Hunting And Fishing Groups Are Starting To Turn On Trump’s Interior Secretary

[Ben Lamb]

Interesting article about how some groups are working to protect public lands, and what they're encountering in DC:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ryan-zinke-hunting-fishing-groups_us_596685afe4b0a8d46d11cae8

 

[mixedbag]

Your source is the Huffington Post huh,lmao.So a bunch of liberals want to start gossip of a divide amongst outdoorsmen.Who would of thought from anti- hunting liberals.Stupidest thing I've heard,and to see BCHA posting this on Facebook is nuts too.

 

[jryoung]

Your source is the Huffington Post huh,lmao.So a bunch of liberals want to start gossip of a divide amongst outdoorsmen.Who would of thought from anti- hunting liberals.Stupidest thing I've heard,and to see BCHA posting this on Facebook is nuts too.

What points do you agree or disagree with from the article?

 

[JLS]

Your source is the Huffington Post huh,lmao.So a bunch of liberals want to start gossip of a divide amongst outdoorsmen.Who would of thought from anti- hunting liberals.Stupidest thing I've heard,and to see BCHA posting this on Facebook is nuts too.

Hmmm, I actually thought it was a fairly well written article. It contained actual names one could associate with the statements, no? The statements are opinions based on tangible observations, no? Many of the groups quoted are sportman's groups, no? I didn't see a divide created, I saw a difference of opinions. There is nothing wrong with that.

So tell me, what is the gossip you reference?

What exactly is the stupidest thing you've heard?

Why do you oppose BHA posting it on Facebook?

I have no issue with you having different viewpoints, but on the surface I don't see much intellectual or thoughtful foundation for that disagreement, aside from the fact you view the Huffington Post as a liberal rag and feel the article is driven by anti-hunters. Please expand.

 

[Big Fin]

Your source is the Huffington Post huh,lmao.So a bunch of liberals want to start gossip of a divide amongst outdoorsmen.Who would of thought from anti- hunting liberals.Stupidest thing I've heard,and to see BCHA posting this on Facebook is nuts too.

OK, how's this?

Montana Hunters' patience wearing thin on Trump's Interior Secretrary

Bozeman, Montana 3:00pm Monday July 17, 2017

President Trump's appointment for Secretary of Interior, former Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke, was considered by his fellow Montana hunters as a possible ray of hope in an otherwise anti-conservation industry-stacked cabinet. To date, Secretary Zinke has spent most all of his effort pandering to the fringe elements who do not represent the mainstream of western voters who consider pubic lands and conservation to be reason for accepting far lower wages to live in these places of abundant recreation opportunity.

And Secretary Zinke's efforts to appease anti-public land zealots from Utah, at the expense of conservation and species, is not going unnoticed by Montana hunters who invested a lot of political capital to push forth Zinke's nomination. Randy Newberg, host of a popular western hunting TV show, a top-tier hunting-political podcast, and owner of public land web forum, HuntTalk.com, voted for Zinke as a Congressional candidate, yet has reported to his audience that his patience with Secretary Zinke is wearing thin.

Secretary Zinke, who has Montana hunters to thank for his appointment at Interior, has not done much to reward those who invested the most to get his nominations considered above other nominees for Interior Secretary. If not for the lobbying by hunting groups, the likely choice for Interior Secretary would have been one of two options from Idaho or Washington, both avowed anti-public land puppets.

When asked, Newberg had this to say, "In the last five months it seems Secretary Zinke has forgotten who is responsible for his nomination for appointment as Secretary of Interior. He seems to be more focused on appeasing fringe elements of his party, such as those in Utah who are working behind the scenes to undo years of collaboration on sage grouse. His order to eliminate local input by elimination of Regional Advisory Committees, fast-tracking oil and gas wells on critical mule deer and pronghorn ranges, are part of a long list of other efforts not in the best interest of western hunters. It is past time that Secretary Zinke starts being more like the Roosevelt Republican he claims to aspire to be and less like the James Watt Interior Secretary he is proving to be. We expect him to take our issues seriously and start fulfilling some of the promises made, sooner rather than later."

 

[Ben Lamb]

What Fin said.

 

[Irrelevant]

I thought I heard somewhere that Newberg character was one of them Green Decoys

 

[Oneye]

Your source is the Huffington Post huh,lmao.So a bunch of liberals want to start gossip of a divide amongst outdoorsmen.Who would of thought from anti- hunting liberals.Stupidest thing I've heard,and to see BCHA posting this on Facebook is nuts too.

Wow what a childish, ridiculous, uninformative post. When you don't agree with something shout "fake news". What sad, pitiful, closed world some people live in. Not agreeing with something nor even the coverage on something or the source of something does not make it fake. Live inside an echo chamber of your own ideals if you want, but there is little to nothing Zinke has done to help wildlife, hunting, or anything that resembles respect for Roosevelt or our public lands system and process. He has quite literally been nothing more than a playboy out of the playbook of Utah politicians. If you believe that's good for wildlife and wild places, your heading down a failing path with convient non-truths that make you feel good and avoiding facts and science that aren't convienient enough for you to be true. This article is from the Huffinton post? I don't care! I agree with it 100%.

 

[OriginalOscar]

How can anything get done waiting on 70 nominations to be confirmed?

The whining over budget cuts is hollow with $19T debt and growing.

I'm still optimistic Zinke will find good balance. His recommendation on Bears Ears wasn't repeal which Utah officials wanted but it did recognize the legislative process should be used to determine the scope and protections.

I have it on good source the dude on the right was HRC nominee for interior. We could really be worse off!

 

[jryoung]

The whining over budget cuts is hollow with $19T debt and growing.

Was the proposed increase in military spending 3 or 4x over the entire DOI budget?

 

[OriginalOscar]

Was the proposed increase in military spending 3 or 4x over the entire DOI budget?

Are you equating DOI defense of Sage Grouse as equal to military defense for all of us?

 

[Oneye]

Are you equating DOI defense of Sage Grouse as equal to military defense for all of us?

No, but there's nothing bigger contributing to our debt than military spending. You can't say we have a debt problem then advocate for larger spending on the biggest hunk of debt pile up we have. The cuts are unreasonable for the damage they do compared to the good they do. As a side note before we go labeling here, I support our military, believe our vets should get triple the money spent on them, and want a strong military. I'm just saying the same people who complain about our debtand spending and advocate for cuts can't at the same time want to see billions more in spending for the one category that makes up half our national budget and is contributing to the debt more than anything. Really care about that debt? Start carving away at the 50% category before we start carving away at the 1% part of the budget. Duke I'm sure you like to blame he enviro wackos on scenarios like the Brian Head fire. Sure that's a part of it, but the other biggest reason for fires like that are due to contestant budget cuts to the BLM and Forest service making it so they can't do their job. Randy said it best in one of his podcasts. We all support carving spending off of the national budget to control our spending, but there comes a point where you're no longer just carving away at skin and meat, at some point your carving away bone. That's where we are at with the DOI and Forest services budget. We have carved all the skin and meat away and have started carving away at the bone. You can only carve so much off of an already struggling agency that has huge fire bills, wild horse issues, etc. before you end up with an agency that can't even do its job. We were at that point two decades ago and further cutting those budgets does nothing more than exacerbate the problems that have already got bad enough.

 

[OriginalOscar]

Are you and jryoung the same person?

Do you have a comment on the article? Article had some good points and some things I disagree with.

 

[Oneye]

Are you and jryoung the same person?

Do you have a comment on the article? Article had some good points and some things I disagree with.

Yeah as I said in my first reply, I agree with the article. In further response to your first reply, we could be worse off, we could be better off, but the point of the article is where we are at right now not where we could be. We are evaluating Zinke, and if you're a sportsman you should be concerned with many of the things Zinke has done, and in all honesty isn't doing or saying. If I was giving him a letter grade right now, I'd give him a D+. He understands the development side of things, but doesn't seem to understand the conservation side of things.

 

[jryoung]

Are you equating DOI defense of Sage Grouse as equal to military defense for all of us?

Nothing of the sort, it's just debt talk is a little hollow without addressing the 3-4 items that make up 70% of the budget. Like saying I'm going to save money at home by buying cheaper toilet paper, yet still eat steak and drink expensive wine everyday. More importantly as it related to the DOI, they have the ability to pay for their function. If we are going to express our "energy dominance" then let's address royalty and lease rates....especially on companies who can afford to pay. Like the EAJA, why should companies with stout balance sheets get to fleece the taxpayer.

 

[Chad E]

Not liking the source of an article doesn't make it untrue. I read the article before seeing this post and thought it was solid and on point regardless of coming from the Huffington post. I like Randy' s angle equally well.

The fact that other groups are trying to divide sportsman does not give us a free pass to stick our heads in the sand and claim cohesion at all costs. Zinke says one thing and does another. It's time we expect more from him.

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

I like seeing an objectively good article from a source that gets much circulation outside of the hunting world.

This isn't about hunters reading HuffPost, but rather HuffPost readers seeing that all hunters are not blindly aligned with all things 2nd amendment and stereotypically Conservative.

 

[Ben Lamb]

How can anything get done waiting on 70 nominations to be confirmed?

The whining over budget cuts is hollow with $19T debt and growing.

I'm still optimistic Zinke will find good balance. His recommendation on Bears Ears wasn't repeal which Utah officials wanted but it did recognize the legislative process should be used to determine the scope and protections.

I have it on good source the dude on the right was HRC nominee for interior. We could really be worse off!
View attachment 72586

BLM, USFWS, both have not even been nominated. Many of the other confirmations in waiting are in the same boat. Don't confuse ineptitude on the part of the admin for ineptitude on congress' part, other than generally being inept. Dude is running the country like a reality tv show.

The Federal budget isn't like a home budget or business fiscal year budget. It's much more complicated with multiple revenue streams that react when dumb things are done. Zinke likes to tout the offshore numbers, but ignores market conditions, etc. He's proven to not understand his job, as the Glacier boat debacle poignantly shows, but he's also proven to be only listening to people like Ryan Benson, rather than the many, many groups who pushed for him to be SOI. To date, Zinke has not found balance. He has found grandstanding and self-promotion, even while wearing his stetson backwards. Cutting programs like LWCF means less economic activity in areas that benefit from the program, like rural towns and destination areas such as SE UT. Cutting trails budgets, everything else, in favor of funding increased permitting means Zinke is abandoning multiple use for only extractive use - which is 180 degrees counter to what he has said he would do.

As for sage grouse, He's listening to UT and not the 10 other western Governors who have said that repealing the sage grouse plans would be severely problematic at the state level. He's bought in to the notion that Benson knows what he's talking about, regardless of the support of the sage grouse plans by groups like Mule Deer Foundaton, Muley Fanatics Foundation, Wildlife Management Inst (run by 43's former USFWS director, Steve Williams) and groups like BHA, TRCP, NWF, Audubon, etc.

For a state that says they value local control, UT is dead set on trying to take control of the entire west, and now, they've got a puppet in Zinke. It's time to fight back.

 

[3855WIN]

It appears that sportsmen won't get much representation from either party. It doesn't seem like sportsmen have the needed political pull. I can't argue with the article.

 

[airlocksniffer]

It appears that sportsmen won't get much representation from either party. It doesn't seem like sportsmen have the needed political pull. I can't argue with the article.

Yeah IMO it seems like pols from either side think if they have a photo op with a gun (camo is a bonus) they automatically have the sportsman vote. Unfortunately for some folks this is enough for them. Zinke sure played the part with his Stetson and horseback arrival in DC but his actions so far speak louder than his cliche.