Speaker 1: From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This
Speaker 1: is Cow's Week in Review with Ryan cow Calahan. Here's Cow.
Speaker 2: Last week we brought you news about rats in New
Speaker 2: York City, maybe more news than you wanted. This week
Speaker 2: we're going bigger with rodent news from the Big Apple.
Speaker 2: Bigger and most definitely better. On Thursday, a visitor to
Speaker 2: the Hudson River Park in Manhattan filmed a beaver climbing
Speaker 2: up out of the water onto the pier. Castor Canadensis is,
Speaker 2: of course, the largest road in North America and second
Speaker 2: in the world only to the Cape Bera. This was
Speaker 2: the first time of beaver had ever been cited in
Speaker 2: Hudson River Park's Wildlife Sanctuary, a four mile long protected
Speaker 2: title estuary, estuary, of course, being where fresh and saltwater
Speaker 2: mixes where the river meets the ocean. Beaver sidings are
Speaker 2: rare in New York City, but the big cheers are
Speaker 2: essential to the city's identity. The official Seal of New
Speaker 2: York shows not one, but two beavers, paying homage to
Speaker 2: the history of the city as a key trading post
Speaker 2: for beaver pelts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Rumors
Speaker 2: are that this beaver actually showed up to watch the
Speaker 2: next play in the NBA Finals, where the cheap seats
Speaker 2: were going for seventy five hundred bucks and two tickets
Speaker 2: sold for a million in a charity auction. I think
Speaker 2: the city should have let this furbaro sit courtside just
Speaker 2: for old times sake. This week we've got legislation, Arctic
Speaker 2: lee sales, ohvs, and so much more of it. First,
Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you about my week, and my
Speaker 2: week has been busy. We were gearing up for another
Speaker 2: new edition here at the house. We got another yellow
Speaker 2: dog on the way. Most people when they hear this say,
Speaker 2: oh my god, you're crazy. A newborn and a puppy. Well,
Speaker 2: this is a special puppy as it Snort's sisters last litter,
Speaker 2: and having been around labs my whole life, Snort is
Speaker 2: a special one. So having the opportunity to have a
Speaker 2: puppy so closely related was too good to pass up.
Speaker 2: Same breeder, which is Riverstone Kennels over there in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2: And in case you're wondering, the Wisconi accent does go
Speaker 2: away relatively quickly. I do think that this will be
Speaker 2: a bit of a trial in parenting, both in the
Speaker 2: fact that a puppy and a newborn are both a
Speaker 2: pain in the butt, but also the dog and the
Speaker 2: kid will be the same age, and if all goes well,
Speaker 2: the dog is going to pass away long before the
Speaker 2: wee babe does. That's just part of what we set
Speaker 2: ourselves up for in dog ownership. Succession planning on retriever
Speaker 2: power is a must, and I suppose sore life lessons
Speaker 2: on the kid front. In other news, ol Mike Lee
Speaker 2: slid it in an amendment on the Wildfire Prevention Act
Speaker 2: that will fully rescind the two thousand and one Roadless
Speaker 2: Rule if it were to pass. Perfect job of bypassing
Speaker 2: the American public Mike Lee. As I have said many times,
Speaker 2: this is not about timber. It's about opening the door
Speaker 2: to large scale, not selective, resource extraction on America's public lands.
Speaker 2: The roadless Rule removes certain high risk environments from new
Speaker 2: road building potential, but preserves the ability to build temporary
Speaker 2: roads to address wildfire mitigation and habitat work. There are
Speaker 2: three hundred and eighty thousand miles of roads on the
Speaker 2: US Forest Service System, more than the Interstate Highway system,
Speaker 2: and The rule came about once folks, many of whom
Speaker 2: were fiscally conservative Republicans, realized how much we the taxpayer
Speaker 2: spend on forest road maintenance. Over six hundred public meetings
Speaker 2: and bringing all the user groups to the table resulted
Speaker 2: in the two thousand and one roadless Rule, and Mike Lee,
Speaker 2: because he is the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair,
Speaker 2: was able to insert this amendment and get it through
Speaker 2: committee in spite of overwhelming public opposition to roadless decision.
Speaker 2: Members of the Senate NR voted on party lines to
Speaker 2: advance the amendment, mostly using the idea that the Wildlife
Speaker 2: Prevention Act is necessary and the amendment can be struck
Speaker 2: outside of committee as cover here. In the home state,
Speaker 2: the roadless rule is extremely popular. Steve Danes, our senior
Speaker 2: and lame duck senator on the committee, voted to rescind
Speaker 2: as well. Most urgently, we've been receiving reports of infrastructure
Speaker 2: destruction and illegal off road vehicle use from multiple forest districts.
Speaker 2: We need to police ourselves. And yes, Trump did rescind
Speaker 2: long standing OHV orders, but he did not rescind forest
Speaker 2: travel management plans, which are the law meaning that you
Speaker 2: cannot drive wherever the hell you want, and no big
Speaker 2: surprise here. You cannot rip out gates and signs, and
Speaker 2: for your information, we all, all of us, the taxpayers,
Speaker 2: pay for those gates and signs as well the roads
Speaker 2: you are literally stealing from us all and yourself to
Speaker 2: those who play in the motorized community. I know this
Speaker 2: stuff is embarrassing and you don't want illegal use representing
Speaker 2: what you love to do on your weekends, So please
Speaker 2: spread the word. Travel management plans are still in effect.
Speaker 2: You need to get a motor vehicle use map for
Speaker 2: your forest before you go that way you know you'll
Speaker 2: be legal. Additionally, I've been getting reports from big Timber
Speaker 2: company who do not like this OHV order. Turns out
Speaker 2: they're paying their fair share to maintain a lot of
Speaker 2: roads in order to do the timber extraction that this
Speaker 2: is supposedly based off of, and increased traffic, especially destructive
Speaker 2: traffic like we just talked about, is just costing them
Speaker 2: more money. As I've talked about many times before, and
Speaker 2: sadly I kind of like wish the days of Dose
Speaker 2: who were still around because Mike Lee Hageman, who have
Speaker 2: both tried to jam in this non public way of
Speaker 2: rescinding the roadless rule have not presented any ability to
Speaker 2: pay for newly opened roads, nor any ability to pay
Speaker 2: for the noxious weeds that come with them, the increased
Speaker 2: fires that come with them, the replacement of culverts, drainage devices, grading,
Speaker 2: general maintenance. You get the drift, and neither did any
Speaker 2: funding come with the OHV recision. No matter what side
Speaker 2: of the aisle you're on, is shooting herself in the foot.
Speaker 2: Moving on to the legislative desk. First up out in Hawaii,
Speaker 2: the state legislature passed HB one three three four, which
Speaker 2: exempts donated wild game from certain inspection and transportation codes.
Speaker 2: Standards that are applied to farm raised meat can get
Speaker 2: in the way of hunter donations, making it to hungry people.
Speaker 2: The measure also removes another barrier to hunting non native
Speaker 2: access deer on Hawaii. The state has declared an access
Speaker 2: deer state of emergency since twenty twenty two, and recent
Speaker 2: population estimates put deer numbers as high as one hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty seven thousand, with an estimated twenty percent growth
Speaker 2: rate per year. The result has been rampant crop damage,
Speaker 2: soil erosion, and even airport runway disruptions, Hawaii has pulled
Speaker 2: out all the stops to control access deer, including sponsoring
Speaker 2: trapping operations and encouraging pet and human food companies to
Speaker 2: use the resulting meat. Eliminating the food donation requirements will
Speaker 2: mean even more progress. But this bill has stalled on
Speaker 2: the Governor's desk since May eighth. If it's not signed
Speaker 2: by July eleventh, it'll die and have to be redrafted
Speaker 2: next session. So Aloha staters call Governor Josh Green and
Speaker 2: ask him to get busy signing HB one three three four.
Speaker 2: Next up in Michigan, House bills five eight zero one
Speaker 2: and five eight zero two would expand commercial fishing of
Speaker 2: walleye yellow perch and lake trout, including allowing the use
Speaker 2: of gillnets. This would impact recreational fishing in the Wolverine state,
Speaker 2: and gil NEETs in particular are well known to increase bycatch,
Speaker 2: that is, they kill species other than the ones you're
Speaker 2: going for. According to the Congressional Sportsman's Foundation, recreational fishing
Speaker 2: in Michigan generates approximately three point nine billion dollars in
Speaker 2: economic activity annually, while commercial fishing industry brings in just
Speaker 2: around five point four million these bills have been heard
Speaker 2: in the House Committee on Natural Resources and Tourism, and
Speaker 2: let's make sure they die there, Michiganders. Call your House
Speaker 2: reps and ask them to kill HB five eight zero
Speaker 2: one and HB five eight zero two. Next up is
Speaker 2: an interesting bill out of Louisiana that could become a
Speaker 2: model for other states where certain hunts generate big controversy.
Speaker 2: Governor Jeff Landry recently signed House Bill eleven seventy seven
Speaker 2: into law which exempts the personal information of hunters from
Speaker 2: public records requests during the application period and season of
Speaker 2: hunts run by lottery in Louisiana. Black bear and alligator
Speaker 2: are lottery hunts, and of course black bear hunting can
Speaker 2: drive anti hunters absolutely berserk. The law would mean that
Speaker 2: no one could access the name, address, or other identifying
Speaker 2: information of hunters until the season was over, thereby reventing harassment.
Speaker 2: Once the season wraps up, information will become available again
Speaker 2: to follow the state's sunshine laws. Interesting side note here
Speaker 2: a lot of outfitters who specialize in draw tag hunts
Speaker 2: also access this information so they can reach out to
Speaker 2: you and see if you want to go guide it.
Speaker 2: Although Louisiana isn't known for its rabid anti hunting community.
Speaker 2: Similar bills might make sense in places like Florida and
Speaker 2: New Jersey. I, for one, haven't heard of people using
Speaker 2: public records request or harass hunters, but hey, there's no
Speaker 2: limit to what I don't know. If you've seen this happen,
Speaker 2: If you have a take on laws to temporarily remove
Speaker 2: hunter info from public records, right in to ask cal
Speaker 2: at the meat eater dot com or call and leave
Speaker 2: a message at four h six two two zero six
Speaker 2: four four one. Finally, at the federal level, a good
Speaker 2: bill that died has been born again. The quote unquote
Speaker 2: Public Lands Integrity Act or PLIA was attached to the
Speaker 2: recent Senate budget reconciliation vote, and it would have prevented
Speaker 2: public lands from being sold as part of budget reconciliation,
Speaker 2: which lawmakers like to use because measures can be passed
Speaker 2: by a simple majority vote rather than having to get
Speaker 2: sixty votes. You might remember that three million acres minimum
Speaker 2: was almost sold off in budget reconciliation over the summer
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty five. Well, the most recent reconciliation vote
Speaker 2: came and went, and the PLIA never became an amendment.
Speaker 2: But now the Public LANs Caucus in the House has
Speaker 2: introduced the same measure as a standalone bill. Although this
Speaker 2: one has a long way to go, it's a great
Speaker 2: showing by the bipartisan Public Lance Caucus. Bipartisan of course,
Speaker 2: meaning there are Democrats and Republicans pushing this and it's
Speaker 2: much better to have this one debated and voted on
Speaker 2: out in the open instead of being slipped through behind
Speaker 2: the scenes. Start calling your member of Congress right now
Speaker 2: and say public lands are important. At minimum they should
Speaker 2: have a sixty vote threshold minimum. If it were up
Speaker 2: to me, we'd put a moratorium on selling off our
Speaker 2: public lands. We're not making any more of it, you know,
Speaker 2: with the exception of like those little bits that I've
Speaker 2: talked about in the past that like lie within municipal
Speaker 2: airports or have become a parking lot, don't provide that
Speaker 2: ecological value that we enjoy.
Speaker 3: North to Alaska going off the rest of his big
Speaker 3: samlesiattle in the year of nine to two, and he
Speaker 3: landed in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where a lease
Speaker 3: sale was going on for energy development.
Speaker 2: And the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is about nineteen million
Speaker 2: acres of protected habitat along the north slope of Alaska.
Speaker 2: It is one of the most important ecosystems in the
Speaker 2: world and a critical migration corridor for cariboo and hundreds
Speaker 2: of bird species. Makes other countries drool with envy, and
Speaker 2: we have to remember it's a place all of us
Speaker 2: can go to. Yeah, it takes a little doing, but
Speaker 2: anyone can visit the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge paddle backpack
Speaker 2: hunting fish, iconic bucketless species, muskoks, cariboo, wolves, grizzlies, shefish,
Speaker 2: char grailing, unbelievable bird species. It is bad ass and
Speaker 2: I can't wait to go back. Underneath all that habitat, however,
Speaker 2: are pockets of oil, and getting to it would first
Speaker 2: mean driving huge trucks over the permafrost and sending seismic
Speaker 2: waves down to detect deposits. University of Alaska scientists have
Speaker 2: concluded that this would permanently damage the permafrost, and that
Speaker 2: would just be the beginning. The battle to drill in
Speaker 2: this spot has been raging since nineteen seventy seven, when
Speaker 2: a geologist test fed in Congress about oil in the area.
Speaker 2: The refuge was created in nineteen eighty in response, but
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty nine the Senate approved drilling leases. Less
Speaker 2: than ten days later, however, the Exxon Valdez tanker wrecked
Speaker 2: off the coast of southern Alaska, spilling more than ten
Speaker 2: million gallons of oil in creating lots of images of
Speaker 2: seals and seagulls struggling through the black sludge. That stalled
Speaker 2: energy development of the refuge for a bit, but efforts
Speaker 2: to drill there have come up every few years since then.
Speaker 2: In twenty seventeen, the first Trump administration finally passed a
Speaker 2: measure to allow drilling there, but in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: Biden reversed that decision, and in twenty twenty three he
Speaker 2: canceled all existing leases. On Trump's first day in office,
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty five, he once again declared the refuge
Speaker 2: open for drilling. But now in the midst of all
Speaker 2: this controversy, we're seeing the difference between the existence of
Speaker 2: oil and the willingness of companies to actually go up
Speaker 2: there and get them. Since the first least auction in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, very few companies have actually bid. In fact,
Speaker 2: in a twenty twenty five auction there wasn't a single bidder.
Speaker 2: The auction this week drew bids on only eleven percent
Speaker 2: of the offered six hundred and eighty nine thousand acres,
Speaker 2: and the winner on three offerings was in fact the
Speaker 2: state of Alaska, for a total of one and a
Speaker 2: half million dollars. So why so little interest if there's
Speaker 2: so much black gold up there. Well, many oil companies
Speaker 2: are worried that a change in administration would cancel another
Speaker 2: round of leases. Further, the Republicans opened the Refuge this
Speaker 2: time around by using the Congressional Review Act to invalidate
Speaker 2: the Management Resource Plan for the Refuge, which we've covered
Speaker 2: many times. It's kind of like a nuclear option, But
Speaker 2: the CRA likely also invalidates every other management Resource plan
Speaker 2: all the way back to nineteen ninety six when the
Speaker 2: CRA was first passed. That means that all the resource
Speaker 2: extraction permits that the government has already issued maybe invalid.
Speaker 2: All that has spooked oil companies from rushing into new leases.
Speaker 2: Even though the administration cleared the way for the possibility
Speaker 2: of drilling for oil, they may have actually ruined the
Speaker 2: chances of getting it. If in fact you could get
Speaker 2: to it and make it profitable, unbelievable expense in order
Speaker 2: to develop in the refuge. It's a special place for
Speaker 2: a reason, real hard to get to. Some speculate that
Speaker 2: there could be a pipeline built from Prudeo Bay, which
Speaker 2: is a massive area of development on the western side
Speaker 2: of the refuge and actually in the National Petroleum Reserve,
Speaker 2: and if the prices of oil due to such things
Speaker 2: as the war in Iran continued to climb, that could
Speaker 2: incentivize the development of the leases in the Arctic National
Speaker 2: Wildlife Refuge. However, it would take a long time to develop,
Speaker 2: and wars eventually end right. Moving on to a topic
Speaker 2: we hit at the top ohv Off Highway vehicle.
Speaker 1: On Friday May twenty ninth, President Trump issued an executive
Speaker 1: order that could have serious and wide ranging impacts on outdoorsmen.
Speaker 2: The order is dubbed quote Removing Unnecessary and counterproductive restrictions
Speaker 2: on access to Federal Lands. It's not an incredibly creative title,
Speaker 2: and it's definitely not an accurate description of the action.
Speaker 2: The order actually rescinds two other executive orders, one signed
Speaker 2: by former President Nixon in nineteen seventy two. Oddly enough,
Speaker 2: I've compared Trump and Nixon in the past, because in
Speaker 2: Trump won a lot of this en that we got
Speaker 2: done in the name of conservation was incredibly beneficial and
Speaker 2: many people did not see it coming, which makes it very,
Speaker 2: very similar to all the awesome environmental reforms that were
Speaker 2: done under Richard Nixon, which similarly nobody saw coming. It
Speaker 2: also rescinds another executive order by Jimmy Carter back in
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy seven that simply clarified parts of the first one. Essentially,
Speaker 2: those two orders allowed federal agencies to manage how and
Speaker 2: where off road vehicles could travel on public lands. As
Speaker 2: the text of the nineteen seventy two executive order reads,
Speaker 2: it was meant to quote, establish policies and provide for
Speaker 2: procedures that will ensure that the use of off highway
Speaker 2: off road vehicles on public lands will be controlled and
Speaker 2: directed so as to protect the resources of those lands,
Speaker 2: to promote the safety of all users of those lands,
Speaker 2: and to minimize conflicts among the various users of those lands.
Speaker 2: The Trump administration, however, says that these criteria were sub
Speaker 2: objective and difficult for agencies to operationalize in practice because
Speaker 2: they were so vague. A press release states that doing
Speaker 2: so will provide more access and timber production. We need
Speaker 2: to take those claims with a hefty grain of salt.
Speaker 2: While increasing access might sound like a good thing, that's
Speaker 2: not actually what this does. Our public lands are founded
Speaker 2: on the doctrine of multi use, and for this to
Speaker 2: work there needs to be balance. Regulations are important, said
Speaker 2: up many times, we would not be hunting and fishing
Speaker 2: in America today if we didn't say, Holy cow, we
Speaker 2: need to regulate ourselves, our catch limits, our kill limits.
Speaker 2: There's just not enough game to kill it all every season.
Speaker 2: Imagine that not everything is allowed everywhere, and this is
Speaker 2: a good thing. Some areas have extensive trails FORHV users,
Speaker 2: which are awesome, while others prioritize different types of recreation
Speaker 2: or commercialization, like grazing, and for important reasons Motori Trails
Speaker 2: are known to impact wildlife species such as elk, which
Speaker 2: often stay well away from roads and can be particularly
Speaker 2: vulnerable to disruptions during calving season and where they overwinter.
Speaker 2: Of course, elk and deer crossroads, they just don't like
Speaker 2: to bed and have babies next to them, with the
Speaker 2: exception of some notably bad mothers. Anyway, ultimately, Trump's order
Speaker 2: and energy development in previously non motorized areas would hurt
Speaker 2: just about everyone except for the folks lining their own pockets.
Speaker 2: If we look back north to Ambler Road, the two
Speaker 2: hundred and eleven mile industrial gravel road in northwestern Alaska
Speaker 2: that is being developed for private commercial use in one
Speaker 2: of the most pristine environments in North America and beyond.
Speaker 2: Trump's recent order is of the same ilk, as is
Speaker 2: his approval to develop the road. What by all means
Speaker 2: appears to be a death by a thousand cuts approach
Speaker 2: to dismantling remote places. Hard to get two places where
Speaker 2: you go, man, I worked really hard and it was
Speaker 2: worth it. Those types of public land protections are fading
Speaker 2: fast across the country. You better get to the table.
Speaker 2: To be clear, it doesn't automatically open the floodgates on
Speaker 2: back country spots. But as I mentioned in the top
Speaker 2: of the in the segment here, every group hunters, golfers,
Speaker 2: OHV users, We got folks who liked to color outside
Speaker 2: the lines. Bad actors. You give them an inch, they
Speaker 2: take a mile. And that's what's happening right now. According
Speaker 2: to the professionals on the ground, we're seeing gates, ripped
Speaker 2: out signs, ripped out and rampant off road vehicle use
Speaker 2: literally off the roads through sensitive areas. The whole darn
Speaker 2: system works because we regulate ourselves. Gang, trust me when
Speaker 2: I say backcountry hunters and anglers will be at the table,
Speaker 2: as will a coalition of conservation groups and timber industry
Speaker 2: representatives and motorsports rep presentatives. So should you call your senators,
Speaker 2: call your congressmen and women, And if you've got more
Speaker 2: thoughts or questions on the issue, give me a shout
Speaker 2: at askcl at the meaeater dot com and go ahead
Speaker 2: and just sign up for a membership.
Speaker 3: Will you?
Speaker 2: Moving on to some better news on the policy desk.
Speaker 2: On May twenty six, the US Department of Interior announced
Speaker 2: plans to expand hunting and fishing opportunities at national wildlife
Speaker 2: refuges across the country. The agency is billing it as
Speaker 2: the quote the largest in history of the US Fish
Speaker 2: and Wildlife Service. Ultimately, the move will increase hook and
Speaker 2: bullet access at one hundred and seven National Wildlife refuges
Speaker 2: and four fish hatcheries. Some of the changes are relatively
Speaker 2: small scale, increasing the timeframe and or zones of existing opportunities,
Speaker 2: while others are larger. Fourteen refuges in three hatcheries will
Speaker 2: have their first ever hunting or sport fishing opportunities. The
Speaker 2: proposed rule also revises the complexity of some regulations in
Speaker 2: the refuge system, which is all the better after it's implemented.
Speaker 2: It would make over ninety five percent of national refuge
Speaker 2: system lands open to hunting, which is a darn good thing.
Speaker 2: We do pay for him by your duck stamp. The
Speaker 2: only caveat here is a little disingenuous the way this
Speaker 2: thing was pitched. Some of the changes that were reported
Speaker 2: as opening up access, we're actually taking existing hunting opportunities
Speaker 2: on refuges that already existed and making them conform to
Speaker 2: the state regulations. So I think that was like a
Speaker 2: clerical error. Let's call it a typo makes it sound
Speaker 2: a lot better than it is, because it's not adding
Speaker 2: actually new opportunities and acres. With the exception of right,
Speaker 2: if the refuge regulation said you can only shoot five
Speaker 2: ducks here and the state said you can shoot seven
Speaker 2: ducks anywhere else in the state, that would technically be
Speaker 2: expanded opportunity, but the implication in the public is that
Speaker 2: it never existed before. You couldn't hunt here, now you can,
Speaker 2: whereas the reality is you could hunt there. Now you can.
Speaker 2: And it's more simple because it conforms to state regulations,
Speaker 2: which I'm all for. But you know it's got to
Speaker 2: be accurate, right Gang. There's a public comment period on
Speaker 2: this one. You can give the FEDS your perspective on
Speaker 2: changes over at www dot regulations dot gov. That's all
Speaker 2: I got for you this week. Thank you so much
Speaker 2: for listening, and remember to write into ask c Al
Speaker 2: that's Ascal at the Meat eater dot com. Let me
Speaker 2: know what's going on in your neck of the woods.
Speaker 2: You know we appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Thanks again. We'll talk to you next week.