Dubya to End Elk Hunting in Wyoming

[JoseCuervo]

Looks like this might be the last year to Elk Hunt in Wyoming, if dubya is re-elected.

Jackson, WY-- A coalition of conservation and outdoor education groups has formally asked the U.S. Forest Service to withdraw plans to lease nearly 158,000 acres for oil and gas drilling in western Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest. The leasing would open the door to industrial development in pristine roadless areas and habitat for rare wildlife such as Canada lynx. The groups sent a letter to the Forest Service last week asking the agency to forego leasing based on violations of federal environmental laws.

Earthjustice submitted the request on behalf of the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, National Outdoor Leadership School, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Upper Green River Valley Coalition, The Wilderness Society, and Wyoming Outdoor Council.

The proposed leasing would pave the way for oil and gas development in the scenic Wyoming Range bordering the Upper Green River Valley and the upper Hoback region 25 miles southeast of Jackson Hole. The Forest Service has authorized the Bureau of Land Management to auction mineral leases on 157,658 acres of national forest lands in this area in October and December 2004. The areas to be leased include 92,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas that provide habitat for wildlife species ranging from elk to Canada lynx, and offer outstanding opportunities for hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities.

“The Wyoming Range is one of the wildest and most remote mountain ranges in the West, and it holds the only population center of Canada lynx in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,” said Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso. “Yet the Forest Service is in a rush to turn this wild country over to the oil and gas companies.”

“This is simply not the place for intense industrial development,” added Jeff Kessler of Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. “The natural and recreation values are far too high.”

The proposed leasing would vest energy companies with a basic legal right to punch roads, drill wells, and build pipelines through public lands that are now mostly roadless backcountry. While the Forest Service has sought to portray the proposed leasing as a meaningless “paper transaction,” the groups’ letter cites the Forest Service’s own statements making clear that leasing represents a commitment to development. The Forest Service has stated that “it cannot deny, in general, occupancy of the surface for the exploration and development of federal minerals that have been leased, unless they were leased with a no surface occupancy stipulation.” [See Background Information on Oil and Gas Leasing]

Under the Forest Service’s proposal, 87,000 acres of national forest lands (or 55 percent of the total proposed lease area) would be leased with full surface occupancy rights. Yet despite this commitment to development, and despite the fact that the Forest Service itself expects at least 90 wells to result from the proposed leasing, the Forest Service has deferred a full analysis of the environmental impacts of oil and gas operations until after leases are issued.

“The fate of the Wyoming Range’s world class hunting and wild and scenic trout streams is at stake here,” said Tom Darin of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. “We're extremely disappointed that this massive proposal was done through internal bureaucratic paperwork and without public involvement. The public should have a say in the future of these lands.”

"These pristine national forest lands in the Wyoming Range offer the best hunting and fishing opportunities in the region,” added Lloyd Dorsey of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. “Millions of dollars each year flow into local communities from family camping trips, big game hunting, and outfitter-guided recreation, which can be sustained forever unless these forest lands become industrial zones."

The proposed leasing would occur adjacent to BLM lands in the Upper Green River Valley, which already host more than 3,000 natural gas wells, with thousands more on the way and 75 percent of the valley currently under lease. This level of existing development already threatens unique wildlife migration corridors and air quality in nearby wilderness areas and national parks. Yet the Forest Service has decided to lease a vast swath of nearby public lands without undertaking a thorough environmental review of the combined impacts of all this development on wildlife, water, air quality, and outdoor recreation.

“Two years ago the Forest Service took a close look at the impacts of oil and gas leasing in other parts of the Bridger-Teton forest, including the Hoback Basin and Upper Green River, and decided that leasing in those areas wasn’t appropriate,” added Peter Aengst of The Wilderness Society. “All we are asking the Forest Service to do is take a close look at the impacts of leasing in the Wyoming Range before it commits that area to oil and gas development.”

 

[mtmiller]

Well I guess we have done a good job at destroying the winter range and migration corridors, we may as well harrass the wildlife in their summer range as well.

BTW, this is where I will be hunting in a couple of weeks. I would hate to see development in such a pristine area.

 

[Nut]

mtmiller,take plenty of pics of the area so I can see what it looks like before because I sure do not want to see the after pics.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Nut,

A personal letter from some guy in Ohio that dreams of visiting these places, and wants them managed for ALL Americans (not just Cheney/Halliburton) can be a powerful tool.

 

[Nut]

EG, I must disagree with you on my letter. I do not ride a ATV or snowmobile, am not a logger or oil worker, am not a major stockholder in the extraction resources field,I am not a rancher who has cattle. All I am is just a hunter. My say doesnt matter anymore.

 

[wyomingtim]

Well, just because the acreage is up for lease doesn't mean development or drilling. I forgot the website, but I saw somewhere that had a list of the amount of leased land in each state and it listed how much was actually being used. If I remember correctly, less than 10% of the leased land is actually being used.

That being said, I would sure hate to lose more hunting land that up until now limits access to mainly hoof and foot.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Nut,

You are probably right....

You might consider a small check to EarthJustice, as they are pretty effective in protecting our Hunting and Fishing rights.

 

[Wapiti Slayer]

So according to the twisted left wing thinking of Elkcummer, no more Elk Hunting in Wyoming if Bush is Elected?

"Looks like this might be the last year to Elk Hunt in Wyoming, if dubya is re-elected."

Where the #*^@#* do come up with this off the wall shit? I suppose if Kerry is elected it will be the best Elk hunting ever!

[ 08-27-2004, 18:19: Message edited by: Wapiti Slayer ]

 

[Ithaca 37]

Wap. , Any objective analysis of Dubya's administration policies will show, beyond any doubt, that they are about as anti-wildlife habitat and anti-wildlife as possible. You, and anyone else who enjoys hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation, should be very concerned and upset with the low regard in which Dubya's administration holds the environmental issues. I'm very surprised that so many hunters can't figure out the relationship between good quality, plentiful wildlife habitat and good quality hunting. You seem to be one of them.

 

[Wapiti Slayer]

I never said Bush did anything good! But you SHOW me Kerry will!

 

[Ithaca 37]

Hey Wap., All you seem to post is a bunch of alcohol fueled profane wisecracks. How about posting something substantial on any of the issues we discuss here? Are you capable of taking a position on anything and backing it up with any links or factual info?

 

[Wapiti Slayer]

Well the Qustion I posted "I never said Bush did anything good! But you SHOW me Kerry will! " wasn't a alcohol fueled wise crack? I at least respect what you post. IThaca you don't degrade people and not listen to what they have to say unlike Elkcummer. But I posted the Question first so lets here yer answer first! Even though you think everything I say is a Alcohol enduced reaction, it isn't. I read a lot of the things you talk/post about,so don't get me wrong. We are two very differn't people but share a lot of the same views.

[ 08-25-2004, 08:20: Message edited by: Wapiti Slayer ]

 

[Wapiti Slayer]

ALSO? Do you really think elkcummers statement "Looks like this might be the last year to Elk Hunt in Wyoming, if dubya is re-elected." is true?

 

[Muledeer4me]

Wapiti Slayer,of course it's not true but that is how these people work,Lie spin & lie some more.
By the way we don't know for sure what this Elkgunner poster does for a living ,I have heard rumor that he in an attorney?

With all the support he posts for radical green group's and animal right's group's I wonder (if the rumor is true) ,What type of law does he practice?


Let's take a look at one link where I found Elkgunner's EarthJustice.
http://www.biodiversityproject.org/links.htm#science


[Forests and Public Lands
American Forests www.amfor.org
American Lands www.americanlands.org
Canadian Parks and Wilderness www.cpaws.org
Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund www.earthjustice.org
Forest Guardians www.fguardians.org
Forest Conservation Portal www.forests.org
Greenpeace www.greenpeace.org
Idaho Conservation League www.wildidaho.org
Northern Forest Alliance www.northernforestalliance.org
Northern Forest Center www.northernforest.org
Oregon Natural Resources Council www.onrc.org
Public Lands Information Center www.publiclands.org
Rainforest Action Network www.ran.org
Sierra Club www.sierraclub.org
Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition www.safc.org
Washington Environmental Council www.wecprotects.org
Wilderness Society www.wilderness.org
Wildlands Project www.twp.org
Yellowstone to Yukon www.y2y.net]

 

[Muledeer4me]

http://www.animalconcerns.org/resource.html?itemid=200301162042320.51357&catid=3


Detailed Information:
"Every year in New Jersey, more than 1,000,000 animals are hunted and killed.

To engage in this recreation, hunters spend millions of dollars on license fees, and nearly every penny goes solely to the salaries of state employees."


"September 7 brings hell to the deer of our state, for it is the opening day of bowhunting season.

Bowhunting is one of the most vicious and inaccurate ways to kill an animal. Shooting an arrow into a living target is so difficult, that for every deer a bowhunter kills, another is shot, wounded, and escapes. Few deer die quickly.

· "The rule of thumb has long been that we should wait 30 to 45 minutes on heart and lung hits, an hour or more on a suspected liver hit, eight to 12 hours on paunch hits, and that we should follow up immediately on hindquarter and other muscle hits, "to keep the wound open and bleeding"." Glenn Helgeland - Fins and Feathers Winter 1987.
· "For a bow hunter to easily recover a wounded deer, the blood loss must be extensive." Rob Wegner - Deer and Deer Hunting August, 1991.

Such violence, such crippling pain. And for what? Recreation. Sport. Fun.

So, on September 7, when the light of day touches your face, and the sky may be clear, the air clean, and you think to yourself what a beautiful day it is...know that at that moment thousands of deer have already fallen from razor arrow death. At that moment hundreds more deer are bleeding, shot, wounded, dying with each step they take.

The horror that overwhelms this is that all this torture is but a precursor: it is only opening day.

Those who kill and profit from killing are so afraid of your emotions that they berate you for having them. Refuse this! Our feelings are our strength and the spirit that guides our conscience. Feel then, for the deer, for their suffering, for the mothers who watch children destroyed, and are only reunited when both hang as trophies on their killer's wall. Feel for all the deer, for the one million souls already stolen, and for the hundreds of thousands more that shall come to ruination by such an unnatural and unkind death. Feel for these poor creatures, and then with an armed conscience, act.

The NJ Division of Fish and Game, the so-called experts, tell you that you must allow hunting -though they never mention that their salaries are paid for by the sale of hunting licenses. Remember this: it is for their personal sake, and little more, that hunting must be allowed.

This letter is a plea. The power to break this cruelty will be born in our hearts. I know that there are many people who care and, yes, even dare love deer. If we all but stood and let it be known...

Deer are a species that have been and are being bred for the sole purpose of recreational hunting. They have been demonized, vilified, so that good people will say nothing and allow the slaughter to continue. For 100 years The Division of Fish and Game and their hunter-patrons have succeeded.

Let them succeed no more."


Those employees in turn provide animals for hunters to kill. Their mandate for such wildlife management comes directly from a Council that is controlled and dominated by hunters.


That is the vicious cycle of wildlife management.


Though this is the story of New Jersey, you will find that no matter what state you live in, the following statements hold true:


Hunting is a business and state biologists practice economics, not science."


So as you are writing and mailing those check's to the group's Elkgunner tell's you to support ,don't forget to check out link's and ask question's .
Someone sure want's to end your hunting ,but I don't think it's Bush!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JoseCuervo]

MD,

You never should have taken the helmet off....

Why are you bringing some article about New Jersey into this thread? There is not any Elk hunting in NJ, that I am aware of. Just how bad was the accident??

And your logic is backwards, could you please show where any of those organizations are linked to EarthJustice's homepage?

And please show me where I have ever posted information on any of those organizations you are paranoid about??? I have never heard about animalsconcerns.org, nor shoud I care about them.

Were you this nutty before the accident, or is all of this directly attributed to the accident?

 

[Ithaca 37]

"Were you this nutty before the accident, or is all of this directly attributed to the accident?"

Depends on which accident you're talking about. The first was when she fell outta the high chair and landed on her head.

EG, You hafta understand; MD thinks if you mention any group and she can find a link at their site to a link to a link to a link to some fringe group it means they're all in a vast worldwide conspiracy to outlaw grizzly hunting in Rhode Island.

 

[Toonces]

EG,

I would say at best EarthJustice appears to be schizophrenic regarding protecting hunting rights considering their client list contains some of the big enemies to hunters including the HSUS and other animal rights nuts.

Does EarthJustice have a mission or policy statement where they specifically take a pro-hunting position?

If so please direct me to it.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Toonces,

Can you first direct me to where EarthJustice represented HSUS in an action aimed at removing hunting "rights"?


To answer your question, I am not aware of any mission statement by them endorsing/ or rejecting hunting rights. Are you aware of different?

 

[Toonces]

No,

I am simply going by their client list. I have not dug any further than that.

You made a fairly strong statement in a prior post that EarthJustice is pretty effective at protecting hunting rights and suggested that we as hunters should donate to their cause.

Given their client list includes animal rights organizations I will need further proof that they are in fact a pro-hunting organization. Nothing I have seen on their website or from what you have posted here demonstrates their position on hunting. All it does is cause confusion and doubt regarding that position.

If you post that we should donate to an organization to protect our hunting rights I would expect that organization would have a clear pro-hunting policy. EarthJustice does not appear to have such a policy.