WEBVTT - Ep. 472: A Foxy Stowaway, Public Land Controversies, and Baby Boy Callaghan 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:14.240 From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:19.400 is Col's Week in Review with Ryan col Kalahan. Here's Cal. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:23.760 Last week we brought you news of a coyote who 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:27.600 swam to and from the Rock. Ah, that was a 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:30.800 bad Sean Connery, let me give it to you this way, 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:37.280 your best Losa's only whine about doing that best The 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:41.479 Rock is that better? It's got to be better. Couldn't 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:45.240 finish that quote. Go watch The Rock, which if you 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:50.200 listened last week you already have. It's a wonderfully bad movie, 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:54.760 but fantastic Nick Cage and Sean Connery great one liners. 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:58.160 Kind of like that like overlay of like some history 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:03.200 in there. It's fun. Anyway. This week we're covering a 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:06.520 canid who crossed a much, much bigger body water, the 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:10.160 Atlantic Ocean. Earlier this year, a red fox stowed away 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:14.000 on a car carrier ship leaving from Southampton, England, arriving 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:16.480 in the Port of New York and New Jersey in February. 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:20.280 After being discovered, the fox was quarantined at the Bronx Zoo. 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:23.120 It's a good thing he didn't slip off the boat undetected. 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.440 Vet's discovered that the fox was carrying a parasite called 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:29.959 French heartworm, which is just regular old heartworm with a 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:34.200 fancy accent and a cigarette joking aside, French heartworm is 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:36.920 rare in the US and can be fatal to canids. 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:39.360 So it's great news that this fox was treated without 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:43.920 spreading the parasite. I can't imagine it just got treated anyway. 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.480 Last week the Bronx Zoo declared the fox was disease free. 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:51.120 Scientists there also named the fox Basil, which is a 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:53.800 good name, even if I don't love the practice of 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.920 giving names to wild animals, although now I guess Basil 0:01:57.200 --> 0:01:59.720 isn't a wild animal. The Bronx Zoo doesn't have a 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.400 red fox, and so this one might end up staying there, 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:05.320 or he may be transferred to a different animal sanctuary. 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:09.400 We've all heard stories of crafty foxes escaping red coated 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.359 hunters on horseback by crossing back over their tracks or 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.720 traveling only at night but to stow away on a 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.239 cargo ship headed for the USVA. That's taking the term 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:24.320 sly fox to a whole different level. This week land 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.920 access legislation and he shot my paw. But first I 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:29.519 want to tell you about my week, and my week 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:34.040 has been a little more wild than usual. The pregnant 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:37.360 lady whom I was just told by some listeners that 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:42.240 I referred to my partner Sam in many ways other 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.400 than fat, But those terms that I use meant fat 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.960 right here on this here podcast, Well, Sam is not 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:55.080 pregnant anymore. The kid is here, baby Boy Callahan, the 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.600 sixth generation of Callahan's here in the Treasure State, was 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:05.000 born on the twenty second, meaning that we were contractions 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:08.680 were happening while I was recording this podcast. Now I 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:13.760 should address the quote and alleged fat references. We practice 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:17.120 positive body image here in this house, especially when referring 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:21.400 to everything other than my beer belly. Bigger is better 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.160 in the baby game, so far as my knowledge goes, 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:28.520 so big is success and good and beautiful. And you 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.760 may argue with me about that, but you cannot argue 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.960 about the end result. The kid's so handsome that I 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:37.880 couldn't walk the fifteen feet across the operating room. We 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:41.240 ended up in like an emergency C section scenario without 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:45.040 someone stopping me to say, wow, that is a good 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:48.360 looking baby, to which I said thank you and they said, no, 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.920 you don't understand, but don't always look that good, to 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.320 which I said, yeah, I'm not someone who compliments babies, 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.040 and this one is so handsome. I need to go 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.440 figure out who the father is. Anyway, we got six 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.080 days of keeping a tiny human alive under our belts. 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.200 Mom's tough and kicking butt. Kid is eating like a 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:09.440 monster and gaining a little bit of weight on the 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:13.240 right track. A couple of big takeaways so far from 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:17.520 early fatherhood. For all the crap people in the guiding game, 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:21.240 get about like being itinerant bums and you know season 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.839 employees dirt bags well, blah blah blah blah, that life 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:28.160 had taken care of other people and making sure you 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.799 are the first one up and operating for a week 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.520 or ten days on little to no sleep before a 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:38.440 day of recharge, multitasking your butt off and keeping things safe, well, 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:41.720 that really preps a fella for the dad life. May 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.520 not be doing it the way the TikTok influencers are 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.800 or the nurses in the hospital would prefer, but we 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.080 smell nice and eat well and no missing digits or 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.800 scars or diaper rash. Yet for those who have not 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:59.400 the you know, the c section game takes MA out 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.279 of the quick movement and lifting any weight game for 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:10.039 a bit. Plus, I mean, jeez, childbirth is wild. We 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:14.240 are mammals. It's a good reminder. Other takeaway, I've never 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:16.880 named a puppy before I got to hang out with 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:18.440 it for a while. I'm not one of those people 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:21.840 that comes up with names ahead of time. So baby 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:25.720 Boy Callahan came home with the name baby Boy Callahan. 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:30.040 That's something people do not like, and I can't imagine 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.120 doing it any other way. But my god, that's a 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.520 conversation that I wish would end. Makes one wish you 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.520 had a generic name that you just lie to everybody with. 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.599 I know it's hard to top that news, but I 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.240 got a little corner crossing update from Montana Fish, Wildlife 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.960 and Parks today. Christy Clark, the director of Montana Fish, 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:53.440 Wildlife and Parks, just announced a directive issue to the 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:56.599 Public Land and Public Water Committee to review corner crossing 0:05:56.680 --> 0:06:00.560 access programs provided by the state and ways to increased 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:05.240 land owner participation in those state access programs designed around 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.640 opening up like easement style corridors to landlocked parcels, and 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.359 I suppose that could be applied in areas where you 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:16.200 have quote unquote problem corners. What is the Public Land 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.720 Public Water Committee, you may ask, Well, it was created 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.400 back in ninety three to help advise the governor and 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:26.840 FWP on landowner relations and access programs. PLWP can support 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:32.120 legislation and provide recommendations. Recently, the committee backed increased payments 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:35.080 for landowners in block management. We've had a couple of 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:37.760 things here, So we had, you know, backcountry hunters and 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:42.000 anglers in Public Landwater Access Association entered a joint suit 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:46.400 against the State of Montana seeking a declaratory judgment on 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:51.720 corner crossing, a real black and white definition for all 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.080 of us to run on. And then our Land Board 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:59.720 voted to kind of adopt a lot of new language 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:05.640 and pro One of those seems to imply that state 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:09.720 lands that are accessed through corner crossing would be considered 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:15.440 not accessible and land swaps of state land. One of 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.040 the big barriers is if it's in use by the 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.400 public and accessible by the public, it's a lot harder 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:24.600 to swap those parcels. So those two things have happened, 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:29.400 and then we just got this statement or public notification 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:32.880 basically that the Public Land Public Water committee would be 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:39.480 focusing on finding some access solutions. So I like that. 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:43.200 That's great, show some good intent, some movement would be 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:47.160 good if it was a long time ago. Just remember 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:49.320 that no matter what side of the barbed wire you 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:53.200 stand on, public or private, we are all trustees of 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.480 the public estate. We are public landowners, and we can 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:00.400 have access to those lands while respecting and preserving private 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:04.840 property rights. It literally happens every single day and has 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.880 happened every single day. The crazy comes out when folks 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.200 start acting like this is a new concept. It is 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:18.880 not moving on. We're just trickling into June here after 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.520 a season of historically low snowfall across the West. We 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:24.560 have more updates on Crazy Mountain Ranch, the ultra luxury 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:28.080 Montana golf course with a long track record of racking 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:32.920 up water violations CMR. Crazy Mountain Ranch is now petitioning 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:36.479 the Park County District Court to gain quote unquote exclusive 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:40.160 authority to control a ditch carrying water to their golf course. 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.400 The hearing on the petition will take place on June third. 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:44.400 To get a sense of whether these are folks we 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:48.600 can trust to make water diversions without oversight, It's important 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:52.600 to look at their history after CMR was caught watering 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.920 their grass without proper permits in twenty twenty four, and 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:57.640 you got to keep in mind, this is the arid 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:01.800 West right that ditchwater is largely from snowpack located in 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.200 this case in the Crazy Mountains, and it runs down 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:09.000 stream for everybody. Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservations 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:11.560 sued the club to stop, but the club continued to 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.600 use water illegally, and so the state Water commissioner shut 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.240 off supplies entirely. To resolve the dispute, the club and 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:21.400 the DNRC sent a consent decree where the state would 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:25.000 expedite review of the club's existing permit applications and the 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.120 CMR would stop using water in violation of the rules. 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.400 But almost immediately the club began trucking in one hundred 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:33.920 and ten thousand gallons of water per week, and soon 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.120 investigators found that the City of Boulder, Montana, was selling 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:39.720 much of this water to CMR from a well that 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:43.080 had no water right that violated both the Montana Water 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.240 Use Act and the consent decree the club had signed. 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.600 The DNRC fined the club eight thousand dollars one thousand 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:53.160 dollars per day for using the unlawful well. CMR then 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.000 refused to pay that fine, saying it wasn't their responsibility 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.520 to ensure that Boulder could legally sell them the water. 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.240 In fact, Boulder had been isn't that well for years 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.120 without proper rights due to a clerical error, and so 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:07.280 in March, the district court ruled in CMR's favor, allowing 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.240 them not to pay the fine, but warning, quote, make 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:12.880 damn sure that the water you put on those soddid 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:17.040 acres is compliant. After the rule, the same commissioner who 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.560 turned off CMR's water gave it a quote to the 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:23.120 press that he probably shouldn't have, saying, quote, it could 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.000 really be tight on water this year. It should stay 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:29.720 limited to egg use. I think CMR is citing this 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:33.280 quote as evidence that the commissioner won't act impartially and 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.960 a reason the club should have control over the water 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:40.560 ditch without oversight. Justifying their position, the general manager of 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.800 CMRS said they needed to quote react to water flows 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:47.080 on a daily, sometimes even hourly basis. The headgate is 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:49.560 on our property and we cannot expect the water commissioner 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:51.720 to be there at all times. But that's a far 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:56.640 cry from removing commissioner oversight altogether. Nearby water user Scott 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.920 Knutsun said quote, if one user can manage its own 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:04.320 diversions without independent oversight, it weakens the system that protects 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:08.160 every water user in Montana and sets a dangerous precedent. 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.960 And he does mean dangerous precedent. The saying whiskeys for 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.160 drinking waters for fighting is all around the West, and 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:20.120 it's because of situations that are very similar to this, 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:25.160 not exactly like this right in relation to the agriculture 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:27.720 I think you should ride in, do you think the 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.840 water should be used for growing fat cattle, tall grass, 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:37.680 improving feed and habitat, maybe growing some food for America? 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:41.199 Or do you think it should be used to irrigate 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:45.440 some Kentucky bluegrass in a spot that only a handful 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:49.079 of people have access to with a high high barrier 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.080 to entry. The hearing to decide the matter is on 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:55.800 June three. If the district Court allows CMR to control 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:59.240 this headgate without oversight, all the foxes in the area 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:03.000 should take no. Maybe they can petition to get unrestricted 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:07.120 oversight of their local chicken coops. Moving on to the 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:12.320 Pierce vote, last Monday, Donald Trump's pick for head of 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:15.280 the BLM, Steve Pierce, was confirmed by the US Senate. 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:18.240 As we've covered before, Pierce's record isn't great, with a 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:21.320 long list of statements and votes showing support for selling 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:23.920 public lance. This vote was an early test for the 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:27.760 so called Senate Stewardship Caucus, a bipartisan group of four 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:30.880 Democrats and four Republicans, similar to the Public Lance Caucus 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.480 in the House. The Senate Stewardship Caucus split along party 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:37.400 lines to confirm Pierce, with one of the Republican members, 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:41.360 Tom Tillis of North Carolina, deciding not to vote. The 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:44.240 administration seemed to know that Pierce wasn't the most popular 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.640 pick because they packaged together his nomination with almost fifty 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.679 other officials. Now do I think it would have been 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:53.440 worth the political capital for the Republican members of the 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:55.920 caucus to demand that Pierce be broken out from the 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:00.280 other nominees and then vote him down. Not necessarily, but 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.679 the whole point of this group is to defend our 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.480 public land, and so waving through a BLM director who 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.160 is on the record saying, quote, we do not even 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:13.160 need most of those public lands might be strike one. Now, 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:16.400 we'll wait and let Pierce prove himself one way or another. 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.440 But if he takes actions that sacrifice public land, or 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.800 if another public land sale comes around, this caucus needs 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:24.640 to pull together and do the right thing to risk 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:28.800 becoming irrelevant, and you know, we want them to succeed. 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:33.640 We need Unfortunately, a lot of reliable folks at the 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:37.760 BLM have moved on to greener pastures. At least seven 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.280 BLM state directors or associate state directors left the agency 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:46.800 in April. Institutional knowledge turnover is tough. Now. This past 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:51.120 Monday was Memorial Day. Memorial Day is the day that 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.840 we should chill out a little bit and think about 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:59.079 all the actions of the folks in the armed services 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:03.040 that have got us protecting our freedoms and interests across 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.480 the world. It's public service, man, it's a it's a 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:10.559 civil service role. And I know lots and lots of 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.400 folks who have taken up that charge and challenge many 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.240 who are still out there and we're involved in conflicts 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:20.440 all over the place. So in the spirit of Memorial Day, 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:23.920 I am, you know, very thankful for the actions of 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.760 those folks who have signed on and joined up and 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:31.440 didn't come home or sometimes came home and had a 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.920 lot of a lot of tough challenges getting back in 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:39.160 the old civilian swing of things. Memorial Day is also, 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:41.800 you know, the kickoff to summer for a lot of people. 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:45.320 Our temperatures start to really crank up, which typically means 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:47.800 that bears should be entering like a lull between the 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:51.760 heightened activity of the late rut which typically runs into 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.680 you know, June, first week of June, and that hyper 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.840 faget of leaving the den and trying to pack on 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:01.800 as many pounds that occurred early in the spring. So 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.200 it was very surprising to read this week that a 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:06.120 two year old black bear was shot and killed in 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:10.200 the suburban neighborhood and Canby, Oregon. According to Katei n 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:12.440 Channel six, the bear had come within a few blocks 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.560 of a farmer's market as well as the Clackamas County Fairgrounds. 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.960 The bear climbed a tree, a classic strategy to avoid conflict, 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:21.240 and when the bear came back down, neither the local 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:23.280 police nor the Department of Fish and Wildlife had a 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.160 tranquilizer gun on hamp According to the news report, the 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.240 bear was not acting aggressive and had not threatened anyone, 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.600 but police shot the bear out of an abundance of 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.280 caution because several people had gathered around the tree to 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:36.680 view the animal. That's a tough lesson for old the 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.720 Yogi to learn. It's been a while since we've said 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.080 this on the show. We've said it many many times. 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:46.440 Our job in days of abundant wildlife right is to 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:50.000 make sure that we're putting our bird feeders away, we're 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:54.000 putting our trash away, and we're keeping our garage doors closed, 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:58.160 stuff like that so these critters don't become habituated and 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:03.120 scenes like this happened. Staying in Oregon, we have a 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.280 bit of bad news. Initiative Petition twenty eight, the so 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:10.360 called Peace Act, has now officially gained enough signatures to 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.720 be included on the ballot in this fall's elections. Although 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.280 the Oregon Secretary of State still needs to verify the 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:20.240 signatures before they make it official, voters are almost definitely 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:23.720 going to decide this one as a reminder, the Peace 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:27.320 Act would remove exceptions for hunters and anglers in Oregon's 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.560 animal cruelty laws, which would make any act that injures 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:34.440 or kills an animal illegal. This would also criminalize farming 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:36.720 and ranching in the state. I'm not shaking in my 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:38.920 boots that this will definitely pass, but the fact that 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:43.080 it's coming to a vote is just absolutely ridiculous. Even 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:46.720 if IP twenty eight is defeated, it remains damaging because 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.600 it creates needless division. Most people on the right and 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.360 the left agree about protecting the natural world, and they 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.440 all agree that hunting and fishing are essential to conservation. 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.120 But when people get out there and they hire very 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.680 skilled folks to collect signatures to advance efforts like the 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:05.920 Peace Act, convinces too many people that everyone on the 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.520 left is a wacko and everybody on the right is 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:12.600 a crazy conservative, and so we remain divided. There's a 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:17.000 better path forward folks having a real dialogue and take 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.040 the time to actually understand the other side of the fence. Nevertheless, 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:23.480 we got to defeat this one with a big public 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.880 education campaign. We'll let you know when IP twenty eight 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:31.000 gets closer to the vote. Moving on to West Virginia, 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.160 Senator Jim Justice So West Virginia has introduced the Grouse 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:41.120 Act aka the Growing and Restoring Operational upland Species Ecosystems 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.280 Act of twenty twenty six. How's that for an acronym 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.720 good job team. The bill would benefit yes, grouse, but 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:50.440 also a whole lot of other species. It would establish 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.840 a USDA program to reimburse landowners up to seventy five 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.359 percent of the cost of planning native vegetation that's beneficial 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:00.600 to upland wildlife on commercially logged for us. It would 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:04.760 also provide landowners with technical assistance to do so. Quote 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.600 as a lifelong hunter and angler, this is just common 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:11.680 sense and a major win for investing in conservation, said justice. 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:15.760 By improving wildlife habitats, we can strengthen populations of everything 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:19.159 from grouse to deer and beyond, while also creating a 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:24.119 real economic impact for West Virginians, Americans, and our outdoor community. 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:27.199 The bill unsurprisingly has the backing of a host of 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:31.000 conservation groups, from the Rough Grouse Society, an American Woodcock Society, 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.440 to the National Wild Turkey Federation and Yes US over 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:38.400 at backcountry hunters and anglers. In fact, our West Virginia 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:42.040 Chapter chair takes old Justice out on the river works 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:46.000 on a smallmouth bass game. It's solid, common sense legislation 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.560 that will be pushing forward and tracking in the weeks 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:54.320 and months to come. M moving on and I'm circling 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.240 back to something I hit at the top of the show. 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:00.199 The Montana Landboard is overhauling its land swap process for 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.760 the first time in twenty years, and some conservation groups 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:05.600 are crying foul. On Monday May eighteen, the Land Board, 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.840 which includes the state's five highest elected officials, voted on 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.760 the shakeup. The new plan impacts the regulations for land 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:15.240 swaps involving public land managed by the state. One change 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.480 is that the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation would 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:21.440 no longer be able to flatly deny a proposed land 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.240 exchange if it is not in the public interest or 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:28.520 eligible under existing land exchange requirements. That would be reserved 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:33.040 only for the politically elected Land Board. Additionally, the new 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.560 plan increases the scope of work that private consultants can do. 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:40.520 Those consultants are paid for by YEP, private landowners and 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:43.479 might not have the public's best interest in mind for 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:47.000 obvious reasons. The new process also changes the language surrounding 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:51.080 whether the public benefits from a landswap, a required consideration. 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:54.240 Some folks in the conservation community testified and support of 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:57.200 the change, which was introduced by State Auditor James Brown, 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:00.359 who called it a red tape reduction that all eliminated 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:04.440 unnecessary bureaucracy. According to the Montana Free Press that said, 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:08.080 many folks raise serious concern with who exactly benefits from 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.280 the changes, as well as the lack of a public 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:14.119 comment period. Said Kevin Farren with Montana Wildlife Federation, quote, 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.560 this is opaque. This is something that was given to 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:19.239 the public seven days ago in its full form. A 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.000 thirty day scoping and comment period should be the very 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:24.800 least that we should be getting out of this. Governor 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:27.800 Greg gene Forte did put forward a motion to add 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:30.440 a thirty day comment but the Land Board voted down 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:33.320 the motion. Gene Fote abstained from the final vote, which 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:37.359 was a unanimous four to zero. Russell Fruits with the 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.400 Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, a man who 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:44.119 is taking his own time as a volunteer to represent, 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:48.119 made his voice heard during public testimony. Quote. Recent third 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:52.040 party broker land exchanges in Montana have produced deals where 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:56.200 the public received high elevation terrain of limited utility while 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.400 giving up productive, lower elevation land and established recreational acts. 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:04.000 Those outcomes are not accidents. They're what happens when no 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:07.560 one is in the room to independently be accountable and 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:12.359 stick up for the public well, said Russell. Great example 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:15.520 of what you get for your membership dollars out of BHA. 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:19.080 Doesn't matter where you came from, what your background is. 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:23.600 You are capable of representing your interests in front of 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:26.760 the land board or the legislature or the US Congress 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:29.240 and will help you get there. So you know, become 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:34.119 a member today. We need you. Jumping on over to 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:37.359 the critter desk. Wild hogs and deer go together like 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:39.840 oil and water, which is to say they don't. That's 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:43.080 one of the main takeaways of some ongoing research down Mississippi, 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.800 where research professor doctor Melanie Boudreau conducted a study that 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:50.400 involved coloring wild pigs and white tailed deer. While boudreau 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.000 study hasn't been published, she sat down with Meat Eat 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:55.560 Associate editor Adam Moore to break down some of her 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:59.439 preliminary findings. Boudreau and her team colored ten faral hogs 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:01.600 and ten deer on a property in March and plan 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:05.359 to monitor their locations until October, though that didn't quite happen, 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:08.919 said Boudreau by October, all our pigs were dead. Landowners 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:12.040 in Mississippi like to handle their pig problems. That said, 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:14.960 Boudreau notes that they were still able to connect enough 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:18.359 data to see how the species were impacting each other or, 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:20.680 in this case, how the pigs were pushing deer out 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:24.880 of overlapping habitats such as hardwood bottom land. Additionally, Boudreau's 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:27.280 team set up camera traps over bait piles, and in 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:30.879 thirteen thousand pictures there were none that had both hogs 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:33.760 and deer in a single frame. Deer in pigs don't 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:35.800 like being next to each other. If you said, that's 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:38.480 not surprising, but it's cool to see it in the data, 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:41.520 and that it supports what landowners and others are saying. 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:45.399 There are a couple of interesting notes from a conservation perspective, 0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:48.720 one being that feeders create quote interaction points for hogs 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:51.879 to run into and bump deer from properties. Additionally, the 0:22:51.880 --> 0:22:54.800 research shows that deer bumped by hogs often come into 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:57.919 contact with other deer groups that they otherwise might not have, 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:01.639 which could increase the spread of chronic wasting disease or 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:05.080 other diseases. Pigs rooting and Wallowing at feeder sites could 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:08.399 also allow for the transmission of cwdprewns within the soil, 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:10.720 which is something hunters might want to keep in mind 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:13.400 when considering the pros and cons of hunting over bait, 0:23:13.520 --> 0:23:17.560 and it's apparently pretty popular in Old Mississippi. Quote hunters 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:19.879 have to decide if the feeders are worth that risk, 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:23.040 said Boudreau. We did an aerial survey just account how 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:25.679 many feeders might be across the state of Mississippi. We 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:28.840 found one feeder per square kilometer and that's just the 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:31.840 ones we could see from a plane. I imagine that's 0:23:31.880 --> 0:23:36.240