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Speaker 1: From Mediators World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is

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Speaker 1: Cal's We Can Review with Ryan cal Callahan, now Here's Cal.

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Speaker 2: Employees with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources are in

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Speaker 2: hot water this week after blowing up deer stands with dynamite.

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Speaker 2: The Duluth News Tribune reports that the offending deer stands

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Speaker 2: had been built illegally in the Bow Strain State Forest.

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Speaker 2: The permanent structures had been built at least a decade ago.

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Speaker 2: In efforts to get the owner to remove them had

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Speaker 2: been unsuccessful, so the DNR decided to press the big

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Speaker 2: red button and bring in the big guns. Local residents

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Speaker 2: say they could hear the blasts from their homes. One

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Speaker 2: man told Outdoor Life that the blast was powerful enough

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Speaker 2: to shake his windows and knock a can of coke

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Speaker 2: off the counter. After detonating the deer stands, DNR employees

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Speaker 2: apparently didn't even bother to clean up the debris. One

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Speaker 2: resident even found part of the debt cord used to

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Speaker 2: ignite the dynamite. For their part, DNR officials are distancing

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Speaker 2: themselves from the employees who had clearly seen hurt locker

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Speaker 2: one too many times. They said in a statement quote

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Speaker 2: the method of demolition did not follow DNR policy or

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Speaker 2: reflect good judgment. I bet it was fun though. Big

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Speaker 2: thanks to listener Dashah Scholin for sending us that story.

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Speaker 2: She said in her email that if private citizens can't

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Speaker 2: use dynamite in the state forest, perhaps the Minnesota DNR

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Speaker 2: shouldn't be doing that either. That's a good point. I'm

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Speaker 2: also wondering how DNR employees have access to dynamite. Probably

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Speaker 2: some sort of plastic explosive like they use for blowing

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Speaker 2: up beaver dams and things like that. Blowing stuff up

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Speaker 2: is definitely a part of the job that a lot

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Speaker 2: of people don't think about. Blowing up dead animals in

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Speaker 2: areas where they can attract grizzly bears, for instance, blowing

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Speaker 2: up beaver dams like I talked about, blowing up trees,

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Speaker 2: all sorts of things that our folks can do with

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Speaker 2: explosives to manage our public lands here. So but just

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Speaker 2: like when you make that decision to go out and

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Speaker 2: shoot a urban interface Turkey early in the morning, you

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Speaker 2: know that there could be repercussions with people drinking their

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Speaker 2: coffee not too far away. If you got any good

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Speaker 2: dynamite stories, right, in ask cal at Themediator dot com.

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Speaker 2: This week, We've got the crime desk, federal legislation, big

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Speaker 2: cat ladies, and so much more. But first I'm going

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Speaker 2: to tell you about my week. And my week? Oh boy,

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Speaker 2: what did I do? I am unbelievably late for getting

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Speaker 2: into the Turkey woods, driving me crazy being outside in general.

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Speaker 2: I just got back from DC where I attended in

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Speaker 2: co m sed the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership trcp's big

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Speaker 2: fundraising night called the Capital Conservation Awards Dinner. Super cool.

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Speaker 2: Bruce Westerman got an award, Debbie Dingle got an award,

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Speaker 2: Randy Nuberg got an award. Great line up of conservationists

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Speaker 2: and bipartisan lineup as well, which is more what we need.

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Speaker 2: As Debbie Dingle said in her speech, we aren't Democrat

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Speaker 2: or Republican first, We're Americans first. I think we need

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Speaker 2: more of that room. Map is the CEO of Outdoor AFRO.

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Speaker 2: They do amazing get people out in the outdoors stuff,

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Speaker 2: amongst a bunch of other things. She's also just a

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Speaker 2: real ballfire, so real fun to hang out with and

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Speaker 2: just chat with everybody in that room. Astounding fundraising. By

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Speaker 2: the way, one point one million dollars. They're just over

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Speaker 2: one million dollars as I understand it, raised in one

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Speaker 2: single evening to facilitate the advocacy, science, and advocacy behind

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Speaker 2: the management of our public lands and wildlife. So that's

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Speaker 2: a big win. And then we're jumping on that live

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Speaker 2: tour which is still rolling out there come Monday. But

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Speaker 2: first we got to find a turkey. So I'm cutting

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Speaker 2: this week short and we're gonna get on with the

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Speaker 2: news and we're gonna jump right over to the crime desk.

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Speaker 2: Three New York men got busted in Buffalo last week

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Speaker 2: after using an antler trap to harvest sheds from whitetail bucks.

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Speaker 2: The trio had been warned about truspassing on land owned

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Speaker 2: by the railroad company, but they refused to comply, so

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Speaker 2: railroad agents worked with the New York Department of Environmental

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Speaker 2: Conservation to launch an investigation. They found that the men

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Speaker 2: had been baiting an antler trap with deercorn in the

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Speaker 2: hope that bucks would get caught in the trap and

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Speaker 2: lose their antlers. Antler traps use wire, bungee, cord, sticks, rope,

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Speaker 2: anything that might snare a bucks of antlers. When they

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Speaker 2: go in to eat that bait. Ideally, the bucks struggles

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Speaker 2: for a short time and the antlers pop off and voila.

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Speaker 2: You get a set of sheds without the joy of

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Speaker 2: walking through the woods and getting any form of exercise.

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Speaker 2: Sounds great, doesn't it. Anyway, Setting antler traps is not

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Speaker 2: illegal in New York as far as I can tell,

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Speaker 2: but the men were charged with trespassing, illegally baiting deer,

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Speaker 2: placing salt licks for deer, and littering. Speaking of shed hunting,

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Speaker 2: making people crazy, and Idaho man was recently sentenced for

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Speaker 2: poaching one thousand pounds of shed antlers in Wyoming, valued

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Speaker 2: at eighteen thousand dollars. The man stole the sheds from

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Speaker 2: the National Al Refuge in Bridger Titan National Forest and

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Speaker 2: then tried to sell them. This violated the Federal ac

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Speaker 2: Act as well as Wyoming's designated shed hunting season. Sheds

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Speaker 2: are views for dog chews, knife handles, kitchie, chandeliers, and

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Speaker 2: a bunch of other stuff, and their value has grown

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Speaker 2: in recent years. Federal officials hope that announcing this case

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Speaker 2: and sentence right before Wyoming's May first shed hunting opener

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Speaker 2: will quote deter others from flouting shed antler collection rules.

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Speaker 2: The antler poacher will be forced to pay six thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars and is prohibited from accessing any Wyoming public land

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Speaker 2: for three years, during which time he is banned from

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Speaker 2: hunting anywhere in the world. Seven people have been charged

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Speaker 2: in Florida for operating an international flying squirrel ring, which

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Speaker 2: isn't a phrase I thought I'd be saying, but seems

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Speaker 2: pretty on brand for Florida. You might be asking yourself

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Speaker 2: why anyone would want to traffic in flying squirrels. Apparently

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Speaker 2: they're prized in South Korea's pets, at least that's what

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Speaker 2: a Humane Society official told ABC News. The squirrels were

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Speaker 2: caught in Florida using as many as ten thousand live

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Speaker 2: traps in multiple counties. They were then laundered through a

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Speaker 2: licensed animal seller who claimed they were captive bread rather

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Speaker 2: than wild Buyers from South Korea would travel to Florida

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Speaker 2: and purchase the squirrels, which were shipped to Asia by

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Speaker 2: a wildlife exporter in Chicago. As many as thirty six

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Speaker 2: hundred flying squirrels were captured in less than three years,

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Speaker 2: which earned the dealer two hundred and fourteen thousand dollars.

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Speaker 2: The international retail value of the squirrels was as much

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Speaker 2: as one million dollars, which comes out to about two

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Speaker 2: hundred and eighty bucks per squirrel. Six of the seven

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Speaker 2: poachers charged to have been named by law enforcement, but

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Speaker 2: one is described as an unnamed fugitive, which means that

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Speaker 2: somewhere in the world a person is looking over his

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Speaker 2: shoulder because he poached flying squirrels. Of all the reasons

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Speaker 2: to go on the lamb, that's got to be one

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Speaker 2: of the lamest. Speaking of lame ways to go, a

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Speaker 2: security guard in South Africa appears to have committed suicide

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Speaker 2: using a cobra snake because he was afraid of going

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Speaker 2: to jail for wildlife trafficking. The Daily Mail reports that

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Speaker 2: twenty eight year old Marius Joe bart or Jobert maybe

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Speaker 2: I don't know, South Africa, had been arrested for burglary

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Speaker 2: and theft in the town of Henneman. Police took him

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Speaker 2: back to his home to look for the items he stole,

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Speaker 2: but when officers opened the door to his house, they

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Speaker 2: found sixty snakes along with the crocodile iguanas monitors Tarantula's

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Speaker 2: hedgehogs and ferrets. Joe Bart asked the officers if he

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Speaker 2: could have his handcuffs taken off to feed the animals,

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Speaker 2: and the officers complied. Then, according to police, he stuck

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Speaker 2: his hands into two separate cages and was bitten by

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Speaker 2: both snakes, one of which was an Indo Chinese spitting cobra.

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Speaker 2: Police confirmed to the Daily Mail that his actions appeared

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Speaker 2: to be intentional. He told the officers he would probably

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Speaker 2: be fine, but his condition worsened over the next few

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Speaker 2: hours and he died later that day. This guy must

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Speaker 2: have thought his consequences would be extremely dire, because the

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Speaker 2: way he chose to and venomate himself and consequently die

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Speaker 2: from it is horrible paralysis asphyxiation. It's nasty. The Daily

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Speaker 2: Mail cited one anonymous source who goes out of their

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Speaker 2: way to say that the police aren't to blame and

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Speaker 2: push this story that this guy committed suicide by snake,

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Speaker 2: which very well may be the case. If you're collecting

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Speaker 2: that many animals, you probably got a screw loose. Big

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Speaker 2: thanks to listener Jim Lane for sending that one. In Tennessee,

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Speaker 2: man has been sentenced for proaching two elk last November

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Speaker 2: at the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area. Tennessee Game wardens

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Speaker 2: were first notified by another hunter who had spoken to

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Speaker 2: the poacher, thirty four year old Preston William Douglas, on

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Speaker 2: the day of the incident. Douglas claimed to have shot

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Speaker 2: a doe and a buck whitetail, even though he was

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Speaker 2: only allowed to shoot one in that unit. When warden

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Speaker 2: spoke with Douglas at his home, he said he hadn't

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Speaker 2: shot anything. A subsequent investigation revealed the carcass of one

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Speaker 2: cow and one bowl elk with bullet wounds from a

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Speaker 2: six and a half creed More rifle and a forty

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Speaker 2: caliber handgun. Douglas later admitted to killing but not retrieving

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Speaker 2: the elk, and he was fined ten thousand dollars and

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Speaker 2: forced to forfeit his rifle and handgun. He is also

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Speaker 2: banned from hunting for five years, can't visit the wildlife

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Speaker 2: Management area for three and will be on supervise probation

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Speaker 2: for three years. A Colorado springsman got hit with a

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Speaker 2: lifetime hunting ban, six months in jail, and a forty

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Speaker 2: six hundred dollars fine for poaching fifteen animals. One of

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Speaker 2: which was a big horn sheep. Investigators have been looking

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Speaker 2: into the guy, a twenty eight year old named Iniki

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Speaker 2: Viki Kapu, since receiving a tip in twenty eighteen. Along

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Speaker 2: with the sheep, he also poached twelve deer, two turkeys,

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Speaker 2: and Teller and Chaffee counties. He has thirty five days

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Speaker 2: to appeal the lifetime suspension in the Colorado Parks and

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Speaker 2: Wildlife Commission, and I hope they treat him with as

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Speaker 2: much deference as he treated law biting Colorado hunters. Moving

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Speaker 2: on to the com reservation desk, it was a huge

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Speaker 2: week for federal conservation policy. Just a few days after

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Speaker 2: the Interior Department announced the expansion of four national wildlife refuges,

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Speaker 2: our land management agencies in Washington dropped three new rules

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Speaker 2: last Friday. We'll dig into these policies more in the

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Speaker 2: coming weeks, but for now, here's a SparkNotes version so

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Speaker 2: you can go to the bar tonight with enough infoto,

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Speaker 2: amaze your friends and confound your enemies. First up, the

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Speaker 2: Bureau of Land Management finalized rule that would allow individual

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Speaker 2: businesses and other organizations to purchase ten year conservation leases.

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Speaker 2: But they're not really calling them conservation lisaes like they

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Speaker 2: did when this was first tossed around for public comment,

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Speaker 2: and yeah, we've covered this topic and podcast before. We

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Speaker 2: asked BLM Director Tracy stone Manning about this in episode

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Speaker 2: two eighteen. You can go back and listen to that. Basically,

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Speaker 2: the rule puts conservation on the same level as other

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Speaker 2: activities the BLM allows as part of its multi use mandate.

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Speaker 2: BLM is used for grazing, timber harvesting, mining, and recreation.

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Speaker 2: Now the agency is adding conservation to that list. So

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Speaker 2: they're not being called leases. They're being called restoration and

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Speaker 2: mitigation leases, which, if you both of those things would

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Speaker 2: be beneficial to the landscape. Restoration and mitigation. But more

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Speaker 2: to come on that one. Some groups still oppose the rule.

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Speaker 2: We'll get to those in a minute. But I was

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Speaker 2: particularly concerned about whether these leases would restrict recreational access.

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Speaker 2: I'm sure you are too. I asked Director stone Manning

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Speaker 2: about this, and here's what she had to say.

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Speaker 1: Say, there's some riparian work that needs to be done

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Speaker 1: and that people might see some fencing around willows. They

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Speaker 1: might see some fencing off the riparian area with some

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Speaker 1: ability for cattle to water off the riparian area to

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Speaker 1: ensure that the restoration can take hold.

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Speaker 2: You know, they might.

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Speaker 1: See things like that, but you know, a big old

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Speaker 1: fence around the lease that says stay out. Absolutely not.

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Speaker 2: It's also worth noting that other land use projects limit

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Speaker 2: public access. I've seen no trespassing signs on BLM for

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Speaker 2: logging and mining projects. For instance, ski areas that operate

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Speaker 2: on BLM can limit folks hiking around. So even if

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Speaker 2: these conservation leases limit access to certain small areas, they

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Speaker 2: wouldn't be the first land use category to do so.

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Speaker 2: And just like those bigger operations, they got to have

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Speaker 2: a darn good reason. Of course, cattle grazers and mining

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Speaker 2: operations are concerned that nonprofit groups will buy up conservation

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Speaker 2: leases specifically to shut down other activities. The National Cattleman's

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Speaker 2: Association in the Western Energy Alliance have come out in

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Speaker 2: strong opposition to this rule, and the Utah State government

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Speaker 2: is already planning a lawsuit. House Committee on Natural Resources

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Speaker 2: chair Bruce Westerman, who's also been a guest on this podcast,

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Speaker 2: boy strong opposition. He said in a statement that this

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Speaker 2: rule is a quote slap in the face to local

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Speaker 2: communities who already engage in conservation work. Others say that

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Speaker 2: adding conservation to the BLM's list of uses might have

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Speaker 2: the unintended consequence of reducing conservation work on other leases.

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Speaker 2: Conserving our land and resources should be a part of

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Speaker 2: any lease, whether it's grazing or mining or timber harvesting.

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Speaker 2: Do these new leases mean that we can ignore conservation

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Speaker 2: on other BLM lands. That's an interesting question, but maybe

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Speaker 2: if we're all in kindergarten seriously come on. For their part,

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Speaker 2: the BLM says that conservation leases will not be issued

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Speaker 2: if they would conflict with existing authorized uses, so they

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Speaker 2: won't be used to shut down existing operations, though they

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Speaker 2: might be used to prevent other uses in the future.

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Speaker 2: There's much more to say on this. We're going to

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Speaker 2: get into it seriously in the future, probably several times.

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Speaker 2: But we should also talk about another big announcement that

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Speaker 2: dropped last Friday. The BLM is denying a permit for

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Speaker 2: a road project that would cut two hundred and eleven

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Speaker 2: miles into Alaska's Brooks Range. The road had been proposed

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Speaker 2: by mining companies hoping to use it to access an

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Speaker 2: untapped copper mind worth an estimated seven and a half

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Speaker 2: billion dollars, but it would have cut through pristine wilderness

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Speaker 2: areas as well as eleven major rivers. The BLM said

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Speaker 2: in its environmental impact statement that the road would quote

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Speaker 2: significantly in Eravokei impact resources in ways that cannot be

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Speaker 2: adequately mitigated. We hear at Meat Eater haven't been shy

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Speaker 2: about voicing our opposition to this project. We joined the

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Speaker 2: coalition that fought against Ambler Road, which also includes TRCP,

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Speaker 2: TROUT Unlimited, National Dear Association, Vortex Optics, a bunch of

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Speaker 2: other outdoor brands you'd recognize. But the fight isn't over yet.

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Speaker 2: The BLM denied the permit by selecting the no action

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Speaker 2: alternative in the environmental impact Statement, but it still hasn't

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Speaker 2: issued a final record of decision. What's more, the BLM

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Speaker 2: director changes with every presidential administration. Future administrations might be

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Speaker 2: more open to the idea of putting a road through

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Speaker 2: the Brooks Range, which is why we should push for

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Speaker 2: a more permanent solution now. Speaking of Alaska, the Department

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Speaker 2: of the Interior also issued a final rule last week

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Speaker 2: that will maximize protections for thirteen million acres of the

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Speaker 2: National Petroleum Reserve. Alaska also known as the NPRA. This

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Speaker 2: new rule limits future oil and gas leasing and industrial

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Speaker 2: development in five designated special areas, which I will now

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Speaker 2: attempt to pronounce. These are the Tashek, Puck Lake, you

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Speaker 2: decockpa Uplands, Calville River, Casigulac Lagoon, and Piered Bay. These

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Speaker 2: areas are known for their globally significant intact habitat for wildlife,

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Speaker 2: including grizzly and polar bears, caribou, and hundreds of thousands

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Speaker 2: of migratory birds like ducks, geese, and swans. If you

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Speaker 2: hunt Alaska or ever inspired to hunt in Alaska or

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Speaker 2: hunt waterfowl in the Pacific or Central Flyway, this decision

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Speaker 2: should come as good news. I understand there are economic

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Speaker 2: and political issues that we're not going to get into.

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Speaker 2: All three of these announcements have their supporters and detractors,

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Speaker 2: and there's a lot of perspectives worth considering. But from

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Speaker 2: a conservation standpoint, from the perspective of a hunter and

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Speaker 2: angler who wants to see more intact, healthy landscapes and

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Speaker 2: more critters running around right now so there can be

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Speaker 2: even more in the future, I'd say it was a

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Speaker 2: pretty good week. Moving on to a Michigan edition of

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Speaker 2: the Mailbag. Desk. Listener Mike wrote in a few weeks

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Speaker 2: ago to tell me about a lakefront property listing in

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Speaker 2: Michigan that included a picture show in the private lake

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Speaker 2: that came along with the property. Unfortunately for the listing agent,

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Speaker 2: that private lake was actually connected to the larger Wabasas Lake,

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Speaker 2: and Mike had fished that exact spot with his John boat. Well,

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Speaker 2: I'm pleased to report that, after some hounding on Mike's part,

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Speaker 2: the listing was finally changed to reflect the fact that

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Speaker 2: purchasing that property does not create exclusive individual access to

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Speaker 2: public water. Maybe not coincidentally, the same day they changed

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Speaker 2: the listing, they lowered the price by forty thousand bucks.

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Speaker 2: Now that the listing reflects reality, I can say that

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Speaker 2: it looks like a great little plot, almost one hundred acres,

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Speaker 2: and it looks like they harvested a few nice bucks

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Speaker 2: on there too. If you're looking for lakefront property in

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Speaker 2: West Michigan, it might be a good time to give

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Speaker 2: the seller a call. Nice work, Mike. Listener Curtis Vandenberg

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Speaker 2: wrote in to tell me about a concerning proposal from

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Speaker 2: his neck of the woods. The Board of Commissioners in

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Speaker 2: Ottawa County, Michigan, recently approved a seven hundred and fifteen

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars grant that would put a paved bike trail

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Speaker 2: through a popular recreation area. The ten foot wide strip

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Speaker 2: of pavement would connect existing trails on either side of

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Speaker 2: the Bass River Recreation Area, but Curtis points out that

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Speaker 2: this is the country's largest public hunting property. The bike

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Speaker 2: path would run smack through the middle of these sixteen

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Speaker 2: hundred acres, including an eight hundred and thirty acre portion

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Speaker 2: called the Bekale Tract that was acquired with the assistance

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Speaker 2: of Ducks Unlimited. In a press release, the Ottawa County

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Speaker 2: Parks and Recreation Commission says they're building the trail to

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Speaker 2: quote significantly enhance access to the Bass River State Recreation

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Speaker 2: Area for users of all abilities. I'm all for diversity

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Speaker 2: in the duck blind, but they're not going to have

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Speaker 2: any ducks to shoot if there's a bike path through

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Speaker 2: the middle of prime habitat. That's all I got for

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Speaker 2: you this week. Thank you so much for listening. For

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Speaker 2: those of you coming out to live shows, I'll see

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Speaker 2: you there. Let the boys get that rusty gal off

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Speaker 2: the ground for us, and I'm going to come in

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Speaker 2: and on the back end put a little more mustard

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Speaker 2: in that show. So I'm happy to see you come down.

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Speaker 2: Say hi, thank you so much for listening, and remember

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Speaker 2: to write into a s K C A L. That's

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Speaker 2: Ascal at the meeteater dot com and let me know

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Speaker 2: what's going on in your neck of the woods. Thanks again,

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Speaker 2: I'll talk to you next week.