments are for 10 year leases and are renewable as long as conditions of use are actualized. The BLM has 21,000 grazing allotments, 18,000 permits, leased out. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 guides BLM in administering grazing permits. “Improvements”, seeding, wells, fencing are paid from ½ of grazing permit fees, which are currently $!.35 per animal unit per month (AUM), paid to BLM by users. The BLM is supposed to balance “public rangeland” (leased land) for multiple purposes: grazing, wildlife, recreation. The BLM supposedly makes calculations of how many animals (AUM’S) particular ranges can support. Different animals and their grazing needs, like a 1000 cow which may need 26 lbs. of forage per day may be an AUM reference, as 1 cow less than or at 1000 lbs. and calf may comprise an AUM, 1 horse, 5 sheep or 5 goats may each comprise an AUM. AUM’s needs are calculated by multiplying number of AUM’s by number of months needed for grazing. The formula for calculating forage needs of AUM’s is based on the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978 which sets the fee at not less than $1.35 AUM per month, which is where it sets on BLM and leased National Forest land to this day. The Bureau of Land Management or Mafia manages 255 million acres of “public” land of which 145 million is leased out for grazing which is 57% leased out to ranchers.. Sounds like the agency is working primarily for ranchers and farmers, although BLM is supposed to balance uses with wildlife, recreational interests and keep the “rangelands” in good shape. But it is obvious that so much leased land is an encroachment on wildlife and wilderness: for example wild horses, sage grouse and wilderness and is often hard to access by sportsmen. BLM is taking land from wildlife and the public and giving to ranchers farmers and oil and mining in the form of leases, to the detriment of wilderness and wildlife.
What is broken is an agricultural and ranching systematic assault on wilderness, wildlife, and public land. The ESA and EPA are there to protect us against ourselves. On public land, the emphasis should be learning to live with wildlife instead of against it. We have a system of huge giveaways of public land through leases, 23,000 in 16 western states on BLM land and leases in national forest lands. Ranchers ranch on public land then complain about the wildlife. BLM leases 57% of its’ land to ranchers and farmers. Ranchers and extraction industries generally do not want to share this public land with wild horses, or bison, or predators sage grouse. They feel entitled to it and plan and want to gobble the rest of it up, take it away from wildlife and the public. They resent conservation and environmental laws seeing ESA and EPA as heavy handed. On top of BLM land and national forests land leases to ranchers, we also have oil and gas, mining and timber leases. In the long run does wildlife and wilderness stand much of a chance?
Grazing leases used to run 10 years. Now, under the NDAA rider, leases are automatically renewed indefinitely, except in the unlikely event that BLM or USFS were to undertake a full NEPA review, and even then the lease would continue until the process is complete.