WEBVTT - Ep. 484: Hostage Negotiation, Base Jumper Rescue, and Ticks on the Menu 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:14.160 From Meat Eaters World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:19.080 is Col's Week in Review with Ryan cow Calahan. Here's 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:23.840 cal as though public land employees don't have it hard 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:27.560 enough these days with staff cuts and slashed budgets. Two 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.639 seasonal workers with the Forest Service were kidnapped and held 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:33.839 at gunpoint last week in the shaft at Trinity National 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:37.239 Forest in northern California. According to authorities, forty nine year 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.760 old Joseph Charles Henrickson and his twenty three year old 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:45.800 son Phoenix, were motivated by extreme anti government sentiment, which 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.320 you know, even if you're on that path, I think 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.360 you might agree that a couple of kids doing trail maintenance, 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:57.120 I believe they were biologists looking for frogs. You're not 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:01.280 exactly hitting the tippy top anyway. July sixteen, Forest Service 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.080 law enforcement officer called in the kidnapping to the local 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.000 Sheriff's office, saying that the two workers were being held 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.640 in zip ti restraints inside a trailer near Gumboot Lake. 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:13.679 More than two hundred police personnel made the trek up 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.440 the one lane road into the remote forest, including a 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:20.679 swat team, snipers, hostage negotiators, a bomb squad, and it 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:23.759 sounds like a whole lot of backup. Things got extremely 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:26.920 tense during the standoff, as when the hostage takers told 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:30.480 negotiators that they had quote unquote live rounds ready for 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:33.360 anyone who got too close, and when they cut off talks, 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.200 retreated into the camper and covered all the windows. But finally, 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:40.280 after fifteen hours, the Hendricksons finally accepted that there were 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:43.560 no good outcomes for them and they released the hostages 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.520 and surrendered. Several air fifteens and grenades were seized from 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:50.360 the scene. Father and son faced the possibility of life 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:55.160 in prison if convicted. This is, you know, unfortunately, something 0:01:55.400 --> 0:02:01.840 that our civil servants get exposed to all sorts of threats, 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.920 you know, most of them not legit, but there are 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:10.320 examples of things being more extreme than this. So from 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:12.880 everybody out here at the Cow's Week in Review World, 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:15.640 I just want to say thank you to everybody who's 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.880 out there still doing the work, keeping the lights on 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.600 for those threatened and endangered species, picking up the trash, 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:27.960 pumping the toilets, and ensuring that some of the coolest 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:34.799 stuff this country has to offer is accessible for all Americans. First, 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:36.440 I'm going to tell you about my week, and my 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:40.720 week has been packed, biggest thing on the list, And 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:44.080 I have to preface this with the fact that I'm 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:48.560 working on information that has not officially been released yet. 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:53.080 The information that hasn't been released is if this news 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.760 is going to come out tomorrow, not if everything else 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:00.720 I'm about to say is actually true, because this analysis 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:05.120 has been ongoing here. If you have ever purchased a 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:08.679 duck stamp, part of what you are funding is habitat 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:12.560 in the form of conservation easements. The other part is 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:16.400 our refuge system. Refuge system, of course, was one of 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:20.359 the first big conservation moves this country made because we 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:23.760 were damn near out of ducks, out of geese, out 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:26.640 of crans, and many other migratory birds, a lot of 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:30.600 which we wouldn't call game species today. Several months ago 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:33.720 it became known that there was a movement afoot in 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.720 DC to try and convert all US Fish and Wildlife 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:44.360 Service wetland easements to conform to the NRCS Wetland conservation Easements. 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:49.200 The reason being was along the lines of well, on paper, 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:54.960 it's less confusing, but that conversion what it does is 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.440 give the people who have these ease months on their property, 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:01.720 many of which were paid for them. The ability to 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:07.320 reduce the size of prairie potholes and intermittent wetlands due 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.520 to the fact that the restrictive language or permissive language, 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:12.720 however you may see it, in the two types of 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:17.000 easement allow for a greater degree of fringe removal. As 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:21.000 a US Fish and Wildlife servicesman, the fringe, the stuff 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:25.400 around the edges is, of course the habitat stuff. Now, 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:29.520 Intermittent wetlands are just that. Sometimes they befall, sometimes they 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:33.599 be dry, and that's why they work. Dry periods remove 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.599 bacteria and disease factors that can be bad for nesting 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.400 and allow for vegetation growth that breaks down and produces 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:44.200 the zooplankton and phytal plankton that the invertebrates dig into. 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:48.000 And that soup is what gets our ducks started when 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:52.760 they be wet. Additionally, this is not just duck habitat. 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:55.960 Some of the biggest mule deer bucks I have ever 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.640 chased in my life were drawn to these little dried 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:05.120 up sud like magnets. It's upland bird habitat, songbird habitat, 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:10.680 pollinator habitat, and big game habitat too. These easements are 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.839 incredibly successful. They are a huge factor in why we 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:19.600 have huntable species. But here's the problem. As farm machinery 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.640 has gotten bigger and more advanced, it no longer is 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:27.159 tolerable to drive anything other than a straight line. As such, 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.920 many of the wetlands that are not under conservation easements 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:34.120 are no longer there. They have been drained through a 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:39.640 process called tiling, which is installing perforated pipe subsurface which 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:44.040 expedites the dispersal of water. Don't frat. The water doesn't 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:47.880 magically disappear. It often collects in very large amounts in 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:53.840 very inconvenient areas where tiling is popular. Think low lying towns, farmsteads, 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.560 county roads, highways, et cetera. And you can see a 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:00.520 lot of this. We did a meat eater duck hunting 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:05.919 episode way back when in South Dakota and tiling wasn't 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:10.919 the only factor, but it does play a factor. Checked 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.680 out episode out you'll see a lot of farmsteads underwater, 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:18.000 a lot of this prairie pothole region. Right. It's like 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:23.440 big basins that glaciers sat in and then as they 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.600 dried up, you have this big sink with no drain, 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:33.640 so you get this underground water that supersaturates the subsurface, 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:35.680 and then as you get additional rain, there's just no 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:40.080 way for the water to get out. Right, So taken 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:44.719 care of as in, eliminating these little wetlands that again 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.840 may not be wet may not sound like a big deal, 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:53.359 and reducing the fringe area around these wetlands may not 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:57.719 sound like a big deal. But that reduction and surface 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:02.279 area means we'll lose fifty to seventy plus percent of 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:06.919 our duck production habitat that still exists. So if you 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:11.480 believe this was just like a Doze era simplification effort, 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:14.240 you should write that in there's going to be an 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.520 upcoming comment period and just say, hey, you miss the 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:21.280 mark on this one. At your desk wherever it may 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:24.600 make sense, But out here on the landscape it has 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:28.760 giant repercussions. If you ever go out and drive through 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:32.000 the Dakotas and flip on your your on X map, 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.080 everybody knows what that little marshy area looks like on 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:38.800 a map, even you old codgers who think about printed maps. 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.360 It's like the little wispy, green, grassy things. It's not 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:48.280 quite water, it's not quite land. That's your intermittent wetland. Well. 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.880 Drive around and it will not take you much time 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.880 at all to identify things that are no longer wetlands. 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.760 They were historic. It's there on the map. They range 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.600 from big to small, and they are no longer there. 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:05.680 It is just a plowed field. Those are areas that 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:11.080 ideally never had wetland conservation easements. We've lost, according to 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:15.840 the Wildlife Management Institute, a staggering sixty one percent of 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.600 these wetlands already. It's not hunters killing the ducks, boys 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:23.920 and girls. Total wetland acreage has been reduced from seventeen 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.600 million to six million acres within the Prairie Pothole region. 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:32.280 Should this idea of converting one easement to the other 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:37.160 take hold and prosper will lose hundreds of thousands of 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:41.480 acres more and again, if you have ever purchased a 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.320 duck stamp or donated a nickel to Ducks unlimited, or 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:50.520 paid taxes state or federal, we've paid for these acres already. 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.679 There is or will be a very short comment period. 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:57.480 You need to loosen your beak and weigh in on this. 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:01.640 One will have an actional air from BHA heading your way. 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:06.280 Click it. Remember, many refuges have been pieced together through 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:10.480 a series of wetland conservation easements, so even though they 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:13.520 are not on the private land, they can be augmented 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:19.240 the cornerstone of our conservation history. The refuge system is 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:22.760 not safe. None of this stuff is here out of luck. 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:27.280 None of our opportunities exist by chance. This stuff, the 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:33.640 spoils we enjoy today. They spoiled kids, are abundance of riches, 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:37.840 the options that we have out our door. It's here 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:41.960 because people stood up and demanded it. Now it's our turn. 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:46.080 How are you going to weigh in? Moving on to 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:52.679 a slightly different atmosphere, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Several restaurants now 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:56.400 have ticks on the menu. Okay, A more even handed 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.280 version of that sense is to say that tics have 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.800 gotten so bad add out there that restaurants are including 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:08.520 dishes specifically for patrons suffering from the tickborn disease Alpha gal. 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.720 Those mammal meat free items are marked on menus with 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:17.240 the initials AGF for Alpha Gal friendly or AGS for 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:21.000 Alpha gal safe. You know you're in a new era 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.000 when you're adding these warnings to the list of gluten, 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.960 shellfish and peanut free dishes. In twenty twenty, there were 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.000 only two cases of alf gal on Martha's Vineyard. In 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:34.680 twenty twenty five, there were seven hundred and forty two. 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:39.439 In response, last month, the island's chefs and tick experts 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.120 gathered for a town hall to deal with the situation. 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:46.559 Chef Charlie Grandquist has started eliminating mammalian ingredients from the 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:49.280 meals he cooks for his restaurant staff, and his wife 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:54.520 recently went into anaphylactic shock without warning after eating a hamburger. 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:59.040 Martha's Vineyard in general is getting serious about its tick situation, 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:02.760 and hunting on the beautiful and exclusive island has shifted 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.840 into a higher gear. The organization Tick Free MV was 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:10.360 established this past December and is working to coordinate all 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:13.000 the island stakeholders to bring down the number of deer. 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:16.199 They commissioned an aerial population count at the end of 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:19.680 the most recent hunting season, showing a minimum number of 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:23.160 four six hundred and eighty one animals. That means there 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:26.680 are forty nine deer per square mile, quadruple the ideal 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:31.400 number for balanced habitat mass Wildlife has therefore recently started 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.840 to issue year round damage permits to property owners. The 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.440 permits required that a professional deer processing facility be an 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:42.280 operation year round nearby, and several of them have started 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.360 to deliver the meat to local food banks. The organization 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.880 mb Hunt Club is now operating one such facility, and 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:53.439 the On Island Wampanog tribe has started in another. Landowner 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.600 permissions have historically been hard to come by, and much 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:58.920 of the land there is also owned by land trusts, 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:01.439 which have not been a space actually accommodating to hunters, 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:04.440 but all that might be changing. MV Hunt Club is 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.720 now actively matching landowners and hunters, and several of the 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.240 land trusts seem to be changing their tune. James Lingle, 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.240 executive director of the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, told the 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.600 Vineyard Gazette quote, the land Bank is involved in tick 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:20.679 Free's work and wants to do whatever it can that 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:23.200 may take the form of a deer damage hunt and 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.080 or other forms. We're going to look at what tick 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.560 Free proposes and then take it from there. All this 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:32.680 means the Massachusetts hunters might be able to squeeze all 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.240 these lemons into lemonade. If you're a listener in a 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:40.040 cramped apartment in Boston, Providence, or Woosta, google MVY Hunt Club, 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.760 send them an email see if he can get matched 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.400 with a landowner and a couch to crash on and 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:48.640 enjoy a ferry ride out there this fall. Just remember 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:54.120 to slather yourself in picarden or promethron and stay safe. 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:56.480 Some could have been worse news out of Colorado this 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:01.360 week on the state's furband saga. The good news is 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:04.320 that the campaign to prohibit the lawful sale, barter, and 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:07.280 trade of wildlife for in Colorado is dead. At the 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:10.480 July seventeen meeting of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.000 the commissioners voted six to five to terminate rulemaking for 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.719 the ban, which they had approved out of a citizen's 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.839 petition back in March. The body has had some personnel 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.560 changes since then, and the majority concluded that any ban 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:29.200 was going to be incoherent and impossible to enforce. However, 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:32.360 the bad news is that the commission also voted six 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:35.760 to five to establish a blanket bag limit of two 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.920 animals for all fur bearing species in the state. Colorado 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:43.320 previously had no limit because Colorado Parks and Wildlife had 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:47.080 demonstrated that trapping had no effect on fur bearer numbers, 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:51.000 but just as with many decisions lately, the Commission ignored 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:55.000 the expertise and science of CPW. They chose the number 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:58.240 two because that was the average number of animals taken 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:02.080 per license holder cited by the CPW, but that decision 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:06.400 disregards the fact that most license holders harvest zero animals, 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.240 and anyone who hopes to make any kind of living 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:11.840 out of trapping will now likely not be able to 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:15.680 do that. The animal rights groups recognized that an outright 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.680 ban was no longer viable and expressed gratitude about getting 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:20.960 half a loaf. Samanth the Miller of the Center for 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:24.120 Biological Diversity told the Fort Collins, colorad in quote, I 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.040 felt with a win on bag limits, I was more 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.960 okay losing the petition because at least we accomplished something 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:34.120 for these fur bear species that have been exploited for 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:37.200 commercial sales. He said. The group doesn't plan to keep 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:39.520 going with a different version of a ban, and instead 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.160 will advocate for better data gathering on fur bearer numbers. 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:45.560 And that's where I think we see hope for the 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.360 future on this issue. The Parks and Wildlife Commission is 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:52.480 obviously very muddled here. Governor Jared Polus, who has appointed 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:56.080 the commission members most hostile to trapping, is term limited 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:58.920 this year, and his successor is not likely to be 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:02.520 as anti tree as he has bent. If the data 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:06.520 continues to demonstrate that furbars are abundant in Colorado, then 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.360 a future commission could vote to change these bag limits 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:12.600 to a reasonable number, or to do away with them altogether. 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:15.920 That kind of change is a lot easier than having 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:19.240 to repeal a complicated ban. Here's hoping that in the 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.200 long term, cooler heads prevail here, and thank you to 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.520 everyone out there who has weighed in again and again 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:27.480 on this issue. We face some setbacks along the way, 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:31.680 but ultimately even the most committed anti trapping activists had 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.800 to admit that their aims don't make sense. Lots to 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:41.240 go here, gang, keep showing up and keep informed. There's 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:43.320 no telling what the air outside will look like by 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:45.520 the time you hear this. But over the past two weeks, 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:49.400 intense smoke from Canadian wildfires has oppressed the most heavily 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:54.640 populated parts of North America. Toronto, Detroit, Toledo, Philadelphia, New York, 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:57.520 and Boston all experience some of the worst air quality 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:01.040 on record. The air quality index of DLUTE, Minnesota hit 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:04.440 nine thirty four, more than three times over the limit 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:08.840 for hazardous pollution. Trump and other Republican politicians are charging 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.480 Canada with not managing their forests to prevent fire, but 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.760 almost all these fires are happening in the extremely remote 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.280 Boreal Shield region that have never been managed at all 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.680 and have no need to be managed. The difference now 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.400 in what makes fires more likely are warming temperatures caused 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:31.240 by climate change. Eleanor Osluski, Canada's Minister of Emergency Management, 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:35.320 said northern Ontario and Quebec received less than forty percent 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:39.960 of normal precipitation this June, with temperatures above historical averages. 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.400 But this is not the only smoke activity happening on 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:47.720 the continent, making the borders between countries irrelevant. Several fires 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.400 out west in the US have sent smoke blowing north 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.680 into British Columbia. There's no immediate fix here and the 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:55.880 rest of the summer could be rough after record low 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:59.880 snowfalls across the West, but longer term solutions are advancing 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:02.680 Martin Heinrich this week introduced a bill in the Senate 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.840 that would require electrical grid managers to adopt a so 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:09.680 called connect and manage approach to getting new electricity generation 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:13.080 on the grid, modeled on the system used in Texas. 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:16.879 By dramatically streamlining the process to allow new power projects 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:18.960 to get up and running, we can get more clean 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:23.360 energy projects delivering electrons sooner. This bill is totally neutral, 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:26.080 meaning natural gas burning plants will be able to connect 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.160 as quickly as solar projects. But Texas leads the nation 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.600 in renewables because a lot of the time, renewables are 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:36.840 the most economical option, and whenever new nuclear or geothermal 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.879 generation technology comes online, we have to be ready to 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.880 get those projects connected as well. It's time to get 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:44.840 serious about the work we have to do on climate, 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:50.240 and Heinrich's new bill is a concrete step in that direction. Colorado, 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:54.760 a local sheriff's office recently posted about a search and 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:57.880 rescue effort gon a wire on July seventh. The Sam 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:01.000 Miguel County Sheriff detailed and incident in which the county's 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:04.280 search and rescue team responded to a garment SOS in 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.160 a remote alpine area of the San Juan Mountains known 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:10.600 as Columbine Basin. The SOS was received at two forty 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.439 five pm. The man reported that he'd fallen one hundred 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.080 and fifty to two hundred feet and believed he broke 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.720 his leg. Rescuers responded to the scene both on foot 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.480 and with helicopter, but when they arrived they found him 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:25.919 walking around. He had apparently been injured when base jumping 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:28.600 off of a cliff and his parachute failed to deploy. 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.840 He then declined assistance from the search and rescue team 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:34.399 and opted to walk down on his own. The team 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.480 then had to endure a prolonged egress and the mission 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:41.360 was closed at eleven thirty pm. Apparently, according to the sheriff, 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:45.479 the man had, unsurprisingly, given his chosen hobby, received the 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.080 help of search and rescue team after a base jumping 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.000 accident in the Swiss Alps. Here's what San Miguel County 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.520 Sheriff Dan Cobalt had to say. This individual chose to 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:58.840 participate in an extremely dangerous activity alone, and particularly given 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:02.800 his prior rescue his head. His actions demonstrated a disregard 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:06.560 for the risks involved and the resources required to rescue him. 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:11.840 His decisions unnecessarily diverted emergency resources, including a care flight 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.159 helicopter that may have been needed for other emergencies. The 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:17.639 fact that he was able to hike down shows a 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:21.160 profound lack of respect for the tremendous effort and resources 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:25.160 devoted to this rescue. It's an interesting take and gets 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:27.879 at the difficult decisions that CERCHA and rescue teams have 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:31.000 to make in terms of how to allocate rescue resources. 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:35.360 I'll just say that while this incident involved someone participating 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:38.720 in an extremely high risk endeavor, I suspect most search 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:43.840 and rescue efforts involve unprepared tourists doing relatively mundane pursuits. However, 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:46.800 the social media post took some heat, and the San 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.440 Miguel County Sheriff's Office eventually amended it, adding that quote, 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:53.400 we would like to emphasize that people should never hesitate 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:56.119 to call CERCH and rescue when they are lost, experiencing 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:59.760 a medical emergency, or have been injured. Right in, let 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:01.919 us you know what you think about this one. I 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:07.040 happen to think that unpopular opinion here. Game part of 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:11.280 the amazing thing at getting out on big public lands 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:15.040 is depending on yourself. It is up to us to 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:19.680 be prepared and use the best of our cognitive abilities 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:25.040 and skills to make simple decisions that avoid it being 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:28.040 put in bad situations where we then have to put 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:31.639 a bunch of other people in bad situations. Doesn't always 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:34.600 work out that way. Best of intentions, as they say, 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.480 But if I could snap my fingers, we'd go back 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:44.200 to the rotary dial phone. Moving on to the duck desk, 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:47.360 Louisiana has announced all new duck season, and it's an 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.040 interesting one. This fall, the Sportsman's Paradise will hold an 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:53.720 experimental special season for black bellied whistling duck. If you 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.480 haven't heard of these species, well, I wouldn't be surprised. 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:59.680 It's certainly not a good old greenhead, widgeon, pintailed teal, 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.280 black duck, or anything else most people have pursued. In 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:07.119 North America, the species has goose like long legs and 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.159 chestnut brown and black body. It's found throughout the southern 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:13.439 parts of the central Mississippi and Atlantic flyways during the summer, 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:16.280 but most of them typically migrate into Mexico and South 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:19.440 America by the early fall. At least that used to 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:22.399 be the case In recent years, the species seems to 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:25.919 have been expanding its breeding range northward and has established 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:30.080 year round populations in parts of Louisiana. Local wildlife managers 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:32.960 say that black bellied whistling ducks can cause damages on 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:36.879 local egg operations, particularly rice, and that having a special 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:39.520 season is a win win for sportsmen and rice farmers. 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:43.120 The first season will run for nine days this October, 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:45.919 during which no other species of duck will be open. 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:49.440 There will be a four bird daily bag limit. One 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:52.760 important regulation to be aware of are the shoot times, which, 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:56.480 unlike typical duck season, will start at sunrise, not thirty 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:59.959 minutes before. This is ostensibly to make sure hunters can 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:03.880 accurately id birds during the season. Have you hunted black 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.840 bellied whistling ducks, we want to hear from you. Askcl 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:11.520 at the meat eater dot com. If they're eating rice fields. 0:22:11.800 --> 0:22:14.800 I guarantee you can make them taste real good. I'm 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:20.119 jealous of that new opportunity controversy here in the home state, 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:23.479 and it has to do with ditch chickens, roosters, cocks. 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:27.960 Back in twenty twenty one, state legislators authorized a bill 0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:31.760 providing Montana Fish Wildlife and parks a million bucks each 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:35.280 year to buy rooster pheasants, bread at prisons and plant 0:22:35.320 --> 0:22:38.560 them in popular public hunting areas. Proponents of the bill 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:41.720 said it would help with new hunter recruitment, particularly for 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:44.679 youth hunters, while others say that the program is not 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:48.760 cost effective or sustainable and that improving habitat to benefit 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:52.280 wild birds is a better alternative. There is also concern 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:55.840 about disease transmission from pen raise to wild birds. However, 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:59.440 on August nineteen, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission 0:22:59.520 --> 0:23:03.080 will consider proposal to double the number of released birds 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:05.920 and sites and open up the possibility of stalking them 0:23:05.960 --> 0:23:08.720 on private and state lands, which is ruffling the feathers 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:10.800 of some bird hunters in the Treasure State to say 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:13.600 the least. This gets an interesting question about how to 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:18.520 best allocate resources between hunter recruitment and habitat restoration. Head 0:23:18.640 --> 0:23:22.920 on over for a breakdown by Andrew McKean at Outdoor Life. 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:28.160 We've covered this topic a bunch long term habitat habitat 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:33.440 habitat always wins. Stockbirds are more of your instant gratification variety. 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:38.119 Jumping over for a roadless update our friends over at 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:40.879 Onax have again put their technological prowess to work in 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:44.320 the name of conservation. The company recently released a report 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:46.359 outlining some of the impacts of the two thousand and 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:49.560 one Roadless Area Rule, which, as you know from listening 0:23:49.640 --> 0:23:52.680 to this very podcast, is under fire after the US 0:23:52.760 --> 0:23:55.760 Department of the Interior recently announced plans to scrap it. 0:23:56.240 --> 0:23:59.960 Well on X analysts cross reference Forest Service boundary file 0:24:00.280 --> 0:24:03.600 with its own outdoor recreation data, US Fish and Wildlife 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:07.960 Service Wildlife habitat data, and fifty years of National Interagency 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:13.000 Fire Center records. Some important takeaways. Roadless rule areas encompass 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:16.320 just twenty seven point seven percent of all land managed 0:24:16.320 --> 0:24:19.840 by the Forest Service. Just three point one seven percent 0:24:19.920 --> 0:24:24.480 of wildfires start in those areas, while ninety percent of 0:24:24.560 --> 0:24:27.280 all fires in the US start within half a mile 0:24:27.400 --> 0:24:31.640 of a road. Inventory roadless areas overlap with key habitat 0:24:31.680 --> 0:24:35.040 and migration corridors four black bears and elk, not to 0:24:35.040 --> 0:24:38.880 mention mule deer. The roadless rule doesn't prohibit motorized recreation 0:24:38.960 --> 0:24:43.160 where it was already allowed, and inventory roadless areas include 0:24:43.480 --> 0:24:46.359 seven thousand, two hundred and one miles of full sized 0:24:46.400 --> 0:24:49.720 motorized trails and primitive roads, two thousand, four hundred and 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:52.560 ninety four miles of ATV and side by side trails, 0:24:52.680 --> 0:24:55.480