First of all,
forget all that romantic mythology about those noble inhabitants of North
America that greeted the Europeans. The natives engaged in both intermittent
and long warfare. Therefore they moved and were even massacred with some
frequency. Ergo (therefore for you that didn’t take Latin) the idea that
somehow the woodlands, grasslands and other habitats of that undeveloped
wilderness (the correct two words) were “burned” regularly, or that the harvest
or “take” of fish and wildlife was somehow “in tune” with other than
opportunity and the effort required, or that trees were cut or grass grazed in
tune with some sort of system or understanding is a “Myth, a Myth!” (Miss Piggy
enters stage right at this point saying “Yeth, Yeth?”)
Set aside, if you
will, the fact that some few tribes in a minority of time were able to find
some rare stability, inhabit an area for a period of peace and develop
primitive land and animal use schemes that did provide these people with some
measure of use that hopefully kept their surroundings productive of their
needs. Never the less, lightning fires ignited grasslands and mature woodlands,
fires ignited by natives often got away with wind shifts and surprise fuel
ignitions that burned longer than imagined. Life was tough for these tough
people. Between warlike neighbors, marauders, weather, disease, food scarcities
and weapon advancements (just like Europe longbows replaced crossbows; bow and
arrow material changes, arrow/spear point material, chipping techniques, use of
horses, and battle/sneak attack procedures made early North American life too
often “nasty, brutish and short.”
Bottom line there ARE NO “NATIVE ECOSYSTEM”
MANAGEMEMNT TECHNIQUES OR PROCESSES, NOR IS THERE SOME SORT OF ”NATIVE
ECOSYSTEM” NIRVANA DICTATED BY MOTHER EARTH TO BE EMULATED.”
That said,
Europeans moved westward cutting timber, making farms and towns etc. etc.
Buffalo were whittled down (how else to grow crops and graze livestock?)
Fertile farm land was homesteaded and the better grazing lands were similarly
claimed and “developed”. The marginal places were cut for timber and grazed by
rovers. This was done hard because they were not the property of those cutting
and grazing them: therefore fires like the Hinckley (MN) Fire were not uncommon
in the late 19th century in all the slash (deadwood not used) lying
about. Also, Americans were beginning to realize that it was not good to just
cut everything and graze it so hard so unowned lands wound up under a new
system wherein the federal government would own and manage it for all – the
loggers, the ranchers, the hunters, the fishermen, the camper, the local
communities, the hikers, the Scout Troops, the elderly, the schools, the local government,
the animals, the trees, the children the puppies, the scientists… – ( I
apologize here, I always get carried away at this point like some federal
political staffer or bureaucrat writing a new law for my boss to get votes out
of.)
In the first two thirds of
the 20th century this worked reasonably well. Gifford Pinchot, Aldo
Leopold, Teddy Roosevelt et al saw their names etched in books, and on all
manner of federal landholdings. While the National Park Service always kept
their original mandate for the Washington Gods to forever oppose tree-cutting
and hunting; the US Forest Service managed their vast woodlands well as did the
Bureau of Land Management manage their vast grasslands for one and all. Cattle
grazed year after year, trees were cut in rotations and access roads were
numerous and frequent making timber hauling AND Fire Fighting possible. Elk and
Deer harvests plus fishing managed streams filled state conservation coffers,
local businesses thrived, and local government revenues were stable and important.
Also, predators like wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, and cougars were
either exterminated or kept at tolerable (to those living with them) levels to
sustain the ranches, timber industry, and livestock. Forest (or Grass) Fires
were infrequent because fire fuel was managed along with timber cutting for
rotating habitats, desired wild animals and local community need and desires.
When fires did occur, fighting them was possible and the nearby persons, towns
and private property were in nowhere near the danger they are today in the
frequent, massive, “catastrophic” fires that fill our newspapers and
Congressional Requests for more and more Billions of dollars and even appeals
to far away countries like New Zealand to send us men to fight these seemingly
impervious to everything but bombers with red chemicals fires.
What happened? The
1960’s happened. Free love (i.e. sex), drugs, anti-war, animal rights, and
extreme environmentalism happened.
So the US Fish and
Wildlife Service showed the way with new laws, especially the Endangered
Species Act that the federal bureaucrats owned everything and could do what
they want with impunity. Spotted owls killed the logging industry in SW Oregon.
The snail darter almost stopped a needed dam. Wolves were released, protected
and spread like, well, wildfire. Grizzly bears were protected everywhere under
pain of being “Gulagged” and your family deported. Everywhere animals were
suddenly “endangered” or “threatened”. Suddenly, trees shouldn’t be cut but
loved and “saved.” Likewise grass became some sort of Monet-like subject of
only beauty and to use it was verboten. Add in that the Universities saw what
was happening and ground out government-paid-for “science foe every cockamamie
claim being made by the 1960’s-leftover radical organizations like Defenders of
Wildlife, NRDC, CBD, “Friends” of this and that”, and all the ill-educated
urban worthies that sent their lunch money to these outfits to influence the
bureaucrats and fund and promise votes to the devolving politicians that were
once game fish-like and were rapidly becoming bottom feeders like some 20#
Asian carp in the Illinois River.
Rising out of this
effluvium were all the “New Age” foresters, biologists, and associated experts
replacing the old white guys. The new goals were all credited to
“shareholders”. “input”, “science” and “coordination”. The USFWS continues to
declare and prohibit tree cutting over growing areas. The USFS Forests close
roads, eliminate logging, prohibit even timber cleanup after disease outbreaks
or storms and generally do all they can to grow fire fuel in unmanaged
woodlands. USFS and BLM close every grazing allotment they can. All three
(USFS, BLM, USFWS) work with the radical 1960’s leftover organizations like
nurses working with doctors, not to save lives but to destroy rural America.
What they can’t do the pandering political slogs in both parties declare
“Wilderness” and “Sanctuary” lands where no one goes legally and the unmanaged
and unused RENEWABLE NATURAL RESOURCES simply create fire fuel and the
catastrophic fires we blame on global warming (like the moose disappearance to
wolves in Minnesota) and “European lifestyles” and “too many people” that have
destroyed that pristine and idyllic world that formerly occupied the United States.
It’s not global
warming; it’s not even the fire fuel: the fires are caused by a faulty
political philosophy fueled by radical groups buying politicians and ignorant
bureaucrats posing as natural resource “experts” that are no more than Charlie
Mc Carthies for whoever is in charge. Blame them and the next time you, hear,
“Did you see where President named a new “Wilderness” and a new “Marine
Sanctuary”? Oh, I don’t care about that Iran nuclear deal or the National Debt;
I’m going to vote for whoever makes more Wildernesses and send some money to
the Sierra Club too.” Blame yourself for not changing what has been going on
now for 50 years.
If you found this worthwhile, please share it with others. Thanks.
Jim Beers is a
retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent,
Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed
in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also
served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in
the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis
Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified
three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish &
Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and
once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides
in Eagan, Minnesota with his wife of many decades.
Jim Beers is
available to speak or for consulting. You can receive future articles by
sending a request with your e-mail address to: jimbeers7@comcast.net
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