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Speaker 1: From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This

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Speaker 1: is Cow's Week in Review with Ryan cow Calahan. Here's

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Speaker 1: cal Police in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts issued a

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Speaker 1: warning to residents last week, advising them to stay away

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Speaker 1: from wild turkeys during mating season. Gobblers can get especially

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Speaker 1: frisky during their yearly mating rituals, and officers don't want

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Speaker 1: locals accidentally getting into a tussle with an offended tom.

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Speaker 1: Most Americans don't have to worry about being jumped on

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Speaker 1: by a twenty pound bird on their way to the supermarket,

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Speaker 1: but residents of Brookline do. The town hosts its own

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Speaker 1: population of wild turkeys, and if the city website is

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Speaker 1: any indication, they're proud of it. They used COVID relief

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Speaker 1: money to install ten turkey statues in a public art

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Speaker 1: displayed dubbed turkeys around town Catchy. Each statue in the

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Speaker 1: town's commercial district was given a name that reflects the

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Speaker 1: theme of the artist who designed it, such as Eedy

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Speaker 1: the Educator, Bird of Harmony and Love is Love is Love.

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Speaker 1: Leaning into your town mascot is one thing, but I

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Speaker 1: have a feeling Brookline PD would prefer the birds move

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Speaker 1: somewhere else. Attacks are a regular occurrence, and the department

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Speaker 1: is constantly asking residents not to feed the animals. The

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Speaker 1: even made national news when in twenty seventeen they told

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Speaker 1: residents that quote, wild turkeys have a pecking order, and

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Speaker 1: people who act fearfully will be treated as subordinates. Being

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Speaker 1: aggressive toward wild turkeys is recommended by state wildlife officials.

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Speaker 1: So the question residents of Brookline have been asking is

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Speaker 1: do we erect statues in order to then kick them

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Speaker 1: in the beak. This week, it's turkeys, Turkeys, turkeys at

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Speaker 1: the meaeater dot com and we have a schm moortgasbord

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Speaker 1: of turkey stories for you here at meat Eater. So

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Speaker 1: if you're listening to this, we have a turkey photo

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Speaker 1: contest weird Wild. It will all be considered. You're gonna

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Speaker 1: win a bunch of cool stuff that we're going to

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Speaker 1: announce on meat Eater Radio Live next Thursday, including the

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Speaker 1: brand spanking new first light Turkey vest that everybody's super

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Speaker 1: excited about, a bunch of cool, awesome Phelps game calls,

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Speaker 1: and you know you need another DSD turkey decoy too,

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Speaker 1: So check all that stuff out Aside from that. We

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Speaker 1: got all sorts of good stuff going on on the

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Speaker 1: show this week. But first I'm going to tell you

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Speaker 1: about my week. And it's a little bit of a

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Speaker 1: doozy here, so very important public lands update. The Tenth

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Speaker 1: Circuit Court of Appeals published their decision on the Wyoming

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Speaker 1: corner crossing case. And no real surprise, walking from one

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Speaker 1: piece of public land to the next is legal. I

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Speaker 1: know it's not. It's kind of an anti climax. It

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Speaker 1: was legal from the very beginning. It is still legal now.

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Speaker 1: Forty eight page decision, super good reading, great history. Lesson,

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Speaker 1: we'll get that up on the website. A couple of

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Speaker 1: awesome quotes in there. Just remember your intent matters, which

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Speaker 1: is to go from public land to public land. You

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Speaker 1: can't physically touch private land. And it's the Tenth Circuit

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Speaker 1: Court that made this decision. Their decision applies to Colorado, Wyoming, Utah,

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Speaker 1: and oddly enough those bits of Yellowstone National Park that

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Speaker 1: kind of kick into Montana and Idaho. But this is

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Speaker 1: the only court case that answers this question nationwide, meaning

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Speaker 1: that a good lawyer will look a litigious person in

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Speaker 1: the in states outside of the Tenth Circuit and say, well,

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Speaker 1: here is a Wyoming court case and Ninth Circuit Court

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Speaker 1: and a Tenth Circuit Court decision, So how much time

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Speaker 1: and money do you want to spend challenging this? Ideally,

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Speaker 1: that same lawyer is also going to say, and remember

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Speaker 1: that we're talking about a person physically stepping from one

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Speaker 1: piece of public ground to another piece of public ground.

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Speaker 1: It's common sense. Huge thanks to BHA and Wyoming BHA

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Speaker 1: for making sure those Missouri elk hunters knew that all

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Speaker 1: the rest of us would pony up some cash to

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Speaker 1: help them out with their legal fees. Without the fast

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Speaker 1: action of Wyoming BHA, we would not be here celebrating

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Speaker 1: common sense. If this is confusing to you, please check

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Speaker 1: out the on x corner locked reports. Super easy to find.

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Speaker 1: Just pump that sucker into the Google machine on ex

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Speaker 1: corner locked report. Now again, we wouldn't be here if

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Speaker 1: it weren't for the willingness of the Missouri four Bradley Cape,

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Speaker 1: Zachary Smith, Philip Yeomans, and John Slowinski to take this

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Speaker 1: case to trial as a special treat. You're going to

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Speaker 1: hear about this victory for public access on public land

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Speaker 1: from their attorney, Ryan Samard.

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Speaker 2: Today the Tenth Circuit issued its decision in corner Crossing

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Speaker 2: and unanimously held that the district got it right and

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Speaker 2: landowners and the checkerboard have no right to obstruct people

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Speaker 2: from crossing peacefully from one section of public land to

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Speaker 2: the next section of public land. It was the unanimous decision.

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Speaker 2: It was written by Judge Tim Timkovich, who I thought

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Speaker 2: hated us. There were no descents we won forty eight pager.

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Speaker 2: It chronicles the history of the settlement of the American West,

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Speaker 2: from pre American times to the various factions who claimed

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Speaker 2: ownership to all sorts of sections of the American West,

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Speaker 2: the various treaties and conquests that landed us where we're at,

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Speaker 2: the construction of the trans Continental Railroad, the various efforts

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Speaker 2: to create peace on the range. The case law from

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Speaker 2: the late eighteen hundreds through the nineteen eighties, our case,

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Speaker 2: and throughout that. He again, I haven't finished reading it,

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Speaker 2: but he situates our case comfortably in saying from a

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Speaker 2: federal law perspective, he did not decide this on Wyoming law.

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Speaker 2: He decided it on federal law nationwide lot and said

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Speaker 2: this is not an actionable trespass. This is not how

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Speaker 2: we cooperatively share and enjoy our public lands. You cannot

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Speaker 2: appropriate for yourself a monopoly of those lands there for

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Speaker 2: all of us. It's great, it's great. I've never read

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Speaker 2: something and smiled the whole time. It couldn't have gone better.

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Speaker 1: Next on the public lands docket, and for this one,

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Speaker 1: you're going to need to get your acronym hat on,

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Speaker 1: because we are dealing with DI C, EQ AN E, PA, fl, PM,

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Speaker 1: HUD and whatever else we can come up with. The

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Speaker 1: joint statement was issued Monday by a Department of Interior

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Speaker 1: Secretary Doug Bergham and Housing in Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner,

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Speaker 1: announcing a plan to inventory and select underutilized federally managed

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Speaker 1: public lands for sale in order to address America's housing shortage.

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Speaker 1: This is a quote from that statement. The Interior Department

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Speaker 1: oversees more than five hundred million acres of federal land,

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Speaker 1: much of it suitable for residential use. Streamlining the regulatory

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Speaker 1: process is a cornerstone of this partnership. Historically, building on

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Speaker 1: federal land is a nightmare of red tape, lengthy environmental reviews,

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Speaker 1: complex transfer protocols, and disjointed agency priorities. This partnership will

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Speaker 1: cut through the bureaucracy. Interior will reduce the red tape

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Speaker 1: behind land transfers or leases to public housing authorities, nonprofits,

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Speaker 1: and local governments. Housing and Urban Development HUD will ensure

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Speaker 1: these projects aligned with affordability goals and development needs. This

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Speaker 1: isn't a free for all to build on federal lands,

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Speaker 1: all though we recognize that bad faith critics will likely

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Speaker 1: call it that it's a strategic effort to use our

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Speaker 1: resources responsibly while preserving our most beautiful lands. Well, a

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Speaker 1: little trick for you if you're in the writing or

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Speaker 1: public speaking biz, if you don't want to encourage quote

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Speaker 1: bad faith critics, don't tell skeptical people that much of

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Speaker 1: the five hundred million acres of public lands are suitable

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Speaker 1: for housing while telling them that you're removing the regulations

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Speaker 1: such as environmental reviews and oversight and gang. You don't

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Speaker 1: have to care, but if you like public freedom in

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Speaker 1: the out of doors, you should at least be informed.

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Speaker 1: And here's where more of the acronyms come in. Right now,

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Speaker 1: the National Environmental Policy Act NPA is moving towards the

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Speaker 1: end of a thirty day public review period, at which

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Speaker 1: point it will be as the Secretary has stated reduced

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Speaker 1: NEPA exists for accountability purposes, to show that anything the

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Speaker 1: government does has been accounted for. We do an environmental review.

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Speaker 1: We are aware of what's on the ground and what

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Speaker 1: the consequences are in this case of selling that ground

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Speaker 1: or developing it. That's it. That's all NEPA does. Now,

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Speaker 1: on top of that, our next acronym CEQ, Council for

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Speaker 1: Environmental Quality, that exists to inform and advise the executive

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Speaker 1: branch as well as other agencies as to how NEPA

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Speaker 1: should be interpreted and as to what those NEPA findings are.

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Speaker 1: Now an executive order came out regarding CEQ, the Council

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Speaker 1: for Environmental Quality, which again interprets NEPA and helps other

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Speaker 1: agencies interpret NEPA, and then it reports back to the

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Speaker 1: executive branch the President and says, hey, this is the situation.

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Speaker 1: They don't have the power to regulate themselves. It's just

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Speaker 1: advising what NEPA found. Well, CEQ just got an executive

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Speaker 1: order informing them that all these agencies need to take

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Speaker 1: NEPA for what they think it's worth and go through

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Speaker 1: each project with the mission of expediency, efficiency, and certainty

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Speaker 1: over any other policy objectives. And to prioritize environmental documents

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Speaker 1: by the entity proposing the project, which means, right, if

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Speaker 1: I'm a a housing developer and I want to develop

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Speaker 1: something on public land, I can say, forget your government

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Speaker 1: environmental impact analysis, I have my own. Further, it tells

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Speaker 1: CEQ to advise to implicitly ignore the cumulative nature of

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Speaker 1: reasonably foreseeable effects, establish a minimum federal financial threshold for

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Speaker 1: what constitutes major federal actions warranting NEPA review, exclude environmental

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Speaker 1: justice analysis, exclude methodologies that are arbitrary or ideologically motivated.

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Speaker 1: That's an interesting one, right, because depending on who's in

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Speaker 1: office and who's running the show, we have examples of

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Speaker 1: science being flipped on its head and said it's an

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Speaker 1: ideological argument, not science. And to get to the good part,

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Speaker 1: guarantee that all executive departments and agencies provide opportunity for

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Speaker 1: public comment and rigorous peer reviewed scientific analysis. I agree

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Speaker 1: with the last part, but it doesn't exactly match up

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Speaker 1: with the stuff in the middle. Doesn't When we consider

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Speaker 1: these things, and they get reasonable to ask the question

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Speaker 1: if five hundred million acres of our public lands are

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Speaker 1: suitable for housing. How do you know? Right, you're saying

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Speaker 1: it's suitable for housing, but you're also saying that our

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Speaker 1: process to determine if the land is suitable for housing

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Speaker 1: doesn't really need to go through that process. Now, I

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Speaker 1: don't like the idea of selling off public lands right like,

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Speaker 1: you're probably smelling what I'm stepping in on that one. Okay,

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Speaker 1: The reality is we have always had an ability to

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Speaker 1: sell certain sized parcels of public land. Enter our next acronym,

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Speaker 1: which is FLIPMA FLPMA the Federal Land Policy Management Act

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Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy six, which outlines the process of sale,

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Speaker 1: specifically what lands are eligible, why they would be considered

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Speaker 1: for sale, and how much. For those of you scratching

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Speaker 1: your heads, yes, it does take an Act of Congressional

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Speaker 1: approval to sell public lands, but only in parcels over

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Speaker 1: twenty five hundred acres. And this is where it gets

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Speaker 1: scary to me. Right now. The government is in flux,

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Speaker 1: It is trying a lot of new things out, and

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Speaker 1: I believe that this is one area where the American

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Speaker 1: public needs to know what they are giving up for

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Speaker 1: what they are getting. Yes, there are our original lands in

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Speaker 1: our big portfolio of public lands right now on the

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Speaker 1: Federal Register, which is something you should really get familiar with. Okay,

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Speaker 1: this is like source material. It's literally what's happening in

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Speaker 1: our government every single day. The Federal Register dot gov

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Speaker 1: can look it up anyway. If you go there, you

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Speaker 1: can find examples of past and present land sales, most

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Speaker 1: of which don't really raise my hairy eyebrows. But those

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Speaker 1: lands went through an environmental review process that determines they

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Speaker 1: aren't critical for endangered species or migration corridors or even

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Speaker 1: rainwater collection. Do you know how little rainfall these Western

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Speaker 1: states get. It takes a lot of acreage, a lot

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Speaker 1: of matriculation to fill our aquifers and reservoirs, And gosh,

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Speaker 1: maybe that's part of the reason that a lot of

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Speaker 1: these federal lands aren't part of the private portfolio already. Remember,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't all that long ago that people didn't build

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Speaker 1: places where it took five hundred foot way well casing

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Speaker 1: to produce water, or in places where fire meant loss

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Speaker 1: of property in life. Secretary Bergham is correct. There is

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Speaker 1: a lot of red tape bureaucracy within NEPA, which is

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Speaker 1: why there currently exists the ability to carve out parts

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Speaker 1: of the NEPA process in streamline sales and transfers when

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Speaker 1: those lands are determined to be in the best interest

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Speaker 1: of the American public to be sold disposed of. So

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Speaker 1: why aren't these carve outs enough? They already exist. NEPA

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Speaker 1: and the CEQ do not have the power to stop anything.

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Speaker 1: It's just an assessment of what is at risk due

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Speaker 1: to government action. We've already seen the Elon musk doze

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Speaker 1: effect of swinging the fancy chainsaw around this area, like

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Speaker 1: all areas of government or business, could use reform and improvement,

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Speaker 1: for sure, but let's make sure it's done with care,

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Speaker 1: not the axe or chainsaw. The scalpe or maybe just

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Speaker 1: like a little shoulder massage would be more beneficial in

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Speaker 1: this scenario. Once our public lands are gone, they are gone.

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Speaker 1: As a final word on the National Environmental Policy Act,

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Speaker 1: which started as a four page document which is insanely

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Speaker 1: efficient four pages, okay, written back in nineteen seventy, Senator

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Speaker 1: Henry Jackson said, mister President, it is my view that NIPA,

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Speaker 1: has passed by the Senate and now has agreed upon

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Speaker 1: by the Conference Committee, is the most important and far

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Speaker 1: reaching environmental and conservation measure ever enacted by Congress. He

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Speaker 1: further elaborates that NIPA is a congressional declaration that we

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Speaker 1: do not intend, as a government or as a people,

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Speaker 1: to initiate actions which endanger the continued existence or the

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Speaker 1: health of mankind. That we will not intentionally initiate actions

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Speaker 1: which will do irreparable damage to the air, land, and

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Speaker 1: water which support life on Earth. Now, jumping all the

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Speaker 1: way back, this action is regarding affordable housing. People need

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Speaker 1: places to live. I'm one hundred percent down with that.

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Speaker 1: I'm one hundred and ten percent down with affordable housing.

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Speaker 1: I want to know, as just a citizen of the

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Speaker 1: United State, it's a tax paying citizen that wherever public

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Speaker 1: lands are considered for sale, that the nearest community has

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Speaker 1: already done its due diligence and done everything that it

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Speaker 1: can do to provide affordable housing. This is, after all,

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Speaker 1: a massive government handout. So we want accountability, right. This

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Speaker 1: is one like one of the biggest topics that I

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Speaker 1: appreciate that the old Trump administration is brought up. We

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Speaker 1: don't want waste, we don't want fraud, we don't want theft.

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Speaker 1: We need more accountability. I want a full report from

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Speaker 1: each sale adjacent community documenting how that county has a

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Speaker 1: tempted to provide affordable housing, What land and infrastructure currently

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Speaker 1: would be classified as underutilized, What county or city ordinances

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Speaker 1: have been enacted to promote affordable housing? What amount of

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Speaker 1: county or city dollars have been spent to address affordable

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Speaker 1: housing needs? Right? That sounds reasonable. No more fraud, no

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Speaker 1: more waste. I just want proof that this option of

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Speaker 1: developing public land is needed, and it's needed right now.

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Speaker 1: Keep in mind, our population is growing. This conversation will

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Speaker 1: never go away, so when it pops up, I think

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Speaker 1: it's only right that we are darn sure that we

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Speaker 1: know what we're losing and what we are gaining. Seems reasonable,

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Speaker 1: all right? Stepping off the soapbox, getting back to the news,

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Speaker 1: Moving on to the off colored turkey desk. Twelve year

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Speaker 1: old Addy Windham was excited to chase her first gobbler

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Speaker 1: during Mississippi's youth season earlier this month, but the hunt

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Speaker 1: turned out to be even more special than she could

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Speaker 1: have thought. She was hunting with her sixteen year old

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Speaker 1: brother on her family's property, and the pair had called

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Speaker 1: in a bunch of hands. They assumed a gobbler would

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Speaker 1: be with them, but when they saw it, they almost

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Speaker 1: couldn't believe it. That Tom was a rare silver colored

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Speaker 1: bird that they'd seen on trail cameras several times before,

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Speaker 1: but it had been hopping from property to property, so

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Speaker 1: they weren't sure that they'd been able to get it.

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Speaker 1: I don't know whether ADDIE's brother had his own turkey tag,

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Speaker 1: but I'd say he did a great thing by letting

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Speaker 1: his little sister take the shot. She told the newspaper,

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Speaker 1: The Clarion Ledger, that she was shaking badly, but she

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Speaker 1: was able to make a good shot on the bird

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Speaker 1: once he got within twenty yards. To make the hunt

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Speaker 1: even more special, she made the harvest with a twenty

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Speaker 1: gage shotgun that used to belong to her grandfather. Her

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Speaker 1: grandfather passed away last year, and he was an avid

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Speaker 1: turkey hunter. I have no doubt he'd be proud that

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Speaker 1: his gun was used by his granddaughter to harvest such

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Speaker 1: a cool bird. Many species of wild animals have genetic

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Speaker 1: variations that give individuals a different color than most of

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Speaker 1: their fellows. There are melanistic white tailed deer that have

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Speaker 1: black coats, for example, and some black bears in British

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Speaker 1: Columbia have white coats. When it comes to turkeys, the

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Speaker 1: National Autobon Society reports that the birds can appear in

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Speaker 1: four alternative color variations smoke, red, black, and white. They

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Speaker 1: are caused by genetic mutations, and some are more rare

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Speaker 1: than others. Smoke is the most common, with an estimated

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Speaker 1: one in one hundred turkeys sporting this plumage. ADDI silver

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Speaker 1: bird appears to be one of these, though I haven't

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Speaker 1: seen a biologist confirm that red varieties are even more rare,

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Speaker 1: and white or albino turkeys are a once in a

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Speaker 1: lifetime occurrence. Scientists estimate that only one in one hundred

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Speaker 1: thousand turkeys are white, which, unless you live where it's

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Speaker 1: snow a year round, makes a lot of evolutionary sense.

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Speaker 1: Moving on to the coyote desk, a Washington State girl

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Speaker 1: was nearly dragged away by a coyote just inches from

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Speaker 1: her front door in the latest such attack in the

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Speaker 1: Seattle suburb of Bellevue. The offending canine was hanging out

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Speaker 1: outside the four year old girls home last week when

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Speaker 1: she pushed open the front door and stepped outside Their

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Speaker 1: father told local media that she just went to pet

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Speaker 1: the dog, but quote with just one second, the coyote

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Speaker 1: bit her hand and tried to drag her away. The

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Speaker 1: father was able to extract his daughter's hand from the

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Speaker 1: yodel dog and take her to the hospital, where she

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Speaker 1: was treated for minor injuries. Washington State Wildlife officials took

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Speaker 1: the incident very seriously. They lethally removed two coyotes from

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Speaker 1: the area and their warning residents to stay away from

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Speaker 1: the animals. This is the fifth reported incident over the

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Speaker 1: last week. In another attack, a coyote went up to

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Speaker 1: a group of children waiting at a bus stop and

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Speaker 1: tried to bite them, ripping some clothing and attempting to

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Speaker 1: take a backpack. Parents responded and chased the animals away,

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Speaker 1: but the coyotes are clearly less afraid of raising a

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Speaker 1: kid's lunchbox than they should be. Suburban coyotes can be

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Speaker 1: a real headache for humans, but the dogs can also

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Speaker 1: be a problem for turkeys. See what I did there,

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Speaker 1: We got right back to turkeys. Coyotes kill both adult

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Speaker 1: turkeys and their poults, and many hunters have observed coyotes

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Speaker 1: coming in to investigate their turkey decoys. Turkey predation is

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Speaker 1: one thing that some point to as the cause of

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Speaker 1: the declining turkey populations we've seen across the country. However,

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Speaker 1: studies done on the stomach contents of coyotes show that

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Speaker 1: turkeys represent a pretty insignificant portion of their diets. They

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Speaker 1: mostly eat rodents or small mammals, or, in the case

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Speaker 1: of the Bellvue coyotes, we just talked about, cheeseburgers, lunchables,

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Speaker 1: pizza boxes, and little kid fingers. Adam Butler, the Turkey

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Speaker 1: program biologists for Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, explains that

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Speaker 1: adult turkey mortality is actually pretty low. Adult turkeys are

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Speaker 1: incredibly cautious animals, which makes them a tough kill for

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Speaker 1: coyotes and turkey hunters alike. When it comes to predation,

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Speaker 1: most turkeys are killed as eggs by nest predators like raccoons, skunks,

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Speaker 1: and apossums. On average, according to Butler, between forty and

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Speaker 1: sixty percent of all turkey nests will be eaten before

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Speaker 1: they are hatched. So if you'd like to boost turkey

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Speaker 1: numbers by hunting predators give coyotes a break, you might

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Speaker 1: want to get rid of the highly adaptable canines for

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Speaker 1: some other reason, but they aren't to blame for your

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Speaker 1: lack of success, and the turkey was this year. Especially

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Speaker 1: if those coyotes are feeding on the skunks and a

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Speaker 1: possums and raccoons, then they're actually boosting your bird numbers.

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Speaker 1: Moving on to a lightning round edition of the Legislative Desk.

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Speaker 1: This is that, folks. We're smacking the middle of the

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Speaker 1: hottest time of the legislative year and there's just too

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Speaker 1: much happening for us to cover everything in detail. But

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Speaker 1: we can't let these items slide, which is why we're

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Speaker 1: taking a quick break from our Turkey Week episode to

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Speaker 1: do a quick hitting edition of the Legislative Desk. If

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Speaker 1: you hear your state or a topic that sounds interesting,

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00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:49,399
Speaker 1: head on over to the meat eater dot Com forward

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Speaker 1: slash col where you'll find links to each bill and

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Speaker 1: a way to contact your representatives. In Nevada, AB eighty

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Speaker 1: seven would earmark funding for Wildlife cross SB one oh

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Speaker 1: one would require the edible portions of black bears and

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Speaker 1: mountain lions to be removed from the field. SB two

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Speaker 1: one five would create a roadkill salvage permit program. Big

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Speaker 1: thanks to listener Corey from Reno for sending us that

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Speaker 1: update from his neck of the woods. Another listener who

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Speaker 1: wishes to remain anonymous, sent me an update from Kansas.

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Speaker 1: In Kansas, SB two one one would authorize individual Kansas

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Speaker 1: Department Wildlife and Parks commissioners to submit proposed rules and

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Speaker 1: regulations as opposed to going through the normal rule making process.

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Speaker 1: SB two one three would prohibit non resident waterfowl hunters

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Speaker 1: from hunting department owned and managed lands and waters from

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Speaker 1: Wednesday through Saturday. HB two zero two eight would reinstate

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Speaker 1: discounted senior resident hunting and fishing licenses and remove the

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Speaker 1: sunset on youth lifetime licenses, and HB two zero nine

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Speaker 1: seven would create a tax credit for wildlife habitat programs

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Speaker 1: and public hunting access. If you live in Kansas, get

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Speaker 1: on the horn with your state legislators about those bills,

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Speaker 1: and you better hurry. Session ends Friday, March twenty eight.

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Speaker 1: In Vermont, H one sixty six would effectively ban hunting

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Speaker 1: with dogs by requiring dog owners to be within hearing

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Speaker 1: distance or visual contact of their hounds and never more

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Speaker 1: than one hundred and fifty feet away. Thanks to listener

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Speaker 1: Tyler Brown for making me aware of that sneaky hound

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Speaker 1: hunting band. Idaho House Built one ninety six would create

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Speaker 1: a five year moratorium on mule deer hunting starting this

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Speaker 1: year within twenty two game management units. Listener Brandon Folks,

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Speaker 1: who sent me this bill, says that while he supports

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Speaker 1: science backed game management, he's filled his freezer with mule

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Speaker 1: deer does from several of these units. I'm breaking my

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Speaker 1: rule here for this legislative lightning round, but it seems

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Speaker 1: to me like if this moratorium was necessary to protect

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Speaker 1: the state's herd, Idaho fishing game would have done it.

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Speaker 1: Texans still have a daze to comment on a proposed

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Speaker 1: change to hunting and fishing rules for the twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: five twenty twenty six season. These include increasing the daily

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Speaker 1: bag limit for pintails, extending the quail hunting season, and

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Speaker 1: expanding the mule deer harvest. You have until March twenty

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Speaker 1: seven to way in. You can also email your lone

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Speaker 1: Star state rep. About SB two one four seven, which

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Speaker 1: would make captive whitetail deer the personal property of a

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Speaker 1: deer breeder rather than a public resource as they're currently managed.

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Speaker 1: Also in Texas HB four nine three eight, which proposes

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Speaker 1: to dismantle the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Rep. Pat

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Speaker 1: Curry is a deer breeder in the state of Texas

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Speaker 1: and he doesn't like the way a TPWD handles captive

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Speaker 1: deer breeding in the state, So why not dismantle the

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Speaker 1: entire agency? This is definitely one four to way in

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Speaker 1: on HB four nine three eight. Jumping over to old

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Speaker 1: Kentuck Senate Bill seventy two would prohibit the Kentucky Department

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Speaker 1: of Fishing Wildlife from imposing a hunter education requirement for

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Speaker 1: anyone over eighteen years old. Why and your guess is

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Speaker 1: as good as mine the way I like to think

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Speaker 1: about it, Friends and neighbors, Your small children who we

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Speaker 1: typically think about going through the hunting education programs that

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Speaker 1: we offer. Their's sphere of influence very very small, especially

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Speaker 1: when they start out. They're kind of tied to mom

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Speaker 1: and dad's vehicle. They're not really making their own money yet.

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Speaker 1: So think about somebody who doesn't know a lick about

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Speaker 1: hunting or fishing or regulations, but they also have at

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Speaker 1: their disposal a credit card and a vehicle, which one's

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Speaker 1: going to do more damage. Washington State residents are dealing

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Speaker 1: with a host of gun control bills. Senate Bill five

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Speaker 1: zero nine to eight prohibits the possession of firearms and parks,

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Speaker 1: government buildings, and locations where quote children are likely to

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Speaker 1: be present. I don't know about you, but I've seen

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Speaker 1: plenty of kids pretty much everywhere, so this one sounds

429
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:58,600
Speaker 1: like it needs some work. HB one one three to

430
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,680
Speaker 1: two restricts firearm purchases to one gun every thirty days

431
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,480
Speaker 1: and places additional restrictions on the purchase of ammunition. HB

432
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,879
Speaker 1: one one five to two requires mandatory locked storage of

433
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:13,919
Speaker 1: firearms separately from ammunition in vehicles and within your home,

434
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,399
Speaker 1: and HB one one sixty three establishes a permit to

435
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,720
Speaker 1: purchase program. Huge thanks to listener Nate Flood for sending

436
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 1: me this list of bills and including links to each one,

437
00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:30,640
Speaker 1: which Jordan Sellers is extremely appreciative of. The Missouri State

438
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,840
Speaker 1: Senate is considering HB five sixty three, which would remove

439
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,600
Speaker 1: the requirement that land owners register their properties before hunting

440
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,000
Speaker 1: on them and reduce the minimum acreage from twenty acres

441
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,760
Speaker 1: to five acres. The bill has already passed the House

442
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:48,320
Speaker 1: by a wide margin. Listener Ross Thomson sent me an

443
00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,440
Speaker 1: update from Georgia, where the legislature is considering several bills

444
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:54,879
Speaker 1: that should be of interest to hunters and anglers. House

445
00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 1: Bill one sixty seven allows a hunter to wear fluorescent

446
00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,840
Speaker 1: pink as well as fluorescent orange. House Bill four three

447
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:03,560
Speaker 1: to two requires a person sixteen years of age or

448
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 1: older to have a Georgia turkey permit in his or

449
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,680
Speaker 1: her possession in addition to all other required hunting licenses

450
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,480
Speaker 1: for hunting turkeys. And House Bill four nine to one

451
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:15,640
Speaker 1: extends the use of air guns for hunting big game

452
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:22,199
Speaker 1: during primitive weapon hunts, primitive weapon seasons, and firearm seasons. Finally,

453
00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:25,600
Speaker 1: Wisconsin hunters are excited for Assembly Bill one one seven,

454
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,359
Speaker 1: which would establish a sandhill crane hunting season. Thanks to

455
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 1: listener Jeremy Scot for sending that one in last one

456
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 1: for you, and this one is perfect for Turkey Week,

457
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,640
Speaker 1: so I'll spend a little more time on it. Last week,

458
00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 1: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Senator Roger Wicker introduced the Forest

459
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:48,200
Speaker 1: Conservation Easement Program f SEP Act of twenty twenty five.

460
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:51,440
Speaker 1: The aim of this legislation would be to provide incentives

461
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,480
Speaker 1: for landowners to conserve forest land ecosystems rather than selling

462
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:59,080
Speaker 1: or converting them into something else that would protect habitat

463
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:03,480
Speaker 1: for a wide range of forest species, including turkeys specifically.

464
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 1: The legislation offers two options for forest land conservation forest

465
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:11,200
Speaker 1: land easements, which are modeled after the agricultural land easements

466
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:15,880
Speaker 1: under the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, and Forest Reserve easements,

467
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:19,120
Speaker 1: which are modeled after and are the successor to the

468
00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:23,320
Speaker 1: Healthy Forest Reserve Program. May not be familiar with these programs,

469
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 1: but here's the bottom line. The bill fills a gap

470
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,920
Speaker 1: in federal conservation programs for forests by allowing state and

471
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:32,600
Speaker 1: local governments, tribal agencies, and land trust to purchase and

472
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:38,000
Speaker 1: hold conservation easements from landowners. As federal conservation funding becomes

473
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 1: more and more tenuous, it's more important than ever that

474
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:44,920
Speaker 1: we secure these kinds of programs. Kristen Gillerbrand is a

475
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 1: Democrat from New York and Roger Wicker is a Republican

476
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,240
Speaker 1: from Mississippi. If these two can get together on something,

477
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 1: it's probably a good idea. Get on the horn with

478
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,280
Speaker 1: their US senators and ask for a vote on the

479
00:29:56,280 --> 00:30:01,360
Speaker 1: forest Conservation Easement program. Moving on to the bird desk,

480
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,160
Speaker 1: A new report published by a coalition of bird conservation

481
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 1: organizations delivered a sobering message last week about the state

482
00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:12,560
Speaker 1: of birds in North America. The report, titled State of

483
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,440
Speaker 1: the Birds twenty twenty five, says that two hundred and

484
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,360
Speaker 1: twenty nine species require urgent conservation action. More than one

485
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,240
Speaker 1: third of US bird species are of high or moderate

486
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:26,959
Speaker 1: conservation concern, including one hundred and twelve tipping point species

487
00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,000
Speaker 1: that have lost more than fifty percent of their populations

488
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,800
Speaker 1: in the last fifty years. That's on our watch. I'm

489
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:36,440
Speaker 1: forty two years old. That includes forty two red alert

490
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:42,959
Speaker 1: species facing perilously low populations, such as Alan's hummingbird, tricolored blackbird,

491
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,680
Speaker 1: and the Salt Marsh sparrow. This is the sequel to

492
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,120
Speaker 1: the twenty nineteen report that garnered tons of media attention.

493
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,600
Speaker 1: The report documented the loss of three billion birds in

494
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: North America over fifty years. Three billion birds over fifty years,

495
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:02,800
Speaker 1: driven by habitat loss, predation, feral cats, I'm just saying,

496
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:06,280
Speaker 1: and human development. This new paper found that ducks and

497
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,800
Speaker 1: other waterbirds have increased their population in the last fifty years,

498
00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:13,600
Speaker 1: but that all other categories of birds have declined. Sea

499
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:17,360
Speaker 1: ducks have lost four percent, Western and Eastern forest birds

500
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,840
Speaker 1: have declined by eleven percent and twenty five percent, respectively,

501
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:24,320
Speaker 1: and shore birds have dropped by thirty three percent. The

502
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 1: largest drops come from arid land birds, which have declined

503
00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:31,000
Speaker 1: by forty one percent, and grassland birds, which have dropped

504
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,880
Speaker 1: by forty three percent. That last stat shouldn't come as

505
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:38,520
Speaker 1: a surprise to regular listeners of this podcast. We've covered

506
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:42,840
Speaker 1: many times how much degradation our grassland ecosystems have experienced.

507
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:46,880
Speaker 1: We're losing two million acres a year. It is the

508
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:51,160
Speaker 1: most threatened ecosystem on the planet, and this new report

509
00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:55,000
Speaker 1: is just the latest data point in that trend. Since

510
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 1: I know you're wondering, the report does not mention turkeys Specifically,

511
00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,600
Speaker 1: turkeys would be considered to a forest bird, though they

512
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:05,440
Speaker 1: can thrive in areas of mixed open fields and forests. Unfortunately,

513
00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:09,080
Speaker 1: despite a historic increase in turkey numbers since the nineteen eighties,

514
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:12,480
Speaker 1: they don't buck the trend outlined in this latest analysis.

515
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,240
Speaker 1: The National Wild Turkey Federation says that of the states

516
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:19,200
Speaker 1: that have reported data, wild turkey population estimates have declined

517
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:22,640
Speaker 1: by about thirty percent. Three more percent. We're at a third.

518
00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:26,920
Speaker 1: This is obviously not comprehensive, but it aligns with what

519
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:31,640
Speaker 1: we've been hearing from individual biologists, hunters, and agencies. Turkey

520
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:36,680
Speaker 1: numbers are going down and it's unclear exactly why. And

521
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 1: as we also often cover, exactly why is a bit

522
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:45,880
Speaker 1: of a misnomer. It's always a combination of things habitat, loss,

523
00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:50,880
Speaker 1: soiled death, predation, disease. Reversing this trend will require a

524
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,560
Speaker 1: multi pronged approach that will necessitate lots of state and

525
00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 1: federal funding along with boots on the ground volunteers. If

526
00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:02,680
Speaker 1: you're interested in getting involved, join your local NWTF chapter.

527
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:07,000
Speaker 1: They'll connect you with local volunteer opportunities, fundraising efforts, and

528
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 1: let your elected representatives know that you're concerned about this stuff.

529
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:14,920
Speaker 1: Very important. That's all I got for you this week.

530
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:17,440
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. Remember to write in

531
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:20,920
Speaker 1: to ask c Al that's Ascal at the meeteater dot

532
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:22,800
Speaker 1: com and let us know what's going on in your

533
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:26,560
Speaker 1: neck of the woods. One last thing for our legislative roundup.

534
00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:29,480
Speaker 1: There's a bunch of bills here in my home state

535
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:33,680
Speaker 1: of Montana HB three seven, which is going to, like

536
00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:35,560
Speaker 1: I've talked about that a lot, it's going to remove

537
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:40,880
Speaker 1: funding for our state habitat and access program called Habitat

538
00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 1: for Montana. There's also HJ twenty four, which is just

539
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 1: so embarrassing I don't even want to talk about it.

540
00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:50,680
Speaker 1: It's a bunch of people in Montana that think we

541
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: should join Utah's lawsuit, which is wildly unpopular with the

542
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,719
Speaker 1: rank and file in my home state. But it pops

543
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:02,800
Speaker 1: up and we just don't know why. Anyway, if you

544
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 1: didn't hear your state, that does not mean you're exempt.

545
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:09,319
Speaker 1: There's just enough info here to where I hope it

546
00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:12,759
Speaker 1: inspires you to get off your keyster and find out

547
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:16,520
Speaker 1: what's going on in areas that affect you. Be concerned,

548
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 1: right your representatives and let them know why you're concerned,

549
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,760
Speaker 1: what you want to see happen part of your duty.

550
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 1: That's what we want out of here at the Weekend Review.

551
00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:29,840
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to

552
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:30,439
Speaker 1: you next week