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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 Klahan. Here's

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Speaker 1: cal a Washington State man made headlines last week after

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Speaker 1: he tried to steal an eighty foot commercial fishing boat

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Speaker 1: with the crew still aboard. But he didn't take the

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Speaker 1: crew hostage or make off with the boat in the

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Speaker 1: dead of night. Oh no, this fellow was too smart

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Speaker 1: for that. Instead, he pretended to be the boat's captain.

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Speaker 1: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife police reports that

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Speaker 1: the man woke the sleeping crew and ordered them to

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Speaker 1: get under way. He was apparently pretty convincing, because the

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Speaker 1: crew did exactly as he said. They told police later

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Speaker 1: that they assumed the Charlatan skipper was an alternative operator

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Speaker 1: or someone sent by the real captain. They were also

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Speaker 1: a new crew to the boat, which added to the confusion.

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Speaker 1: Jack Sparrow had something else going for him. He actually

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Speaker 1: knew how to start the boat's engines and navigate the

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Speaker 1: vessel into Gray's Harbor off the coast of Westport, Washington.

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Speaker 1: He was about to cross into open ocean when he

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Speaker 1: made his first big mistake. He began laying out his

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Speaker 1: plans for the ship, and they didn't seem to involve fishing.

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Speaker 1: According to Washington Fish and Wildlife quote, the subject driving

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Speaker 1: the boat was talking about meeting the Chinese mothership and

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Speaker 1: was not making sense. He certainly was not describing fishing activity.

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Speaker 1: The gig was up and the imposter captain, who has

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Speaker 1: not been identified, agreed to return to port. He was

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Speaker 1: arrested and charged with theft, possession of stolen property, vehicle prowl,

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Speaker 1: and unlawful manufacture or possession of marijuana. He was found

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Speaker 1: with four thousand dollars in cash and a large quantity

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Speaker 1: of individually weighed and packaged weed. Incredibly, further investigation revealed

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Speaker 1: that this wasn't the first time this fella had tried

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Speaker 1: the same stunt. Earlier that same morning, he attempted to

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Speaker 1: commandeer another fishing vessel, but that crew, being a little

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Speaker 1: more with it than the other, identified him as an

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Speaker 1: impostor and ran him off the boat. They didn't tell

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Speaker 1: police until they heard about the more successful venture later

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Speaker 1: that day. Say what you will, but this fella's got

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Speaker 1: Gumpshen kids, you are, without doubt the worst part I've

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Speaker 1: ever heard of. But you have heard of it this week,

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Speaker 1: we've got Texas high offense, Shenan against bird flu, Colorado Wolves,

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Speaker 1: listener mail, and so much more. But first I'm going

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Speaker 1: to tell you about my week and my week well, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's interesting times out there, Gang. I'm getting

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Speaker 1: a ton of request to weigh in on our federal

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Speaker 1: situation as it pertains to the important stuff we like,

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Speaker 1: like hunting, fishing, access, public lands, public wildlife. So at

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Speaker 1: the risk of whatever I say right now being dated

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Speaker 1: and out of touch by the time you hear this

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Speaker 1: on Monday or later, I'm going to give you my

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Speaker 1: best rundown of the situation as I see it. This

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Speaker 1: is an apolitical view, believe it or not. I do

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Speaker 1: not care who you voted for. I just care that

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Speaker 1: you love your hunting, fishing, and public lands enough to

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Speaker 1: stand up and defend those things. First, we all can

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Speaker 1: agree that we want our money. I'm speaking of taxes

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Speaker 1: spent in the most effective way possible, that's no waste,

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Speaker 1: maximum efficiency, and spent on what matters to us taxpayers

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Speaker 1: the most. That being said here is the state of

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Speaker 1: public lands. From my point of view, the debt conversations

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Speaker 1: as it relates to Doge and federal agencies that manage

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Speaker 1: public lands. We are not reducing the national debt. Anyone

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Speaker 1: who knows how a loan works is capable of understanding this.

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Speaker 1: Credit card debt, student loans, mortgage. Those things do not

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Speaker 1: get smaller if you save any amount of money. They

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Speaker 1: only get smaller if you apply more money to the principle,

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Speaker 1: that is not what we're doing. Even when we talk

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Speaker 1: about Reaganomics, the time when taxes were cut, government spending

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Speaker 1: was curtailed in many areas, we grew the national debt.

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Speaker 1: We did not shrink it. Federal layoffs. We want the

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Speaker 1: bums kicked out, only ass kickers, real civil servants. Well.

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Speaker 1: DOGE is not picking and choosing and reading performance reviews

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Speaker 1: or resumes. DOZE is just laying broad squaths of people off.

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Speaker 1: It's cutting down their funding. It's making the remaining employees'

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Speaker 1: jobs impossible to complete by preventing them from driving to

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Speaker 1: public meetings with shareholders and stakeholders, which means we will

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Speaker 1: start to notice things all the lack of maintenance issues

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Speaker 1: that we've already talked about, trails, bathrooms, garbage removal, waste removal,

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Speaker 1: but also good science. Good science is being stifled right

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Speaker 1: now stuff that relates to climate change, to agriculture, agronomy, ecology, fisheries,

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Speaker 1: large mammals, small mammals. It's all on pause right now. Now.

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Speaker 1: You may be thinking, well, sure, but there were just

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Speaker 1: too many federal employees. By and large, the federal employee

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Speaker 1: numbers have remained fairly constant since the nineteen eighties, meaning

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Speaker 1: that relative to you and I, we have fewer federal

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Speaker 1: employees now than we did then. Per Cabita. Big question

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Speaker 1: as to where are those federal employees who and how

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Speaker 1: are they serving? Are they working on the stuff that

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Speaker 1: matters to us? That is a question. I'll tell you

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Speaker 1: right now that because these agencies are lean, and certainly

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Speaker 1: lean compared to the rest of the federal government, a

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Speaker 1: lot of our public lands, and I'm not talking the

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Speaker 1: front country stuff, but the back country stuff has been

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Speaker 1: operating on like a co op model for generations of

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Speaker 1: Americans who hit the back country. Due to a decrease

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Speaker 1: of field personnel and an increase in to maintain, we

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Speaker 1: have generations of backcountry users who clear, clean, and maintain

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Speaker 1: a lot of trail miles as an unrecognized and unofficial volunteer.

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Speaker 1: Big thank you to all of you. You'll have to

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Speaker 1: keep it up. Big thank you to all the moms

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Speaker 1: like mine who routinely pick up garbage both inside fire

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Speaker 1: rings and out at campsites, long trails, at trailheads. You

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Speaker 1: will have to keep it up. We will all have

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Speaker 1: to keep this type of behavior up and encourage this behavior,

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Speaker 1: and know you will not get a lot of thank yous.

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Speaker 1: The villainization of federal employees. Anyone who has worked their

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Speaker 1: ass off on a roofing crew or drywall or painting

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Speaker 1: or any job in the trades, or if you're a cop,

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Speaker 1: you should be able to relate to this. Bad apples

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Speaker 1: exist in any profession. But there's a hell of a

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Speaker 1: lot of people that are dedicated civil servants that manage

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Speaker 1: to bust your ass on our behalf, make a living,

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Speaker 1: and then take time to make make sure the family

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Speaker 1: learns to fish, hunt and camp. You pay your taxes

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Speaker 1: and make lives, the economy the GDP better. There is

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Speaker 1: an absolute toxic injustice rolling out right now in America.

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Speaker 1: We have dedicated, hardworking civil servants who chose to toil

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Speaker 1: and trudge in conditions most people would not to perform

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Speaker 1: jobs on our behalf without thanks and those folks are

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Speaker 1: in the crosshairs. I'm gonna stop my raft here. These

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Speaker 1: are things that you can choose to tell your elected officials.

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Speaker 1: If you're concerned about your public lands, and I think

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Speaker 1: you should be, you need to share that concern. You

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Speaker 1: can tell them a couple of good things you like,

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Speaker 1: but share your concerns. You can say, hey, I love

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Speaker 1: get rid of waste. I love whatever it is you love,

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Speaker 1: but man, you just hate seeing good members of your

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Speaker 1: community getting thrown to the curve with that waste. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to read a little exert of a letter that

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Speaker 1: I received that sums us up. From a dedicated civil servant,

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Speaker 1: you just got laid off. So when I hear things like, quote,

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Speaker 1: those are not real jobs, or that we federal workers

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Speaker 1: are a quote parasite class, how can I not resent

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Speaker 1: that when I receive my termination letters signed by a

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Speaker 1: beacrat in Washington, d C. Stating that I have quote

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Speaker 1: poor performance, that I no longer have qualifications that meet

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Speaker 1: the needs of the Park Service as determined by those

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Speaker 1: in DC, none of which is based on any actual

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Speaker 1: performance evaluation or with any input from my direct supervisor,

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Speaker 1: department head superintendent, or regional director. But on the whims

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Speaker 1: of dosee kids. We park employees are real workers doing

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Speaker 1: real jobs on behalf of the American people. We are

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Speaker 1: not a phantom quote parasite class us to be disposed

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Speaker 1: of and thrown away like garbage at the whim of

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Speaker 1: doge people who are far removed from our national parks

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Speaker 1: or are shared values in public lands and public service.

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Speaker 1: We are people with real families. We are proud of

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Speaker 1: our service. We are dedicated to working on behalf of

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Speaker 1: our great country in service to our fellow Americans. I

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Speaker 1: ask the public to please take that into consideration. Moving

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Speaker 1: on to the deer smuggling desk, Texas Game Wardens announced

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Speaker 1: last week that twenty two suspects have been charged with

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Speaker 1: twelve hundred violations related to illegal whitetail smuggling and black

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Speaker 1: market wildlife trade. The smuggling operation encompass three deer breeding facilities,

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Speaker 1: ten release sites, one deer management pen, and three illegal

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Speaker 1: unregistered facilities. The smugglers and illegal breeders are accused of

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Speaker 1: poaching wild deer to replace their own, falsifying mandatory CWD tests,

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Speaker 1: and transporting potential contagious deer across the state without the

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Speaker 1: proper paperwork. Those of you in states that don't allow

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Speaker 1: wild animals to be owned and treated like livestock might

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Speaker 1: be scratching your heads, so here's a quick primer. The

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Speaker 1: deer breeding industry in Texas generates revenue by breeding pen

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Speaker 1: raise deer for desirable traits like large antlers, and then

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Speaker 1: releasing those deer onto hunting ranches. Sometimes those ranches are

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Speaker 1: on the same property as the breeding facility, but sometimes

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Speaker 1: deer shipped back and forth across the state. Breeders are

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Speaker 1: tightly regulated to avoid moving deer that might spread chronic

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Speaker 1: wasting disease. They're required to conduct regular testing, report deer

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Speaker 1: mortalities and escapes, and ear tag deer. Most breeders follow

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Speaker 1: these rules, but the regulations cut into their profits, and

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Speaker 1: so some try to fly out those regulations. TPW did

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Speaker 1: not release the names of the suspects or the location

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Speaker 1: of the breeding facilities in this case, but a press

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Speaker 1: release published by the agency suggests a massive operation aimed

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Speaker 1: at selling and moving potentially CWE de positive deer across

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Speaker 1: the state. Some of the charges, for example, are for

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Speaker 1: transporting deer without valid anti mortem CWD tests. Other charges

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Speaker 1: stem from a failure to report dead deer within the

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Speaker 1: required seven day time period and illegally selling and purchasing

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Speaker 1: wild whitetailed deer. One charge even suggests that some of

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Speaker 1: the suspects hunted wild free ranging deer out of season

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Speaker 1: and submitted tissue samples from those deer in place of

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Speaker 1: captive deer. In other words, they've been accused of stealing

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Speaker 1: deer from the public and using those animals to avoid

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Speaker 1: being held accountable for the CWD and their pen raise facilities.

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Speaker 1: Other charges stem from replacing dead captive deer with live

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Speaker 1: wild deer within the breeding facility and releasing those wild

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Speaker 1: deer for hunting. They're also accused of trapping previously released

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Speaker 1: wild deer and re selling them. Those crimes should be

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Speaker 1: enough to rile up Texas whitetail hunters, but the real

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Speaker 1: penalties come from felony charges related to falsifying documents. The

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Speaker 1: suspects are accused of falsifying tissue samples, tag swapping between

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Speaker 1: breeder deer, and swapping tags between breeder deer and replacement

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Speaker 1: deer captured in the wild. These crimes carry a maximum

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Speaker 1: penalty of two years in the slammer and a ten

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars Fine. A Texas Parks and Wildlife representative told

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Speaker 1: us in an email that she could not release any

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Speaker 1: additional details due to the ongoing nature of the case.

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Speaker 1: That tells me more charges could be pending, and I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if the FEDS get involved. As always,

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Speaker 1: we'll keep you in the loop as this case progresses.

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Speaker 1: Moving on to the legislative desk, a Kentucky state rep

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Speaker 1: is trying to avoid a situation like we just covered

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Speaker 1: in Texas. Representative Josh Bray introduced a bill that would

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Speaker 1: limit the transport of captive deer if a positive CWD

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Speaker 1: case is found within ten miles of a captive servant facility.

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Speaker 1: Would also restrict movement of deer outside counties that fall

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Speaker 1: within a thirty mile radius of CWD detection. Bray said

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Speaker 1: an email that he introduced the bill in response to

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Speaker 1: the first cases of CWD being discovered in wild and

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Speaker 1: captive herds in Kentucky. He believes restricting the movement of

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Speaker 1: deer in areas where CWD has been detected is a

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Speaker 1: common sense solution, but he says he's struggling to get

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Speaker 1: engagement from the outdoor community, the deer breeding industry, is

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Speaker 1: well funded and they've put significant resources behind lobbying against

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Speaker 1: this bill. But there are only about one hundred and

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Speaker 1: twenty breeding facilities in the state, which pales in comparison

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Speaker 1: to two hundred and seventy thousand deer tag holders. If

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Speaker 1: you live in Old Kentuck, check out House Bill seven hundred,

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Speaker 1: authored by Representative Bray. In Minnesota, legislators are mulling a

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Speaker 1: bill that would create a task force to study the

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Speaker 1: best ways to allow for sustainable foraging. The state Department

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Speaker 1: of Natural Resources has considered restrictions on foraging after agency

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Speaker 1: staff reported eighty to one hundred foragers descending on state

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Speaker 1: properties one day. While the DNR says they have no

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Speaker 1: problem with a reasonable amount of wild food harvesting, they

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Speaker 1: want to ensure the human foragers aren't taking all the

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Speaker 1: food from wild animals. But Big Forage is pushing back. Rep.

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Speaker 1: Isaac Schultz sponsored HF eight point nine, which would require

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Speaker 1: the DNAR to establish a Minnesota Sustainable Foraging Task Force

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Speaker 1: by September one, twenty twenty five. Its duties would include

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Speaker 1: gathering and reviewing data and existing regulations and developing recommendations,

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Speaker 1: educational materials, and a permitting model all jokes aside. Hunters

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Speaker 1: and anglers have to live within harvest limitations. It seems

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Speaker 1: like foragers should have to do the same if they're

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Speaker 1: putting the resource at risk, whether that involves bag limits, licenses,

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Speaker 1: or seasons. Launching a task force to advise the DNR

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Speaker 1: seems like they're reasonable first step. As per usual, it's

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Speaker 1: not about folks who are taken enough to feed themselves.

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Speaker 1: The magazine Mary Clare just published a story about how

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Speaker 1: Princess can Middleton, King Charles, and Queen Camilla all share

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Speaker 1: what they call an unusual interest. That interest turns out

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Speaker 1: to be foraging, which the magazine calls very on brand.

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Speaker 1: Minnesota game wardens may want to watch out for British

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Speaker 1: Royal fans rummaging around state parks. If they roll in

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Speaker 1: with a iHeart the Union Jack bumper sticker, keep a

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Speaker 1: close eye on him, bloody hewn. In the Golden State

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Speaker 1: of California, houndsmen are getting behind a bill that would

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Speaker 1: legalize hounding, the practice of chasing bears into trees with dogs,

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Speaker 1: but not actually killing the bear. Assembly Bill one zero

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Speaker 1: three eight was introduced by assembly Woman Heather Hadwick, who

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Speaker 1: says the state's growing black bear population is getting out

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Speaker 1: of control. Her bill would require the Fish and Wildlife

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Speaker 1: Commission to establish a season during which houndsman would be

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Speaker 1: allowed to pursue bears with dogs, as long as the

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Speaker 1: houndsman does not injure or kill the bear, or allow

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Speaker 1: the bear to be injured or killed. Hadwick says his

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Speaker 1: kind of hazing is necessary for rural communities struggling to

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Speaker 1: keep bears away from homes and livestock. Of course, animal

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Speaker 1: rights groups are none too happy with this bill, and

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Speaker 1: legacy media outlets aren't doing California hound hunters any favors.

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Speaker 1: Most reports I've seen focus on the shock and outrage

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Speaker 1: from animal rights groups and include images of cute, fuzzy

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Speaker 1: black bear cubs stuck up in trees. They characterize the

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Speaker 1: hazing process as cruel and confuse hounding with actual hunting.

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Speaker 1: Whether this confusion is accidental or intentional, you can decide.

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Speaker 1: The bill does permit the Commission to establish a bear

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Speaker 1: hunting season, but it does not require the Commission to

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Speaker 1: do so. In Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers is proposing significant

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Speaker 1: increases to hunting and fishing license fees. License fees haven't

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Speaker 1: increased since two thousand and five, and the governor argues

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Speaker 1: that the DNR needs the funds to continue operating. All

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Speaker 1: license fees would increase, including resident deer which would go

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Speaker 1: up from twenty two dollars to forty two dollars, small game,

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Speaker 1: which would increase from sixteen dollars to thirty five, and

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Speaker 1: resident fishing, which would jump from twenty to thirty Those

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Speaker 1: are big increases percentage wise, but not enough to keep

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Speaker 1: most hunters out of the field. However, listener James Nugent

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Speaker 1: points out that non resident licenses are increasing by a

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Speaker 1: far lower percentage, which might not sit well with Wisconsin hunters.

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Speaker 1: He also noticed that while the governor's budget includes sending

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Speaker 1: millions in additional funding to state parks, it doesn't say

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Speaker 1: anything about increasing entry fees. He would like to see

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Speaker 1: cost shared among all outdoor recreators, rather than asking hunters

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Speaker 1: and anglers to foot the bill by themselves. If you

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Speaker 1: live in Wisconsin and want a way in, contact your

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Speaker 1: state representatives and let them know what you think. Right now,

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Speaker 1: the governor's budget is just a proposal. It will need

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Speaker 1: the majority of both houses of the legislature to vote

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Speaker 1: for it before it becomes law. Moving on to the

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Speaker 1: national stage, a bipartisan group of representatives and senators has

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Speaker 1: introduced a bill that would triple funding for a program

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Speaker 1: designed to increase access to hunting and fishing. The Voluntary

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Speaker 1: Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program VPA or HIP give

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Speaker 1: state and tribal government's money, which is then doled out

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Speaker 1: to landowners to conserve wildlife, habitat and open up properties

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Speaker 1: for outdoor recreation. The program has been popular and successful,

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Speaker 1: but it's up for renewal this year. Sponsored in the

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Speaker 1: House and Senate by both Democrats and Republicans, the Voluntary

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Speaker 1: Public Access Improvement Act would renew VPA hip for the

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Speaker 1: next five years. Would also triple funding levels from fifty

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Speaker 1: million dollars to one hundred and fifty million, which would

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Speaker 1: allow even more landowners to participate. This program is a

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Speaker 1: win win for landowners, hunters and anglers, and the general public.

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Speaker 1: But your representatives need to hear from you. Every dollar

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Speaker 1: of federal spending is getting scrutinized these days, so it's

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Speaker 1: important that our elected officials here from the outdoor community

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Speaker 1: head on over to the Mediator Forward slash col for

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Speaker 1: a linked to the bill, as well as how to

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Speaker 1: get in touch with your United States representatives and senators.

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Speaker 1: This is a super positive one. Please do this. I'm

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Speaker 1: podcasting at you right now from Kansas. Had a phenomenal

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Speaker 1: meeting with Kansas BAH last night. Tons of people showed up.

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Speaker 1: It was incredible. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for

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Speaker 1: all of you guys and gals and kids who came out.

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Speaker 1: It was impressive night because we covered a lot of

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Speaker 1: heavy stuff and you stuck in there and you were engaged.

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Speaker 1: It was awesome. Darnear brought tears to my eyes. One

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Speaker 1: of the things we talked about was this bill and

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Speaker 1: why Kansas, because this is how your WIHA, your walk

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Speaker 1: in Hunting Access program is funded. You need this. Moving

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Speaker 1: on to the eggflation desk, if you've had the misfortune

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Speaker 1: of purchasing eggs recently, you won't be surprised to learn

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Speaker 1: that they're more expensive now than they have ever been.

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Speaker 1: And that's not an exaggeration. Acording to the Bureau of

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Speaker 1: Labor Statistics, the average cost of a dozen eggs in

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Speaker 1: a major US city was four ninety five and in

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Speaker 1: January that exceeded the previous record set in January of

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three of four to eighty two. Egg prices

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Speaker 1: dropped to about two dollars a dozen by August of

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Speaker 1: the year, but ever since then prices have been steadily rising.

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Speaker 1: Experts or experts zero point to one primary cause of

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Speaker 1: rising prices. Bird flu. The deadly disease has decimated egg

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Speaker 1: laying flocks in many states. The flu kills many of

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Speaker 1: the birds directly, but millions have been culled by farmers

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Speaker 1: to keep the disease from spreading even further. The demand

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Speaker 1: for eggs is pretty stable, but as the supply goes down,

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Speaker 1: prices go up. Grocery stores have also been keeping prices

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Speaker 1: high to avoid having customers worry about empty shelves. This

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Speaker 1: isn't the first time we've dealt with bird flu in

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Speaker 1: this country, but as we've covered previously on this podcast,

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Speaker 1: this strain is different. This version of the flu infects

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Speaker 1: wild birds as well as domestic poultry. That gives the

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Speaker 1: flu a place to spread even when egg farmers call

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Speaker 1: their flocks. It also allows the disease to spread to

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Speaker 1: new areas and makes it almost impossible to contain. For example,

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Speaker 1: listener Harry Wainwright, who's from Bedford Falls. Yeah, I didn't

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Speaker 1: know Bedford Falls was in Indiana. Everybody knows a wonderful life,

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Speaker 1: heehaw and Merry Christmas anyway, Harry Wainwright writes in bird

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Speaker 1: flu is killed over fifteen hundred sand hill cranes statewide.

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Speaker 1: The Department of Natural Resources say they usually receive reports

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Speaker 1: of a handful of crans dying of the flu, but

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Speaker 1: this is the first time the virus has hit crans

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Speaker 1: this heart. In Fish Lake and Laporte County, dozens of

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Speaker 1: cranes have washed up on the shore and the DNR

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Speaker 1: doesn't have the capacity to collect them all. That's a

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Speaker 1: problem because those dead birds can still spread the infection

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Speaker 1: of other waterfowl that land on the lake. Those birds

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Speaker 1: will then transmit the disease to the other wild birds,

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Speaker 1: which might then poop over a chicken farm. Next thing

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Speaker 1: you know, you're paying six bucks for carton of eggs.

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Speaker 1: The good news is that, as per usual, everyday Americans

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Speaker 1: are doing what they can to help and Laporte County,

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Speaker 1: one resident has taken matters into his own hands. Sean

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Speaker 1: Leon is organizing volunteers to collect the dead birds, and

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Speaker 1: he's picked up around thirty cranes from fish Lakes so far.

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Speaker 1: If you get the opportunity to follow Shawn's lead. Just

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Speaker 1: make sure you're wearing a face mask and disposable gloves.

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Speaker 1: Double baged birds and dispose of them according to your

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Speaker 1: local regulations. Also, don't forget to disinfect any equipment. Humans

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Speaker 1: are at low risk of catching the virus, but you

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Speaker 1: know it does happen. You don't want your good deed

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Speaker 1: turned into ground zero for the next one. Moving on

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Speaker 1: to the wolf desk, the artificial reintroduction of wolves to

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Speaker 1: Colorado may end the same way it started, with a

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Speaker 1: vote by the people. Katie Hill reports over at the

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Speaker 1: meat Eater dot Com that a new ballot initiative has

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Speaker 1: been proposed that with sunset Colorado's wolf reintroduction. That initiative

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Speaker 1: cleared an important hurdle last week when the Secretary of

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Speaker 1: State's title Board gave its approval the measure what it's

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Speaker 1: simply sunset the state's reintroduction efforts on December thirty one,

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. It wouldn't make any other adjustments to

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Speaker 1: the law or affect the ability of wildlife officials to

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Speaker 1: manage the wolves that currently live in Colorado. It also

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Speaker 1: wouldn't impact the funds that are available to reimburse landowners

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Speaker 1: for wolf depredation would simply require Colorado Parks and Wildlife

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Speaker 1: to end its reintroduction efforts by the end of next year. Currently,

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Speaker 1: law does not specify when the reintroduction program will end.

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Speaker 1: It estimates how many wolves will be imported into the

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Speaker 1: state each year to achieve a self sustaining population, but

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Speaker 1: that process could last for many years if the wolves

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Speaker 1: fail to thrive. Ending the reintroduction next year would cap

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Speaker 1: the number of imported wolves around fifty individuals, which actually

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Speaker 1: isn't too far off the stated goal, but advocates say

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Speaker 1: they want a guarantee that the importation will end on

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Speaker 1: a specific date rather than the more subjective metric of

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Speaker 1: a self sustaining popular The measure isn't on the ballot yet.

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Speaker 1: It's been approved by the Secretary of State, but it

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Speaker 1: still needs to gather over one hundred and twenty four

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Speaker 1: thousand signatures to qualify for a vote. Once it's on

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Speaker 1: the ballot, it would need support from a majority of

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Speaker 1: Colorado voters in the twenty twenty six election. That's tall task,

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Speaker 1: but advocates say they've tapped into the infrastructure of donors

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Speaker 1: and volunteers that help defeat the Mountain Lion Hunting Band.

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Speaker 1: They're hoping even urban Coloradoans have tired of the wolf

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Speaker 1: controversy and can be convinced to let nature take its

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Speaker 1: course and allow wolves to migrate south on their own.

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Speaker 1: Moving on to the mail bag gang, it's easy to

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Speaker 1: feel a little depressed right now. We're paying attention to

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Speaker 1: conservation news in our public lands. But that's why I

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Speaker 1: was so pleased to read an email from a listener

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Speaker 1: in Kentucky. BHA District Director Derek Toles. Derek wrote in

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Speaker 1: to tell me that not only are Bluegrass State BCHA

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Speaker 1: members fighting the good fight in the legislature, but they're

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Speaker 1: also getting their boots dirty on local conservation projects. Here's

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Speaker 1: what he said, Kentucky BHA is hard at it. Last weekend,

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Speaker 1: eleven of us from BHA helped the Kentucky Department of

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Speaker 1: Fish and Wildlife Resources plant approximately seven acres of native

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Speaker 1: grasses and forbes on the Taylorsville Lake WMA. We seated

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Speaker 1: several different areas somewhere along a fire line and some

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Speaker 1: were in open areas. The areas we seated in the

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Speaker 1: fire line are hopefully going to help benefit the future

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Speaker 1: development of oak savannahs on the WMA and the open

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Speaker 1: areas we seeded will be used to create excellent insect, songbird,

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Speaker 1: small game, and turkey habitat. This was the first of

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Speaker 1: hopefully many projects we'll be doing out there. I just

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Speaker 1: wanted to write and let you know about some of

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Speaker 1: the great work we're doing here in Kentucky. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: the update, Derek, and I know you're not alone. Thousands

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Speaker 1: of dedicated outdoorsmen and women work every day to make

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Speaker 1: our public lands just a little better than when they

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Speaker 1: left them. You don't read about these folks on the

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Speaker 1: nightly news, and they aren't holding press conferences in DC.

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Speaker 1: But they're a big part of what makes their country awesome,

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Speaker 1: and they're not going anywhere. I don't know about you,

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Speaker 1: but that's reason enough for me to keep pressing on

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Speaker 1: to help make sure their hard work doesn't go to waste.

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Speaker 1: Uh oh, late breaking news as in I forgot to

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Speaker 1: mention this during the legislative news. HB three oh seven

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Speaker 1: in the Great State of Montana is an attempt to

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Speaker 1: steal vitally important. I say vitally because federal funding is

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Speaker 1: a giant question mark and on pause, this is state

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Speaker 1: funded habitat money that once again folks are trying to steal,

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Speaker 1: all right. Habitat Montana is a fund that was set

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Speaker 1: up to be funded through the tax associated with the

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Speaker 1: sale of recreational marijuana in the state of Montana. The

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Speaker 1: voters of Montana allowed recreational marijuana to be sold in

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Speaker 1: the state as long as those taxes went to funding

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Speaker 1: the Habitat for Montana fund, which provides access improvements maintenance

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Speaker 1: for state parks, state access sites, recreation in the state

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Speaker 1: of Montana. It's an awesome thing. We voted for it,

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Speaker 1: we want it, and unless you act on HB three

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Speaker 1: oh seven and ask your state representative to vote, know

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Speaker 1: that funding is going to be taken for something else.

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Speaker 1: And the whatever else literally does not matter because the

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Speaker 1: State of Montana is running a billion dollar surplus money

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Speaker 1: coming out of our ears that can go to those

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Speaker 1: other programs. This is our habitat money. We need it

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Speaker 1: now more than ever, so please take action on HB

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Speaker 1: three oh seven in the state of Montana. That's all

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Speaker 1: I got for you this week. Thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for listening, and remember to write in to ask c

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Speaker 1: al that's Ascal at the meateater dot com. Let me

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Speaker 1: know what's going on in your neck of the woods.

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Speaker 1: You know, I appreciate it. Thanks again and I'll talk

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Speaker 1: to you next week. M