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[RC] Non-Game Plans, Tennessee, and The Nature Conservancy - Ridecamp GuestPlease Reply to: Linda B. Merims dkfritz@xxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================== Well--as near as I can make out--The Nature Conservancy just purchased control of Tennessee state public lands environmental policy for about, oh...$17,000,000. Well, if Big Business can buy political influence with cash, why shouldn't Big Green be able to do the same thing? Need some money to buy land for hunting? Sure. Here's millions. Now let us help you plan how to manage it! It's good to be a "Partner." "So," you're saying to yourself. "What's that crazy lady going on about now?" Take a look at: http://www.state.tn.us/twra/wildlife/cwcs/cwcsindex.html and look at the Draft plan at the top of the left column. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission accepted the plan as-is, with one change. They added a preamble that says more-or-less, "Nothing in this plan can ever be used to restrict hunting or fishing." I'd like to at least be able to say that they voted on it. They didn't. It wasn't considered necessary. I'd like to say that they read it and had questions, but they didn't read it. They didn't read it 1) because they weren't given copies of it and 2) because it was long and complicated and with their preamble tacked onto it, they feel they've insulated themselves against any negative effects it might have. Only Chairman Cox actually read it (and reading it is what prompted him to insist upon the preamble), and Commissioner Kimsey from the Chattannooga area who chairs the Non-Game subcommittee gave it a 3-hour scan. As the plan itself lays out in detail, the Tennessee Public Lands Civil Service Cabal consisting of the State Forestry folks and the state Natural Areas and Natural Heritage folks, and the folks at State Parks are all busy getting the terms of this plan, and the "Species in Greatest Need of Conservation," all 667 of them, accepted as land management policy in their respective state agencies. It's good to be "Listed." And it's especially good to be "Listed" without having to actually go through all that pesky rigamarole the law says you have to go through in order to be "Listed." After all, it's just public land management *policy*. No laws. Just policy. Furnished by The Nature Conservancy. I tried to get Farm Bureau interested, but they weren't. Maybe they figure they can head off anything that might affect farmers at the legislative level. So, who does that leave vulnerable to being pistol- whipped by a Species in Greatest Need of Conservation? (Yes, I did ask: which non-motorized recreational activities threaten which species in each zone? No information was forthcoming.) 'Sides, the database is *dynamic*. Capable of constant updating. Capable of being modified anytime a modification becomes...necessary. And anyway, if there's no convenient Species in Greatest Need of Conservation, there's always that good old standby, "Invasive Species," which is also written into the plan. Why are we so helpless? Linda B. Merims Depressed in Red Public, Blue Civil Service Tennessee P.S., By the way, *every* state had to submit some kind of a "non-game species" protection plan like this by October 1, 2005 in order to be eligible for federal dollars that the F&W folks hope will become available. TN Senator Lamar Alexander has a bill pending to fund implementation of these plans. I wonder what the plan looks like in *your* state? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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