Why I don't trust environmentalists

[whitefeather]

A flying squirrel trans-avenue airport! What will they think of next to waste taxpayers money on?

[kentuckytroutbum]

Originally Posted by whitefeather

What will they think of next to waste taxpayers money on?

Well, they seem to find lots of ways to do it. Look at our National Debt!

Bill

[whitefeather]

Originally Posted by kentuckytroutbum

Well, they seem to find lots of ways to do it. Look at our National Debt!

Bill

Bill,

I'd rather not, it's too scary and that big number leaves my eyes blurry and out of focus. But I'm with ya on that one! They seem bent on financial suicide so we all suffer!

[JohnH0802]

Let me tell you about the Fairy Shrimp in Southern CA. This small shrimp is in vernal pools, (low spots that can hold water from infrequent spring rains). These shrimp hatch, develope, and breed in as little as a week or two. On Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton there were several Artillery Firing Areas that were off limits to firing due to fairy shrimp habitat.

We could drive through these areas, train there, but could not do any digging. You are not allowed to fire a howitzer without digging in the spades, and thus we could not use these artillery firing areas to fire artillery. I happened to be doing a recon of a particular artillery firing area on the top of a ridge on the north end of the base. This artillery firing area could not be used because of fairy shrimp, and vernal pools. As luck would have it I was there right after an infrequent spring rain. I looked around and there were two low spots or depressions that had collected water on the reverse slope of the ridge. When I looked closer I realized that these low spots were old fox holes. The shape of the depressions and the C-rat debris and spent M-1 spring clips showed me that they were pretty old fox holes.

As it happened, one of the base naturalist stopped by while I was there. I showed him the two depressions that had collected water and discussed with him the fact that it was digging in the first place that had made these depressions and that just maybe, allowing us to dig in our howitzers would actually increase the number of vernal pools in the area, seeing has how the only two present were old fox holes. He did not have much to say.

Later on that day I got a call from my Battalion Commander, who had gotten a call from the Regimental Commander about some Captain interfering a base naturalist and causing him to have to stop working for the day. I explained myself to the Regimental Commander. Apparently me just having a normal conversation with the naturalist caused him to take the rest of the day off.

Also in Southern CA, landowners that own land bordering Mexico have sued the Border Patrol for driving over their land. When the border patrol drives over thier land, it leaves depressions, and when it rains, these depressions turn into vernal pools, and then the landowner looses the use of his land. These lawsuits forced the Border Patrol to disc thier tire tracks so that the landowners did not loose the use of thier land.

One other note on this. I had a conversation with another naturalist on Camp Pendleton at another AFA. It was the middle of the day, and as we were talking and looking over the area we saw no less than 4 coyotes within 100 yards of us. I made the comment to the naturalist that it was not our activity that was having an impact on the population of kangaroo rats, but the overpopulation of coyotes. He laughed, but the live fire range in the same area stayed closed to training due to kangaroo rats.

John

[kentuckytroutbum]

JEEEEEEZZZZZ! What will they think of next?

Ft. Knox, 30 miles south of Louisville, used to be the home of the US Army Armor Training Center, before they moved it to Ft. Benning a few months ago. On cloudy nights, with low clouds and the right conditions, you could hear the thunder of the tanks, and the exploding rounds at the impact ranges. The sound was bouncing off the clouds all the way to the Louisville area.

I had several friends who were company or battalion commanders tell me that some of the best deer hunting on the base was adjacent to the impact areas. They would sit in the turrets of their tanks and watch the deer feeding in the early morning mist.
When the first round was fired, the deer were gone. As soon as they finished, the deer would come back and continue feeding.
Obviously, the deer were wise to the exploding ordnance, and it didn't seem to hurt the deer herds any. Go Figure.

Ft. Knox would have their own deer hunting season, separate from the statewide seasons. It was managed by the Base Recreation Office for recreation and population control of the deer herds. You could apply for a permit to hunt on the base for a reasonable fee. Shotguns, with buckshot or slugs only.

[Knothead]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to hire police officers to direct squirrel traffic? It would create a number of jobs- officers to direct squirrel traffic, clerks to keep records, mechanics to maintain the vehicles, dealers who would sell the vehicles, inspectors to ensure that everything is conducted according to law, accountants to keep track of funds, EPA and USFWS people to do their thing. Now that I think of it, it would be cheaper to put up poles. At least the poles don't take 2 hour coffee breaks and get three day weekends.

[kentuckytroutbum]

Sounds like the CCC that Roosevelt established to get the economy going in the 1930"s, put people to work, and build the infrastrure at GSMNP and other parks. Make work = more jobs & taxes.