WEBVTT - Ep. 476: Deer Dives, Screwworm, and a New Lab Puppy 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:14.160 From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:19.480 is Cow's Week in Review with Ryan cow Calian. Here's cal. 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:23.040 We all know that deer tend to do silly things 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:24.919 when they're in front of a car's headlights. Well, a 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.880 white tail deer in New Jersey reacted especially poorly to 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:31.440 oncoming traffic on the evening of Tuesday, June nine, when 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.400 it leapt from a Garden State Parkway overpass and landed 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:38.160 right smack on top of a twenty twenty five Tucson 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.959 traveling on the road below. The diving deer dealt some 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.120 serious damage to the vehicle and even caused the doorframe 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:48.120 to be damaged, trapping the forty four year old driver inside, 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.200 But authorities quickly responded to the scene and safely removed 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.320 the woman from the totaled car. Thankfully, her injuries were 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.400 not life threatening and she's expected to make a full recovery. 0:00:57.760 --> 0:00:59.880 The same can't be said for the deer, which, unser 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.240 surprisingly didn't make it. Sadly, this incident is far from 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.080 the first time a deer has jumped from great heights 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:09.039 to meet its demise. One famous incident took place in 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:12.320 Cedar Rapids Iowa back in twenty seventeen, when a group 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:16.120 of white tails, including a nice typical buck, startled by traffic, 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:19.400 jumped from the eightieth Street bridge and died upon impact 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.120 in a ditch below. While we may poke fun at 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.400 these incidents, the need for wildlife crossings is no laughing matter, 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:29.399 especially in places where infrastructure, including roads, obstruct the historical 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:32.640 migration routes of critters such as mule, deer, elk, and pronghorn. 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.559 In fact, earlier this spring, the US House of Representatives 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:40.120 Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure renewed the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program, 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.840 which is a three hundred and fifty million dollar competitive 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.280 grant program that helps states, tribes, and other entities reduce 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:51.480 vehicle collisions while improving habitat connectivity for terrestrial and aquatic species. 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:53.960 It's a win win for everyone, and especially the folks 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.840 who might otherwise be blindsided by a deer jumping from 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.960 an overpass and into your car. Which seems too far 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.800 fetch to be true, but it's not. This week. We've 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.000 got lions, screwworms, and data centers, plus so much more. 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:08.480 But first I'm gonna tell you about my week and 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:13.560 my week has been amazing. We welcomed a beautiful, so 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:18.480 tiny yellow lab puppy into the household. Her name is carp. Yes, 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:20.880 the dog got my number one pick for a human 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:24.640 child name. But mom and Dad's ability for complex thought 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:27.120 is pretty low, and it felt great to check something 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:30.320 off the list. Josh and Whitney Miller over at Riverstone 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:34.600 Kennels have this mix of chill, trainable and intense drive 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.800 that make it hard to look elsewhere. The intensity with Snort, 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.480 who after human baby and now dog baby have entered 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.760 the house, is a little much. She's questioning her place. 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:50.480 I suppose she also has transformed from our little yellow 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.880 lab to a big, muscly six year old dog overnight. 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:58.040 It's wild how the perspective changes with the context. Top 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:00.760 of the order for in the moment updates, it's the America. 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.799 The Beautiful Act is looking promising. It passed out of 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.960 the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and there's many 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.000 signals that this thing may get a vote. Got big 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.560 help from public lance champion in the Senate, Martin Heinrich, 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:19.480 and quite surprisingly, Mike Lee's willingness to allow some bipartisanship 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:23.280 for an outgoing Senator Steve Danes, who is the sponsor 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.799 of America the Beautiful. He and Angus King introduced that 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.320 act this week. If you remember, Steve Danes and the 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:32.359 rest of the Republicans on the Senate e and I 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:36.120 voted to support Lee's amendment on the Wildfire Prevention Act 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.040 to fully rescind the two thousand and one roadless Rule 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:44.200 and by so doing, completely circumventing the public process now 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.760 here in the home state of Montana. Many many people 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:49.920 would like to see roadless reform, but not a lot 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.960 of people want to see roadless recision. You're throwing a 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.080 lot of good stuff out with some things that need 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.720 some work. Now are these votes related? You may ask, 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:03.440 did Steve Danes, Montana senator who says he's in support 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.920 of public lands many many times vote in favor of 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.400 Mike Lee's amendment in order to get Mike Lee's support 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:13.440 for America the Beautiful. Don't fight me on this. I 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.719 won't fight you on that. Well, you be the judge. 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.520 Don't make it right, but here we are regardless. Now, 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:22.800 America the Beautiful has a bunch of great stuff in it. 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:26.120 I want to see it past backhuntry hunters and Anglers 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:28.640 is in support of this one. You'll see some action 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:33.880 alerts in this Act. The big ticket item is reauthorization 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:38.640 of the Legacy Restoration Fund, which is another bipartisan thing 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:40.920 that was kind of like on a trial that put 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:44.000 a bunch of cash in place for addressing the maintenance 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:48.520 backlog on public lands and national parks. It was originally 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:51.120 just national parks, and we got public lands slid in 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.840 there in the eleventh hour. So this is a good thing. 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:59.159 We need it. It's already working. This just authorizes it 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.520 for the future. So look out for those action alerts 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:04.880 and be ready to ask your Senator to vote in 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:08.960 favor of the America the Beautiful Act now tied in 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:13.840 with this Roadless Conversation and Legacy Restoration Fund. I'm still 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:17.000 getting lots of reports of illegal cross country or off 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:21.039 trail off road use, as well as motorized use on 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:25.520 non motorized trails and vandalism of signage and destruction of gates, 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:29.880 most likely related to an executive order that came out 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:33.240 of the White House Trump executive Order. We're sinding some 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:38.680 previous executive orders on OHB use off highway vehicle. We 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:42.520 covered this before. We'll cover it again very briefly, that 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:47.280 executive order said, hey, we're open to changing this. These 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:51.480 old executive orders are antiquated. In the future, when this 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:55.640 change happens to travel management plans, we are going to 0:05:55.680 --> 0:06:02.040 be looking for more inclusion for the motor communities. However, 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.960 existing travel management plans, which are the rule of the 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.159 land on US Forest Service, those are still the law. 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:11.680 So you still need to get a motor vehicle, use 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:16.159 map and go where designated destruction and poor representation now 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.120 may in fact lead to less motorized access when the 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.400 time comes for new management plans. So make sure your 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:25.680 friends in the gas and electric powered communities know that 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:28.919 the travel management plans are still in place. We only 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.000 have all of this stuff because of our ability and 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.440 willingness to self regulate. Only reason we got hunting and 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.599 fishing in America. Only reason that we're still out there 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:43.560 cutting timber for ourselves on public lands. Only reason that 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.720 we get a pick from this quiver of access messas, 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.680 both motorized and non out there on our public lands. 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:55.440 So spread the word. Moving on to the legislative desk, 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:01.440 Montana policymakers are retracting some controverty regulations when it comes 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.520 to Mount lions. On Friday, June twelve, the governor appointed 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:08.000 Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously to change the 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:11.320 way the state sets hunting quotas for lions. Essentially, the 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.320 Commission is moving away from a percentage based approach to 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.000 mount lion harvest and likely to revert to the use 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.640 of forming advisory committees to help develop harvest goals along 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:24.280 with input from Montana Fish, Parks and wildlife biologists. The 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.200 same commission had implemented the percentage based approach back in 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.400 twenty twenty three at the behest of big game outfitters, 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.280 who hoped knocking back the mount lion population by thirty 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.600 to thirty five percent would help elk and mule deer populations. 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.280 But hound hunters, the folks who actually target Mount lions, 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.720 worried the regulation change was too aggressive and would negatively 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:46.400 impact their ability to pursue lions sustainably. They also called 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:50.120 the percentage based goals arbitrary, considering it super difficult to 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:54.080 get accurate population counts of the elusive species. I think 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.400 it was a mistake, Commissioner Susan Brooks said of the 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.840 twenty twenty three action. I voted for it. I was wrong, 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:01.920 So this is my attempt to go back to where 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.360 we were. Montana Fishing Wildlife Commission also made another change 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:09.040 that both houndsmen and big game outfitters lauded. They unanimously 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.880 approved a two month hound hunting season for mountain lions 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.600 in the Charles m Brussel and Ulban National Wildlife Refuges, 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.440 which are historically great public hunting grounds. Previously, lion hunting 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.080 was open at those refuges, but chasing them with the 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.880 aid of hounds was not. If you have thoughts on 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.400 the mount lion hunting situation here in the Treasure State, 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:33.760 send us a message askcl at the meeater dot com. 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:37.520 Jumping over to the world of you know not outside 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:43.040 data centers. These facilities house massive networks of computers and servers. 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:44.760 They've been around for a long time, but in the 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:46.960 past year or so there's been a serious surge in 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:50.120 the construction of these because of the proliferation of AI 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.480 or artificial technology. They do use a lot of water 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:56.320 in electricity, which means we need to be thoughtful about 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.000 how and where we developed them, and that doesn't always 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:02.120 seem to be the case in some instances. I'm tracking 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:05.360 two data center stories. In particular in the home state. 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:08.040 Some folks are proposing putting one right on the banks 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:12.480 of the famed Blackfoot River that's at the Bonner Milltown area. 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.480 The data center would draw groundwater and surface water and 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:19.920 use up to eight hundred megawatts of electricity, necessitating the 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.920 need for the development of further infrastructure for the energy 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.800 grid to be able to handle all that. These challenges 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:28.040 would all come as the Blackfoot River is facing low 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.280 flows and drought conditions, as well as proposed gold mine 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:33.880 near its headwaters that could also wreak havoc on the 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:38.240 cold water fishery. Last week, over fifty concerned citizens gathered 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:40.200 at a meeting in Missoula to speak out against the 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:44.040 proposed data center. Meanwhile, down in Utah, a proposed forty 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.000 thousand acre data center on undeveloped land north of the 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:49.800 Great Salt Lake could be the final arrow for Locomotive 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:53.840 Springs waterfowl management area. That public waterfowl refuge has already 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:56.880 been seriously struggling for a lack of water, largely due 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:00.040 to over allocation and drought. Now, developers of the the 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.600 data center are working to secure their own water rights 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:06.080 in the already drier than normal landscape. This is sure 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.880 to hurt the public waterfowl hunters in that area. Our 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:14.280 Jeffrey Hicks, board member with the Utah Waterfowl Association, said 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.000 that even if the state was somehow able to secure 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.600 separate water rights for locomotive springs, the forty thousand acre 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.960 data center would likely ruin the hunting. Quote. We're talking 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.280 about enormous buildings, generators, and a gas plant to supply 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.119 the generators. With all the heat and noise and disturbance 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.120 that's going to create. What bird would want to come here, 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.040 even if there was a lot of water. While data 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.199 centers are a relatively new issue when it comes to 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.880 fish and wildlife and recreation, it's also new in the 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.560 world of regulation, so there's not a lot of facts 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.000 out there for the general public to consume. And these 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:52.160 things have big footprints. In addition to the consumption of 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:55.760 water and energy, they're going to make a mark. We 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:58.240 don't know how big that mark is, and we don't 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:01.840 have enough data to make an informed decision. Head on 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.680 over to our friends at Field and Stream. Old Travis 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.280 Hall has got a good scoop on the locomotive spring situation. 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:14.520 It's worth a read. Jumping down to Texas. Last week, 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.520 Agriculture Secretary Brick Rawlins announced the first case of the 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.200 New World screwworm and cattle the state is seen since 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:22.959 nineteen sixty six. New World screw worm. It's one of 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:25.240 those things you want to be real careful about googling. 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:27.800 Some of the images will ruin your day if you 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:30.280 think I'm kidding. Considered the Latin name of the species, 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:34.720 see Hominivorax, which literally means man eater. It earned that 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:37.319 name after a gruesome outbreak in a prison colony off 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:40.240 the coast of French Guiana in the eighteen hundreds. Unlike 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:42.920 regular flies, who lay their eggs in dead organic matter, 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:45.840 screw worms lay their eggs and wounds in living tissue, 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.040 wounds that can be as small as a tick bite. 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.280 Female flies lay hundreds of eggs at a time. When 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.840 those eggs hatch, the maggots start feeding on the flesh 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:58.120 of the animal, often devouring holes down into the body cavity. Severit, 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:02.520 tissue damage and death are common if left untreated. Screwworm 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.280 is particularly detrimental to animal breeding, as flies often lay 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.880 eggs in the healing belly buttons of newborn animals. Screwworm 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:12.480 had a major problem in the US in eighteen hundreds, 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:15.120 resulting in losses to cattle producers through the middle of 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.880 the twentieth century. Screwworm can afflict wildlife as well, and 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:20.760 for a long time it held deer numbers down in 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:24.040 the southern part of the US. Fortunately, humans figured out 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:27.760 how to control screwworm. You breed huge numbers of the flies, 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.680 expose the males to radiation to sterilize them, and then 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:34.640 air drop those males into existing screworm populations with enough 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:38.280 volume to introduced males out compete their wild brethren and 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:42.439 no new maggots hatch. The USDA pursued this program for decades, 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.520 extirpating the past from the southern US, then all the 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:48.680 way down through Mexico and Central America, finally creating a 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:52.800 firewall in Panama. Well into the twenty twenties, the USDA 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.440 air dropped over fourteen million sterilized flies per week into 0:12:56.440 --> 0:13:00.240 Panama to keep things quiet. Unfortunately, a new spread north 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:03.520 began several years ago, getting past the bottleneck in Panama 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.280 and prompting even more air drops and here's where the 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:10.079 policy problem begins. Just as screwworm was moving northward in 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.760 twenty twenty five, DOGE was in the middle of slashing 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:17.360 government programs, including the US Agency for International Development, which 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.880 is best known for distributing foreign aid, but USAID was 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.280 also the center for animal disease monitoring, and the screwworm 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:28.679 detection program was cut in February twenty twenty five. DOJE 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.520 also turned to the USDA at the same time, which 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:35.000 is the agency that coordinates the breeding and distribution operations 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:38.480 of sterilized screwworms. According to an article from last year 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:41.720 from the North Dakota's Ranch Radio eight ten am quote. 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:45.000 In March twenty twenty five, under the Trump administration, funding 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:48.120 was cut by the USDA for animal disease control and prevention, 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:52.400 including highly pathogenic avian influenza, New World screwworm, and African 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:56.720 swine fever. Specifically, funding was targeted to monitoring and responding 0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:01.000 to New World screwworm unquote. Cuts to the USDA also 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.760 eliminated thirteen hundred employees of the agency's Animal and Plant 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.160 Health Inspection Service, which is the main authority for preventing 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:12.319 problems like screwworm outbreaks. In response to the recent news, 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.200 the USDA has now added more staff to the problem 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:18.359 and they are ramping up sterilized fly breeding and distribution. 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.160 But bringing the operations back up to scale is going 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.920 to take precious time and money. An ounce of prevention 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.080 is worth pound a cure, as they say. Since news 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:29.320 broke of the first case, there have now been twelve 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.880 reported cases of screwworm infestation in Texas, which will no 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.280 doubt be outdated by the time you hear this. This 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.400 could be a major problem for ranchers, hunters, and pet owners, 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:40.880 so if you see an animal with maggots and living tissue, 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:45.040 reported to local authorities immediately to have major impacts on 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:47.960 our southern deer populations, as well as a bunch of 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.360 other stuff we enjoy. If you want to hear more 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.320 on this, we did a good job at covering this 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.000 on one of our interview episodes. You have to look 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:57.760 up screwworm and the old Cows we can review index 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:00.960 jumping over to the public land, which has started to 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:06.560 feel like reporting from a battlefield. In addition to OHV orders, 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:10.960 roadless rule recision, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge leases, Ambler road, 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:14.120 and on and on. We've got another issue incoming. According 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.400 to the New York Times, the US Department of Agriculture 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:19.200 is set to issue a memo recommending that all quote 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:24.400 unquote recommended wilderness nationwide be managed for multiple uses, with 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:29.160 the imply use of motorized Understanding what that means requires 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:31.320 a bit of review of different kinds of public land. 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.840 On certain pieces of public land managed by the BLM, 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.240 for example, you can hike and hunt, and a timber 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:39.200 company or mining company can get a permit for resource extraction, 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:44.880 and there's broader use of wheeled vehicles the whole spectrum motorized. 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.800 In a national park, on the other hand, you can't 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:50.360 mind for cobalt or cut down spruce, but you can 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:54.600 build roads and sometimes a hotel. Then there are capital 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:58.080 w wilderness areas created by Congress defining the Wilderness Act 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:02.040 of nineteen sixty four as quote undeveloped federal land retaining 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:06.600 its primeval character and influence without permanent improvements or human 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.440 habitation unquote. This is the highest level of protection for 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:14.600 federally managed public lands. You can't have any business activity. 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:20.920 Commercial activity is limited to guiding outfitting for all kinds 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:26.400 of things bird watching, botany, big game fishing, sight seeing, 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:31.200 but no wheels, no motors, primitive you're on foot or horseback, 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:35.960 or you're floating non motorized. Now, places like this, as 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.880 you can imagine that meet this definition of undeveloped and 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:44.280 retaining its primeval character and influence without permanent improvements or 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:48.480 human habitation, are scarce and getting more scarce. And there's 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:52.200 a few that still meet that definition, some of which 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:56.000 that are already labeled potential wilderness kind of don't. It's 0:16:56.040 --> 0:17:00.200 a scarce resource and getting scarcer every day. Now, Good 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.640 folks over at the Wilderness Society explain this a little 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:06.680 bit more. Recommended wilderness areas have been assessed by Forest 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:11.280 Service staff as exceptionally intact, untouched by development, and critical 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.600 to wildlife and the broader ecosystem. They are deemed worthy 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:18.360 of legislative protection as a wilderness area and provisionally managed 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.400 that way. In the meantime. There are in fact five 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:24.080 point one eight million acres in the US that have 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.240 been identified as having what it takes to become wilderness, 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.120 pending a vote from Congress, which, in case you haven't noticed, 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.479 is pretty hard to come by. That's the way we 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:36.320 make wilderness through congressional acts, which in part is why 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:41.840 we have so little wilderness. Five percent of the entire 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:46.240 US is a designated wilderness, which is one hundred and 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.680 eleven million acres spread all across the country. Our biggest, 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.960 like contiguous wilderness areas are right there at like two 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.840 million acres, which really is not that much, especially on 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:01.040 these western landscapes where you know, we just don't have 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:05.720 the forage and water density that a lot of folks 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.280 on the eastern side of the States think of as normal. 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:12.320 That'd be abnormal out here. Now. Once these areas have 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:18.119 resource extraction happening, or have established vehicular access, or otherwise 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.720 show the marks of human beings interfering with them, they 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:25.400 lose that primeval character and the chances of the capital 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:29.880 w happening are very very slim now the official memos 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:34.160 not out right now, but as a commodity, that five 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.919 million acres is at an all time high of value, 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:43.160 and it's dwindling and getting more valuable every single day. Now. 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:46.080 Some similar is happening over the Department of the Interior, 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.600 which recently announced a process to review whether policies on 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:53.920 so called Wilderness study areas and lands with wilderness characteristics 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:58.399 should be quote, updated, clarified, or revised. Essentially, Wilderness study 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.480 areas are like recommended wilderness land that happened to be 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.080 managed by the BLM instead of the Forest Service, different 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:08.000 terminology and government agency, same plot to remove protections from 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:13.119 wild land. And there's WSAs on USFS two, there's about 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:17.720 eleven point one million acres under Wilderness Study Area designation. 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:22.480 DOI recently opened a sixty day comment period for this process, 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.520 and we'll put a link to that in the cal 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:30.199 To action site. Wild Places are scarce Gang. If we 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.679 want these things to exist, we've got to stand up 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:36.680 for him right now. Moving over to the invasive desk, 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:40.760 all of these assaults on public land can feel like 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:43.879 vulture circling. So here's a couple of feel good pieces 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.520 to end the day. First, the Congressional Review Act, which 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:50.280 we've covered many many times here, which is like the 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:54.720 break glass in case of emergency tool that saw extremely 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:59.359 limited use up until recently, had been pitched for a 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:04.040 recision of Grand Staircase Escalone National Monument to use the 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:08.280 CRA as it was used for Boundary Waters Canoe Area 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:13.480 and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one to rescind a mining moratorium, 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:18.000 and one to rescind a moratorium on oil and gas 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:22.200 lease sales. The deadline for that CRA came and went, 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.000 which is a good thing because there was many folks, 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:31.240 and especially many Utah folks who have their own good reasons, 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:35.159 wanted to see some more vehicular access in certain areas. 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:37.639 But that can be done without the use of the CRA. 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:41.959 The dangerous part of the CRA is when it is used, 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.919 it reverts back to the previous management plan and whatever 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:51.000 budgetary constraints that management plan was on or under, and 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.879 the wording that it used the best available science and 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:58.480 public input of the management plan it was throwing out 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.000 could not be used again, which is kind of like 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:05.320 that cove in there of like, hey, if you're going 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.640 to use this, beware it's got its downfalls too. And 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.119 as we've said many times, like the CIA just like 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:14.199 cuts around a giant public process. So if you're one 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:16.720 of those folks who want to see changes within ground 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.880 staircase Escalaune, you got the power of the public process. 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.800 Scientists the University of Florida have published the first documented 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:28.520 evidence of the scavenging birds preying on Burmese python eggs. 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:31.720 The team had been conducting a radio telemetry trial and 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:34.720 EVERYLAS to track the location of the invasive snakes, and 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:37.520 after locating a nest in the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:40.399 Management Area, they approached it to destroy the eggs, but 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.320 when scientists arrived, they discovered that vultures had beaten them 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:46.359 to it. Four vultures were in fact still circling the nest, 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:49.240 seemingly in the middle of their meal. Of the seventeen 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:51.920 total eggs in the clutch, three had been totally consumed 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:54.720 and the rest had holes poked in them. But thankfully, 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:57.600 even though the vultures were disturbed during lunch, they didn't 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:01.240 leave the python nest. A one star yellp review. When 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:04.440 people talk about invasive species, they often say that populations 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:07.520 get out of control because they have no natural predators. Well, 0:22:07.880 --> 0:22:10.600 maybe the native predators of the Sunshine State are learning 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:14.560 to find those delicious snake eggs. After all, bobcats, alligators, 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:17.520 and black bears have also been documented eating python eggs, 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:20.439 and I bet humans could help there too. I've probably 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:23.320 eaten weirder. That's all I got for you this week. 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:25.800 Thank you. So much for listening. Remember to write into 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:29.840 ask c Al that's Ascal at the meat eater dot com. 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:31.520 Thanks again, we'll talk to you next week.