Sunday, November 12, 2017

~~ Bear Essentials ~ Nov. 12, 2017 ~~


Green Groups Oppose Trump’s Utah Visit: Time to Speak Up
 Write to Secretary Zinke: Dept. of the Interior  1849 C Street, N.W.  Wash. DC 20240 


Good News Bears
n  The Value of Accurate Quotes  by Jim Stiles Canyon Zephyr

  

Bad News Bears         


                  Other issues related to San Juan County
n  San Juan County Looks at best way to realign voting districts  Public meetings scheduled for Bluff and Monticello Thurs. Nov. 16
n  Veterans Day in San Juan County  KUER visits, interviews and reports
n  Bundy Trial in Nevada Moves Slowly: Video Evidence in Question
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                                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016


“A place is not a place until people have been born in it, grown up, lived in it, know it, and have died in it; until they have shaped it through their experiences as individuals, families, communities; until things that have happened are remembered in history, ballads, yarns, legends, and in monuments.”
Wallace Stegner
  


Monday, November 6, 2017

Panicked environmental NGO'S throwing everything at the courts to see what sticks

Remember, these enviro groups need crises to keep the donations flowing, but if sage grouse enjoy healthy habitat and robust, growing populations, there is no longer a crisis to get hysterical about. If Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative continues to be successful in restoring habitat and boosting sage grouse numbers, SUWA and its corporate environmentalist cronies will have to look elsewhere for a crisis to exploit.

Commentary by Marjorie Haun
Just last week, Utah’s most obnoxious extreme green group, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), had a big setback in court, and rightfully so, because its basis for the court action was at best, specious. Political operatives at the helm of the Sierra Club; the now unrecognizable, deconstructed soul child of John Muir, are guilty also of lobbing lawsuit bombs they know are duds. But green groups such as the aforementioned are essentially lawsuit mills, run by people with a lot of experience in dragging governmental entities to court. So, one might be inclined to ask, “what are the extreme greens doing gumming up the courts with weird and contradictory actions that are even weirder and more contradictory than usual?” The probable motive behind the greens is…well…the greenback. Read on.
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
On Friday, November 3, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) received a stinging rebuke from the federal court in Salt Lake City. The court denied the radical group’s request for a temporary restraining order that would halt progress on the Sage Grouse Rehabilitation Plan being implemented by Iron and Beaver Counties in southwestern Utah. The Sage Grouse plan is a project of the “Watershed Restoration Initiative,” (WRI). The WRI partners the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS),the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and other federal agencies with local governments in order to reach stated conservation goals, one of which is maintaining healthy sage grouse populations in Utah. 
In a news release dated April 21, 2016, the NRSC states its goals for sage grouse, and details some of its projects:
To prevent sage-grouse from becoming listed under the Endangered Species Act, Utah adopted a Greater Sage-grouse Conservation Plan. The plan emphasizes habitat restoration on state, private and federal lands within areas identified as Sage-grouse Management Areas (SGMAs). Eleven of the twelve SGMAs in Utah have an increasing population trend over the last three years; however, the Sheeprocks SGMA has decreased to a critically low population level. In the Sheeprocks, the joint RCPP and WRI project will focus on combating pinyon-juniper encroachment and preventing catastrophic fires – major causes for the decline of sage-grouse in the area.
Sheeprocks Restoration Efforts
Objectives for RCPP grant over the next 5 years include the following:
Improve over 17,000 acres of sage-grouse and other wildlife habitat by reducing pinyon-juniper encroachment, weed invasion and the risk of  catastrophic fire
Create fuel breaks/green strips to protect sagebrush ecosystem
Past work in the Sheeprocks area include the following:
In the last three years, six large scale fires have burned in the area.  Fire rehabilitation has occurred on over 16,000 acres of these burned areas.
Since 2006, an additional 77,000 acres of habitat and watershed improvement were completed.
Long-term WRI planning includes the following:
Complete 8,000 to 10,000 acres of habitat and watershed improvement annually.  At this rate it will take about 15 years to complete improvements on the land that we have identified as priority habitat for sage-grouse and other wildlife.
The Iron/Beaver Counties project is similar to past efforts to clear excess juniper and pinion trees to improve habitat for sage grouse and other species which thrive in sagebrush-rich areas. And, ironically, in the past SUWA has filed lawsuits attempting to place the sage grouse on the endangered species list. So, why would a group that purports to champion the environment and wildlife initiate a contradictory effort to halt a project designed to improve sage grouse habitat? Although it’s impossible to get inside the heads of people who paint their faces up like badgers, it’s not hard to see that SUWA, and its ilk, need a constant supply of environmental crises to: (1) Garner ample donations from supporters using ‘the sky is falling’ hysteria campaigns, and (2) use the courts, and ill-conceived sue and settle processes, to pocket millions from U.S. taxpayers in the form of settlements and reimbursed attorneys’ fees. 
There is an even creepier motive that could be behind SUWA’s latest boner. Remember, these enviro groups need crises to keep the donations flowing, but if sage grouse enjoy healthy habitat and robust, growing populations, there is no longer a crisis to get hysterical about. If Utah’s WRI continues to be successful in restoring habitat and boosting sage grouse numbers, SUWA and its corporate environmentalist cronies will have to look elsewhere for a crisis to exploit.
Sierra Club
On October 30, the Sierra Club joined other environmental special interests in a legal effort to stop construction on a Pennsylvania natural gas pipeline project that is already well underway. Describing the Sierra Club’s latest lawsuit as ‘frivolous,’ on November 3, Marcellus Drilling News posted this:
The odious Sierra Club is at it again. Using what appears to be endless supplies of money from people like the Rockefellers, the Sierra Club, along with a mishmash of other radical environmental groups, filed an emergency motion in federal court on Monday, asking the court to stop any further work on the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline. Atlantic Sunrise is a $3 billion, 198-mile natural gas pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County.
Williams, the company building/owning the project, broke ground in September. Since that time 29 radicals in two different protests have been arrested for blocking construction in Lancaster County. However, the work continues–at a rapid pace. Williams knows the longer they take, the more likely antis will find a way to slow or stop the construction. On Monday the Sierra Clubbers filed their latest “throw everything against the wall to see if something sticks” frivolous lawsuit to try and stop it–to give their other (numerous) frivolous lawsuits a chance to work their way through the court system, in hopes something, anything will work to stop the project…
The Sierra Club claims to be protecting forests and farmland from the impacts of the pipeline. But pipeline projects, such as the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline (ASP), are realized only with the buy-in from governmental and private stakeholders, and by surviving arduous, years-long strings of environmental impact assessments, geological reviews, land surveys, hydrological studies, and cooperative agreements with private property owners, state and federal agencies, tribes, and all others involved.
Not unlike SUWA, the Sierra Club is run by professional law-suers, who know exactly how much effort and regulatory control is involved in pipeline construction. And it’s a near certainty that ASP developers have honored state and federal regulations, and have the documentation to prove it, in court if necessary. So again, the motivation of this self-proclaimed defender of the environment for picking a losing fight in the courts is a riddle indeed. Natural gas is the least dirty of all fossil fuels, and a great deal cleaner than Pennsylvania coal. The environmental, economic and human benefits of natural gas are clear. And, let’s not forget that ecoterrorists guilty of ‘blocking’ construction and carrying out attacks against pipelines, have more often than not, left environmental destruction in their wake. Sierra Club is a political organization carrying out a political agenda, and as usual, the environment takes a back seat to its need to create a crisis mountain out of a ‘meh’ molehill.
Let’s be honest. The core motivation for SUWA, Sierra Club and their countless spin-offs, is money. It’s always been money, and will always be money. And when your business is to convince donors that the sky is falling, you need an occasional crisis to make your point, even if the crisis is the manufactured kind.

Published 11/6/2017 in Free Range Report

Friday, November 3, 2017

~~ Bear Essentials ~ Nov. 3, 2017 ~~


Green Groups Oppose Trump’s Utah Visit: Time to Speak Up
Facts included in the letter: “Radical environmental groups have shown disrespect to Local Native American residents by narrating a false scenario, using identity politics and questions of “Native American” sovereignty in terms of the Monument designation. Native Americans closest to the Bears Ears have told us time and time again that “sacredness should not be synonymous to national monuments.”
We understand much of the sacred sites and cultural heritage areas of Native American origin are already thoroughly protected to include:
*Grand Gulch Wilderness Area - 105,213 acres
*Dark Canyon Wilderness Area - 57,248 acres
*Road Canyon Wilderness Area - 52,420 acres
*Mancos Mesa Wilderness Area – 50,899 acres
*Fish Creek Canyon Wilderness Area - 40,160 acres
*Cedar Mesa Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA) - 30,752 acres
*Butler Wash Wilderness Area - 24,277 acres
*Cheesebox Canyon Wilderness Area - 14,831 acres
*The Indian Creek Wilderness Area - 6,870 acres
*Mule Canyon Wilderness Area- 5,990 acres
*Bridger Jack Mesa Wilderness Area - 5,290 acres
*Natural Bridges National Monument - 7,780 acres
All within the unnecessary boundaries of the Bears Ears National Monument, over 90% of the area included in the list were designated through a democratic congressional legislative process.
We are certain that under these existing federally protected areas, sites of significant historic and cultural concern will remain in the capable hands of the federal agencies charged with protecting these places of wonder. How are we certain?
The current powerful laws already in existence to protect these places are:
*1935 Historic Sites
*1960/1974 Reservoir Act
*1966 National History Preservation Act
1980 Amendment NHBA - Exec. Order Protection & Enhancement of Cultural Environment
*1974 Archeological & Historic Preservation Act
*1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act
*1979 Archeological Resources Act (Heavily Enforced)
*1990 Native American Graves Protection & Repatriation Act (Heavily Enforced)
*1996 Indian Sacred Site
*2000 CONSULTATION & Coordination with Indian Tribal Government
*2003 Preserve America Act
Bears Ears National Monument has proven to be an unneeded layer of federal bureaucracy which our great Nation simply never needed. The Antiquities Act demonstrates the abuse of federal power as well as being obsolete in its current form.”
We welcome a visit by the 45th President of the United States to the State of Utah.
Write to Secretary Zinke: Dept. of the Interior  1849 C Street, N.W.  Wash. DC 20240 

Good News Bears

n  Pruitt (EPA Head) Plans Overhaul of Advisory Boards Whatever science comes out of EPA shouldn’t be political science,” said Pruitt, a Republican lawyer who previously served as the attorney general of Oklahoma. “He suggested many previously appointed to the panels were potentially biased because they had received federal research grants.”


Throughout Ms. Budd-Falen’s career, the foundational principles that appear to have consistently guided her work are: That the freedoms we are entitled to in this country are the product of rights bestowed upon us, not by man, but by God; That our Constitution was written for the purpose of limiting our government’s ability, if not proclivity, to erode those rights; and That, unless those freedoms are vigorously defended, they will be vanquished in the course of time.”  [Ms. Falen was also one of the presenters at the Kansas conference that 10 SJC residents attended this past summer.]


Bad News Bears         

“The prosecution seems to think that the Inspector General’s Office is not accurate in their reporting, and its documents cannot be trusted. The report is accurate enough to fire Dan Love from the Bureau of Land Management. It is accurate enough for our elected officials. It is accurate enough for Washington DC bureaucrats. Yet it is not accurate to the Federal prosecutors?”

n  EPA bans wood burning, and wood burning stoves  Old news, but may be new to you.

            Other issues related to San Juan County
n  Possible Incorporation of Bluff Discussed  KSJD radio interview
n  Utah Navajo Health   KSJD interview with Michael Jensen, concerning Utah Navajo Health Services

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                                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016

Sunday, October 22, 2017

~~ Bear Essentials ~ Oct. 22, 2017~~


 vBe sure to Vote:  Nov. 7, Tuesday, or mail in your Ballot
vvForest Service meeting this week:  San Juan County Commissioner meeting Tuesday Oct 24th at the Monticello community/senior center. The local Forest Service Agency presentation at 9:45 am, with a Q & A session. If you care about cattle grazing, road obliteration; if you are against the USFS creating a large wilderness area in the forest; or are concerned about limiting access to ATV's, and perhaps firewood gathering, hunting, and all other recreational opportunities in the Manti La Sal Forest, you ought to go to the meeting. It starts at 9:00, Forest Service scheduled at 9:45. But come early in case they are ahead of schedule.

v Satire of the week:
v Roast Marshmallows, Not Forests  “We cannot preserve a beautiful forest forever like a photograph, because it is still growing, and eventually dying. Today’s overgrown national forests produce at least twice as much new growth as managers remove every year, so the situation continues to get worse while Congress fiddles. Our generation has thus squandered the great legacy of the conservation movement, our national forests.”

Good News Bears

n  Definitely time for Antiquities Act Reform  Op-ed by Matt Anderson
n   Grazing not to blame for bull trout decline  14 yr. Old law suit dismissed


  Bad News Bears         
According to a tally from that year, there were more than 20 federal agencies or departments that EACH had MORE personnel than Congress.  The Department of Agriculture alone had nearly six times more employees (95,223 vs. 16,432). Utah State Rep. Ken Ivory (R), co-chair of the Commission on Federalism, describes America’s current state as a bike with lopsided tires – one overinflated, the other completely flat. To him, it’s not so much about who is holding the handlebars. America simply can’t move forward until the air pressure is more equitably distributed.
So in February, members of Utah’s Commission on Federalism, with Trumpian winds at their back, drew up a list of more than five pages of powers they’d like to bring back to the state. Among them: Mitigate catastrophic fire risk on national forests and rangelands.”
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                                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016