Post by: bearpaw on June 08, 2010, 12:13:06 PM
As someone recently called an "ignorant jerk" by a state fish and wildlife
employee denying that state fish and wildlife agencies serve the federal
fish and wildlife agency more than their own state's residents, I believe it
is an opportune time to clear the air about state agencies' priorities.
When I say that state biologists are less and less reliable for truth about
big game numbers or wolf numbers or the effects of burning or cutting
pheasant winter and nesting cover or the benefits of brown trout, etc., in
order to curry favor with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the
environmental, animal rights, and anti-gun organizations that are in control
of federal agencies and federal policies today, I am merely pointing out the
obvious.
The state agencies no longer support hunting, fishing, and trapping just as
more and more they enable the dismantling of all renewable natural resource
uses and the active management of renewable natural resources from logging
to grazing. Like their federal cousins (US Fish and Wildlife Service, US
Forest Service, et al) they have accepted the radical's vision of a future
USA wherein hunting, fishing, trapping, grazing, logging, etc. on both
public and private property are forbidden. They accept the loss of hunting,
fishing, and trapping license revenue as inevitable as has been the gradual
elimination of revenue-sharing and payments-in-lieu-of-taxes from federal
landholdings to state and local governments. They see growing federal
landholdings as no longer subject to state authority. They see private
property becoming more and more federally-owned and controlled. They see
Lobby Groups like The Nature Conservancy controlling more and more property
through easements and ownership as they become more and more powerful due to
their "partnership" with federal agencies to whom they sell property at a
hefty profit and with whom they cooperate.
State jobs and state programs are believed to be and seen to be becoming
increasingly dependent on federal money and thus on the dispensers of that
largesse. Angering US Fish and Wildlife Service "Administrators" is the
last thing a state fish and wildlife employee would do. Conversely,
pleasing such "Administrators" is far more important to careers and agencies
than state taxpayer groups concerned with narrow interests like elk or
ranchers.
Most readers are familiar with much of the money funneling from the US
Congress THROUGH the US Fish and Wildlife Service (for a fee of course) to
state agencies. There are the hunting and fishing excise taxes, the grants
and projects for states to do research or manage particular species like
Endangered Species or all the politically expedient and ephemeral things
like global warming justifications, Keystone Species, Desertification,
Species of Concern, Environmental Education (i.e. propaganda),
"Interpretation", "Cooperative Projects", "Eco-tourism", "Non-Consumptive
Wildlife", Bird-watching, "Research" and Reporting" on everything from bats
to turtles, etc., etc. Each of these federal remunerations creates pressure
on the agency steering wheel to veer it from state priorities toward federal
environmental/animal rights/anti-gun priorities. Each federal "gift" is an
excuse to hire anti-use and anti-management personnel steeped in antipathy
toward the reasons such agencies exist. Would any state undertake such
things with state funds if answerable only to state taxpayers and state
residents?
Occasionally there is a "gift that keeps on giving" that goes unmentioned in
these "laws" and is never even audited. For instance and as but one
example, when the sport-fishing excise tax law was "amended" by US Senators
Breaux of Louisiana and Wallop of Wyoming in 1984 to divert a portion of the
gasoline tax used for boating to state boating classes, etc. it contained
the following chestnut. In addition to their annual share ($20 to
$30M/year) of the sport fishing taxes, the state of Louisiana received
$100m/year to reverse coastal land subsidence (think about that). The
reason coastal Louisiana was subsiding and continues to "subside" is all the
flood control and improved farm soil management in the Mississippi and
Missouri River watershed that has reduced the annual silt load that used to
be deposited regularly all around the Mississippi River Delta. Be that as
it may, about 8 years ago I asked an auditor (before he was fired) that had
been to Louisiana if they "audited" those funds and his answer was that they
were distributed to each (not just coastal) Parish where they were used by
County officials however they wanted. Let's see 26 years, $100K per year,
ummm - why that's "real" money!
Even what has been going on right beneath our noses for 4 decades now
doesn't tell the whole story. Periodic accumulations of little-noticed
"federal" dollars further confirms the determination of state employees to
curry favor with federal overseers for possible future jobs or funding. For
instance and in addition to what you already see, as of today (June 2010),
there are four little-noticed yet BIG pots of federal money slopping around
US Fish and Wildlife Service that I am sure have not gone unnoticed by
hopeful state "cooperators".
1. "Stimulus" money in the hundreds of millions has been divided up by
US Fish and Wildlife Service amongst field stations, Regional Offices, and
Washington. As field station "backlogs" are being met and "priority"
environmental tasks addressed, the Regional office near me will be
physically moved for a couple of years as the entire federal building they
now occupy is refurbished. State agency personnel are constantly on the
hunt for projects and programs being created by these funds for the
possibility that "cooperation" or "joint performance" opportunities may
emerge.
2. "Oil Spill" money in almost unlimited amounts has been awarded to
the US Fish and Wildlife Service to clean up the Gulf of Mexico and to save
wildlife. Retirees are being recalled; overtime, training and per diem
costs are enormous, permanent and temporary staff hiring is going on, and
the resulting boon to US Fish and Wildlife Service budgets and staff will
remain long after any real work like cleanup is needed. Bureaucratic dreams
of "research" and "protection" ad infinitum are translated into personnel
and dollars that will be more easily obtained from Congress and the White
House when there are elements of funding inserted for "state cooperation"
and "University research".
3. White House money for the First Lady's "Childhood Obesity" push is
flowing into the US Fish and Wildlife Service in large amounts and at a
rapid pace. Program descriptions of how getting kids "outdoors" will slim
them down are being generated quicker than federal land acquisition
justifications. Since this will go on "everywhere", federal field stations
will get first crack at funds and state agencies hope to get remaining funds
to "do their part" where federal field stations do not exist.
4. Last, but not least, there is the once-a-decade and perennial
program for US Fish and Wildlife Service to "educate" munchkins everywhere
about "the environment". Such programs for "the children" come and go (but
not completely) once or twice a decade as politicians need to project
"concern" as voters think of voting. This latest White House Initiative is
sending money directly to the US Fish and Wildlife Service Training Center
in West Virginia. This Taj Mahal of Training (one gift of many from WV US
Senator Byrd) is becoming increasingly independent (of USFWS) as its
bureaucratic and budget power grows. The Center can more and more be relied
on to direct some if "its" money to state "cooperators" as the Center builds
"its" base of support for future funding, programs, and personnel with state
agencies among others.
All 4 of these current "initiatives" have both real and potential funding
availability for state fish and wildlife agencies. Additionally, many state
politicians love such federal funds (education, roads, etc.) because they
get do some things without raising taxes. So state employees and many state
politicians measure success by "getting every available federal nickel"
rather than meeting state needs within state budgets. As long as it is not
too noticeable, a little "go-along to get-along" is the price they pay: only
the cumulative results get harder and harder to hide.
Is it any wonder that state fish and wildlife agencies look to Washington
for their future? The Washington future asks only obedience, not
accountability or taxpayers with unmet expectations. Think about what the
environmental classes, the "outdoor" training, and media releases will say
about - hunting/ logging/ fishing/ trapping/ wolves/ grazing/ ranching/
public lands/ private property/ states rights/ rural conflicts/ federal
agencies/ state agencies/ the UN/ guns/ etc. Think about what will be said
about "non-'native'" species like brown trout, pheasants, and Russian Olive
trees. Think about the un-measurable nature of a job "saving the ecosystem"
as opposed a measurable job of providing a statewide elk kill of 15,000 or a
60 day pheasant season (with some left for next year). Think about all that
scarce dollar largesse awash in government agencies as the economy tanks,
the national debt soars, businesses are brought under union/government
ownership and control, and unemployment remains high everywhere.
Yeah, you're right. I don't know what I was thinking to disparage this
alliance of state and federal angels doing the work of Druidic priests
dancing around some oak tree full of mistletoe. We all owe you even more
than we can express and whatever you choose to do or don't do is something
the rest of us should simply be grateful for. How lucky we are to have
state and federal agencies that know what's best for us and how wonderful it
is that it coincides so nicely with what is good for them.
Remember all this as we struggle with wolves, as hunting diminishes, as
state employees fail to return calls for the removal of disease-carrying
wolves from yards by homes where small children reside. Whether you live in
the Upper Midwest where MN, IA, and WI are protecting cougars in hopes that
they will expand their numbers or whether you live in CA where protected
cougars kill and maim joggers, bikers, and others or whether you raise dogs
in any of the states now protecting wolves: you had better consider the role
and activities of state fish and wildlife employees and make sure they are
working for you and not federal overseers or radical organizations that
consider you no different than a pig or a rat or whatever.
Follow the Money.
Jim Beers
8 June 2010
Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist,
Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow.
He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and
Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western
Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the
Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security
Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress;
twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60
Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to
expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan,
Minnesota with his wife of many decades.
Jim Beers is available to speak or for consulting at jimbeers7@comcast.net
Post by: Special T on June 14, 2010, 09:04:47 AM