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So, grizzly bears.
This is the kind of crap that we learn in GEP. The latest topic is the pattern of mass extinction, how the latest "Cosmic Shock" has been occuring for the last 4,000 years and species have been going extinct at 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate. It's called the Pleistocene-Holocene Event. In the last 400 years, no animal has gone extinct without human intervention. Just as a background.
There are two major, stable populations of grizzly bears in the United States. The larger is in Yellowstone National Park, the smaller is a state north, in Montana, in Glacier National Park. These two are separated by the Bitterroot Mountains, which run through parts of Idaho from Wyoming to Montana. It's where Lewis and Clark had to eat there horses. There are no grizzlies in the Bitterroot Mountains, and also no people. It's surrounded by national forest. Basically, it's prime bear habitat.
The plan was to bring in a few bears at a time from established populations in Canada, to create a new Bitterroot population. This would create a genetic link between the Yellowstone bears and the Glacier bears, as scientists say that in a hundred years the smaller Glacier population could suffer serious damages from inbreeding. It took six years for a plan to be negotiated between citizens, timber industries, and local governments, but in 2001 the Fish and Wildlife Service approved the plan.
Then President Bush entered office.
Said the (republican) governor of Idaho, "I oppose bringing these massive, flesh-eating carnivores into Idaho."
Said Bush's new Secretary of the Interior, "Okay."
And just like that, the plan was shuffled aside in order to assuage Republican interests. On a related note, now that the wolf population in Idaho has reached a stable 900, it is near being taken off the endangered species list and handed over to the state government to manage. Of course the state government of Idaho is strongly influenced by the anti-wolf sentiments of ranchers, so they forecast their "management" to include the hunting of 85% of the unlisted population. As long as it stays above 100, it won't get relisted.
Ranchers can be reimbursed for livestock lost to wolf depredations by the Defenders of Wildlife conservation group. And wolves manage populations of 'huntable' animals much more effectively than human hunters do, because they prey on the weak members of the population instead of those with the prize-winning antlers.
But, you know. Who cares about the extinction of megafauna due to human stupid? Not me, surely.
This is the kind of crap that we learn in GEP. The latest topic is the pattern of mass extinction, how the latest "Cosmic Shock" has been occuring for the last 4,000 years and species have been going extinct at 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate. It's called the Pleistocene-Holocene Event. In the last 400 years, no animal has gone extinct without human intervention. Just as a background.
There are two major, stable populations of grizzly bears in the United States. The larger is in Yellowstone National Park, the smaller is a state north, in Montana, in Glacier National Park. These two are separated by the Bitterroot Mountains, which run through parts of Idaho from Wyoming to Montana. It's where Lewis and Clark had to eat there horses. There are no grizzlies in the Bitterroot Mountains, and also no people. It's surrounded by national forest. Basically, it's prime bear habitat.
The plan was to bring in a few bears at a time from established populations in Canada, to create a new Bitterroot population. This would create a genetic link between the Yellowstone bears and the Glacier bears, as scientists say that in a hundred years the smaller Glacier population could suffer serious damages from inbreeding. It took six years for a plan to be negotiated between citizens, timber industries, and local governments, but in 2001 the Fish and Wildlife Service approved the plan.
Then President Bush entered office.
Said the (republican) governor of Idaho, "I oppose bringing these massive, flesh-eating carnivores into Idaho."
Said Bush's new Secretary of the Interior, "Okay."
And just like that, the plan was shuffled aside in order to assuage Republican interests. On a related note, now that the wolf population in Idaho has reached a stable 900, it is near being taken off the endangered species list and handed over to the state government to manage. Of course the state government of Idaho is strongly influenced by the anti-wolf sentiments of ranchers, so they forecast their "management" to include the hunting of 85% of the unlisted population. As long as it stays above 100, it won't get relisted.
Ranchers can be reimbursed for livestock lost to wolf depredations by the Defenders of Wildlife conservation group. And wolves manage populations of 'huntable' animals much more effectively than human hunters do, because they prey on the weak members of the population instead of those with the prize-winning antlers.
But, you know. Who cares about the extinction of megafauna due to human stupid? Not me, surely.