Monthly Archives: January 2020

Today we have more problems than just government bureaucracy.  Many people and organizations alike, support non-science endeavors, and ironically, in the name of science.  Whose science?  The obvious issue – when all is said and done — are many who favor their own agenda’s, intermixed with their own-brand of bar room bravado only — as well as politician’s who favor their special-interest groups, or political agendas.

We also have problems with over-site groups and nonprofits, that are supposedly directly involved with humane reasoning, or ethics, or . . . then find their involved with twisted humane (they corrupt the term) alternatives, but the profits vast, perhaps too vast and, well, human’s will be human, no matter how disgusting that may be.

Animal Species Management – Humane Responsibility

My interest is to protect and conserve life within its natural state.  In doing so it is imperative that we all understand I am not talking just about individual species.  Yes, we need to preserve the ways that populations interact with one another in all ecosystem process and habitat development, throughout all types of environments, including wildlife diversity, terrestrial diversity, competition, predation, and symbiosis.  We have to understand all of these interactions, biologically as well as habitat structure, wildlife and human interactions, and through truthful conservation-focus on three different types of diversity:

1. genetic diversity;
2. ecosystem diversity;
3. species diversity.

We have to understand, genetic diversity of any species is vital because it allows individuals of the same species pass on different characteristics’, some of which may become essential for survival in a changing environment.  Indeed, habitats are being lost daily and at a very high percentage; which, leads to environmental change.  Many changes.

These genetic diverse traits can include resistance to disease or in the case of some plants and animals, a rising-tolerance to drought or insect attacks. . .  When environmental conditions change, a genetically-strong species with a more diverse genetic profile, has a better chance of survival.  This is why I often impose questions upon our government’s genetic profiles of the wild horses, as being insufficient within their information, static data that creates bad decisions based upon faulty paradigms’, as well as incomplete data given, and yet decisions developed on this incomplete framework of interpretation.

Ecosystem diversity is a variation in the complex relationship’s organisms have with each other and with the involving elements of their environments.  These webs of interaction sustain life by making energy available in the form of food, and then actually cycle the other vital ingredients for life, including water, oxygen, and nitrogen.  These types of diverse ecosystems contribute distinctively to the health of the planet.

Forrest ecosystems contribute Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen.  Wetland ecosystems purify water.  Estuary ecosystems supply vast nurseries for fish crustaceans.  Marine ecosystems are the habitat of phytoplankton, the photosynthesizing microbes that account for 95% of the primary production in the ocean of food supply, and about 50% of all primary production of food supply on earth.

Reserving species diversity is quite significant as well.  The number of different species in the habitat and the size or viability, of each population, are all important situations to enhance rather than destroy.  It is a well-established principle, the more robust and diverse the ecosystem is likely to be, the better off humans remain, as well.

For example, it is less likely that a single species will out-compete all others when a number of species are contending for space.  Research in ecosystems in the United States tells us, for instance, a grasslands with the highest diversity of species, develops far more plant coverage and during a serious drought, can and do most often, recover far more quickly from drought than plots with fewer species.

Climate Change

Between 1906 and 2005 the average surface temperature of the earth rose between 0.6°C and 0.9°C – 1.1°F and 1.6°F – worldwide.  Equally important, the rate at which the earth surface temperature increased, nearly doubled over the past 50 years.  Greenhouse gases, such as the carbon dioxide released by automobiles and coal powered electric plants, and methane which is also a fossil fuel extraction, as well as livestock operations, and landfills , are all to blame.

 

Ironically out here in the West we see climate change being unacceptable.  Many of us see the situation of the debate, in particular against climate change, as nothing more than a distraction – brought about by the industries that can profit off of climate change.  We see forest fires have increased tenfold within the past five years, and we have seen the cattle industry growth, more population of cattle on public and federal lands, become more and more over-populated.

Putting all of this information together, we find the American taxpayer duped.  Needless to say, as many of us acknowledge, it is not only the Public Lands, in particular where Forest Fires located, and near areas that are being over-populated by cattle, but corn and other plant products must be grown to feed the cattle, and our nation’s food supply apparently secondary in this rush to find more land-mass, in order to grow the corn and other products to feed cattle; which, human food supplement grassland-areas decreased, over the past 12 years and to only 16% remaining, due to cattle – essentially, our Grain and Oats and other nutritious supplements sacrificed for cattle (similar to the wild horses), and other items that currently supplement our Nation’s Food Supply – Suddenly, there is more questions than answers, as we see many of the Forest Fire areas being turned into either supply food supplement for cattle, or to place cattle upon – more and more questions develop daily, the more we see this as fact . . .

So is the destruction of forest land negligible, due to climate change. and due to human’s preposterous industrial and corporate mindset?  Burning carbon-rich trees destroys carbon-trapping plants and releases heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – like Greenhouse – yes, Climate Change is here.  The US Department of Defense predicts the climate change, and the over-population of Cattle (so the myth of cattle ranching becomes very obvious, and television attempting to make $$$ before it fades away) will contribute to food and water scarcity, will increase the spread of disease, and may prompt mass migration people to already overly-populated cities.

Of course, the migration is already happening to coastal zones on the East Coast and West Coast and throughout mid-America, more and more small towns being evacuated, and country living is almost a thing of the past unless one is retired.  The world’s governments cannot seem to agree on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.  The amount of bias and bigotry we see today has increased in proportion, exponentially, with those who refuse to accept climate change being, assume it to be unreal.

Organisms that cannot adapt quickly to rising temperatures may not survive.  On the other hand, some destructive organisms are benefiting.  In North America, the mountain pine-beetle is producing a new generation every year, rather than every two years.  That has dramatically increased its larva count in the Rocky Mountains and the production of a fungus that the beetle introduces when it attacks trees.  Both beetle and fungus are killing pine trees, mountainsides turning a disgusting brown from rot and decay, rather than green, at a rate of 10 times higher than previously recorded.  Yet another sign of how decisions, based on bigotry, bias, and ignorance, indeed as a direct effect on our planet, a negative effect.

Domestic and Wildlife Extinction

Frankly speaking, there will never be enough zoos or vaults or sanctuaries, seed banks, aquariums, animal preserves, botanical gardens, and any facilities or habitats to protect a large percentage of wildlife now slated for extinction.

Wild Horses show us all, as a good example, on the comings and goings of how our government is depleting not just wildlife, in the name of conservation, industry, or humane – but rather, their discussion is absurd, bigoted – bias paradigms of managing our lands and wildlife.

If you need validation of that, we can go to the Wild Horses being darted with a pesticide under the name of saving them (i.e. and costing taxpayers now $-billions of dollars yearly and under a false premise, or outright lies, of wild horse over-population, when we search for facts we find nothing more than lies to generate higher budgets), but for all intents, purpose, and statistical data, and as well as science data, this among other things they also show us, is a consistency far more factual, and Wild Horse extinction a firm reality – nothing else –

There is no other information, evidence, nor data that shows the horses being safe whatsoever in this government-paradox, in the world of domestic as well as wild horses.  Many more animals are also either at the brink of extinction, for example giraffes, rhinos, among others, that many assume we would never see this level of potentiality, predicated on nothing more than extinction paradigms brought to you by governments worldwide.

The number of threatened species is very large and it is growing, as the international Union for Conservation of nature estimates that 30% of the world’s Bird Species, 25% of mammalian species, and 41% of amphibian species are facing extinction.  Keep in mind these are estimates, and quite frankly I see them be much higher than the reference I obtain for this data.  Just a small fraction of species on this earth of ours that have been assessed, so no one knows the actual number of species in jeopardy – only that it is certain to be very high.

Here we know cougars, bear, and wolves, to be facing near levels of extinction, but well-hidden today, by State’s Fish and Wildlife Service employees, and Forestry and Bureau of Land Management employee’s – and yes, their bigotry their bias, and their outright ignorance shows when discussing these matters with them.

When I’m up in the mountains, collecting data in the field, first thing I look at when I realize I am within a healthy ecosystem, is its stability.  I look for the things that may also destabilize the system, that is, once I understand how each is functioning together.  How the vegetation in the terrestrial environment and landscape is functioning alongside wildlife and how the wildlife, the browsers, the small critters, the insects, the keystone predators, associate with the marine environment, and if there is a creek, or a stream, I want to find out and know how all of this is affecting the overall ecosystem, or process within that habitat.

I also know from wildfires, hurricane or natural disturbances, melted glacier pack, or even floods, that the recolonization by pioneer species becomes inevitable at times.  We can look at the terrestrial perspective, and discuss new growth timber that becomes old-growth, and how it significantly affected each habitat within its unique capacity to develop a positive and healthy habitat process and eventual system, that indeed created a stability within the environment.  Nature thrives very well on consistency as well as routine – the four seasons for example, human’s uncomfortable, but for growth and health; indeed, Nature thrives on the seasons being consistent, an integration takes place because of the constant power of each season.

Right now, we can gain a new perspective about Wild Horses being, some would say, rewilded; but, I refrain from that phrase.  just as a new tree turns into old-growth and within a thriving and healthy habitat and over the years of consistency, in this case, develops into a positive system. . . I am not discussing the re-establishment nor a re-acquaintance by the Wild Horses and actually placing them back into their home environments; neither am I establishing a pioneer species within these environments where the Wild Horses come from.

The overwhelming fact of this is beyond debate, the Wild Horses were taken illegally by government agencies that do not understand habitat-process, stability of land mass and wildlife, nor do they understand the tools that are needed for habitats to become of value, that can and do (e.g. when managed properly) enhance our Natural Resources (i.e. enhancing our food supplements within a healthy environment), nor does government agencies have the ability to understand good science as far as we can see through their current actions.  Bigotry and bias are not good decision-making backgrounds, as we see daily in government, and total ignorance even worse in the decision-making process. . . as we see on our Public and Forestry lands of today overwhelmed with bad decision making results —

The question soon centers around the term natural disturbance, how and what may dramatically change the landscape.  But should we simply pay attention to the landscape, when compared to understanding the entire scope of what lay underneath the landscape, soil quality throughout the landscape, and clean water in streams, or other natural occurrences, and what about the natural resources and the element of growth and quality of the Natural Resources for Our Nation’s food chain supplements of grains, oats, and other important grasses, the element of substance, the element of pollution or no pollution, the element of human intervention and interference compared to scientific-based human intervention and positive habitat management.

Now we step into the realm of Primary Succession, or the change in an environment when it is colonized, or re-colonized, or when a disturbance wipes out a healthy ecosystem that was previously present in the environment. . .  Government intervention from their special interests or political agendas remain basically extraordinary disturbance-occurrence and to include cattle, sheep, mining, oil, illegal or very questionable fencing, as well as many other incompetent management practices brought about by corrupt government intervention.

The truth is, government employees could care less because it’s not their money paying for it all, it’s the taxpayers’ that pay for all of it – all of this ongoing and current nonsense upon our public lands, and the corrupt management paradigms that exist, or what some refer to as mismanagement.

In the process of Primary Succession, the ecosystem process builds or rebuilds itself from the ground up.  But within either building process the establishment of “pioneer species” takes place.  For example, we reestablish wild horses into an area that was designated as a Wild Horse area, and in accordance with the Wild Horse and Burro act of 1971.  We can truthfully point out that the cattle, sheep, mining, oil industries destroy the land to such a point it is non-useful.  In this case we can now call the Wild Horses a “pioneer species” – which would establish themselves back into or onto their land and environmental complex.

I state “pioneer species”, as what we are trying to accomplish is a healthy environment complex, and the system to do so is, starting over again.  Now you see why I refrain from speaking about the term to re-wild a species, as we are not doing so within that term, but we are establishing a “pioneer species” and upon lands that have been Desertified, or in another words shown to be destroyed to such a point the land is Non-Useful any longer – which, under this paradigm the Wild Horses reestablished first, followed by other plants, bacteria and fungus growth, insects, and finally more animals.

This is where moderation of populations becomes grounded and within the first year or two, both wildlife and terrestrial, as some will thrive and some will not do so whatsoever.  The rebuilding phase of this type of environment, and the complex structure that is within it, of all living organisms, and the Yin and Yang of the universal quality, some will make it some will not, but indeed, eventually a stable ecological habitat and a positive and thorough process or basis of building the foundation, only then does the ecological process become enhanced positively, especially toward positive growth and moderations of population dynamics within all species of both vegetation and wildlife.

What I have found over the years within my research, reference materials, and being in the field, is that the time from primary succession to a stable and thorough ecological process can take decades.  But, and this is extraordinary, is the fact that population moderation happens within the first year or two of the reestablished ecological habitat, and within the process that develops within a natural and constant paradigm based on sound science, common sense, and a respect for not only nature and its natural process, but for the wildlife and its diversity and growth, as well as within the terrestrial environment that grows within the habitat.

Now I can discuss “Secondary Succession”, which occurs when an ecological habitat has been damaged and is being repopulated.  Here we can once again use the way the current government agencies go about managing our public lands, and refrain from such bad and irrelevant management principle’s, and also use a Stand of 180 trees in the forest.  There process, which lacks good science, is to log off and obtain profit from the 180 trees that are in a stand covering 110 acres.  We then find they will use bulldozers with very heavy chains, and after the trees have been logged off, to basically rip apart and tear apart the entire environmental complex.  Grass will be allowed to grow, if at all, and taxpayers will pay for the seeds very definitely, as well as all this other maniacal and perverted type of land management based on no science whatsoever, and after a year or two or five, cattle will be moved in and at a cut-rate cost to the welfare rancher, which the taxpayers will cover, and obtain nothing back except higher taxes.

Yes, there is a reason the grazing permit program and the welfare ranching community have received $531.6 billion in subsidies over the past few years, once you start understanding, observing, and seeing what the result of their management, corrupt within all means and ways, and done with no common sense what so ever.  

But rather a  bias form of ignorance, which says it is okay to choose cattle over thousands upon thousands of acres of wilderness area, which could have provided us much needed diversity of continued Natural Resources over many years (our Natural Grass Lands Resource domestically, is down to 16% availability to our Food Chain Supplement, for example, and going further downward, with no Resource upswing in sight, due to poor management of our public lands), rather than the destruction from the cattle, which obligates our Public Lands for a short time period of graze, then followed by destruction, and followed again by years of non-use due to the destructive nature, desertification continues, of cattle, sheep, mining, and the oil industries awkward and unregulated use of our Public Lands.

Are we using our Public Lands beneficially, and with a positive value toward Taxpayer money, value-based, and what will the taxpayer’s get out of it, the entire situation, and the costly incompetent management?   ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  PERHAPS HIGHER TAXES, IS ABOUT ALL.

In a functioning ecosystem, the process of “Secondary Succession” never really ends.  Now we can refer to recolonization, which begins moderately, with the insect world, the keystone predators, the adversarial situations that are formed within predator-prey relationships all the way from bacteria and fungus, up to and including the bear, cougar, wolves, the marine environment of fisheries, et al.  Then we get to the specialty wildlife, specialty insects, predators large and small.

What I have seen in different environmental complex situations, a good example is around Mount Saint Helens, wherein an overly amount of spiders and their drifting spiderwebs developed to begin the “pioneer species” after the eruption, and possibly due to lack of prey, many of the diversity of spiders left, or disappeared.

What develops is a situation, regardless of which wildlife large or small, one species replaces another over months or seasons.  But what is also consistent is the fact that the number of species that remain constant, have not only found their predator-prey relationship that enhances their life-span and quality of life, whether it be grass or whether it be fungus or whether it be whatever, that eventually within the year their population will moderate, as good well research science as well as data collection and through observations, show us quite well.  The competition for food, water, and shelter becomes less, as growth remains predicated upon size of habitat, how fast the population moderates, among other substantial habitat community paradigms.

This is what good science shows us.  This is what the government agencies in charge of our lands does not seem to know, nor do they acknowledge the existence of such information.  And this is troubling.

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