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By
Donna Capurso
Moyie Springs
Our community is
being assaulted by the federal government
through the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the
US Forest Service.
My grandfather used a term when I was
growing up that I believe is the exact word to
describe what is going on between the USFWS and
the USFS.
The word is
“cahoots” which is defined for those not
familiar with its meaning as: “usually
used in the plural, and often used to imply that
the joint effort is unethical, shady,
questionable, or illegal; as, a shill in
cahoots with a
pickpocket, to serve as a distraction.”
I am posting a
number of articles dealing with the public land
use issues in north
Idaho.
If you missed the first one regarding the
375,562 acres and the US Fish and Wildlife
Service’s plan for the Critical Caribou Habitat
entitled, “USFWS – Coming Soon to a Neighborhood
Near You,” you can access it at
www.Capurso4Idaho.com.
When I attended
both the KVRI meeting on January 9 in Bonners
Ferry and the Coordination meeting with the
USFWS and the Bonner County Commissioners on
January 24 at
Priest
Lake,
the USFWS kept stating that their agency would
not be making any changes to the public’s
access.
This statement by itself is true because
the USFWS are not the “public land managers.”
Our public land management is done by the
US Forest Service.
On January 3,
2012 the United States Forest Service (USFS)
released their Draft Forest Plans and their
Draft Environmental Impact Statements for the
Idaho Panhandle National Forest (IPNF).
These plans are designed to show how the
USFS is going to “manage the usage” of the
national forest for the next 15 years. All of
the comments made here after will reference only
the IPNF Plan but the principles will apply to
the Kootenai National Forest (KNF) as well. The
IPNF Draft Land Management Plan is a 442 page
document and the IPNF DEIS is 563 pages.
Both documents are purposefully large, ambiguous
and difficult to understand, and get the “NoDoz”
out if you want to access them at:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5345952.pdf
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5345951.pdf
and the
Kootenai
National Forest
(KNF).
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5345788.pdf
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5345835.pdf
As a participant
in the beginning stages of the USFS revision
plan (2002-2004), and a
Bonner
County
resident at the time, I would like to give you
some insight into the process.
I saw
firsthand how the
Stakeholder’s process is a manipulated situation
in which moderators are instructed on how to
stymie the voice of the people by misdirection,
ambiguity and prevarication, all with the goal
of maintaining control without answering any
questions.
During the group discussions, most
conclusions like, “more road access,” “more
logging and mining,” “more snowmobiling and ATV
riding” and other human activities were
suppressed. When each group came back together,
a lot of these comments were never shared. You
can rest assured that anything having to do with
more wildernesses and more species protection
always made it to the top.
All of
the information was processed and rolled into a
series of options, A B C D E etc.
In other words,
you could choose from A, no change from the 1987
plan (can’t be considered anyway because of
new
restrictions in the Endangered Species Act
“ESA”) or E, huge access restrictions. The USFS
wants to make you “feel good” by recommending B
or C, because it isn’t as bad as E.
Well,
all of the choices are bad!
It’s
obvious that the USFS no longer manages the
national forest with a resource based plan but
has switched to an ecology based plan.
It’s
common practice to encourage people to provide
written comments, telling them that their
comments will have an effect on the outcome of
the process, knowing all along that the various
plans are already decided.
These
comments are heavily solicited from outside the
affected area from those that don’t have any
stake in the outcome. The following is a quote
taken from the IPNF website that was added just
recently when the “open house” meetings were
scheduled:
“Please note that several local papers
inaccurately reported that ‘public hearings’
have been scheduled. No hearings or public
testimony is scheduled. Open House meetings will
be held to provide opportunities for members of
the public to ask questions about the Forest
Plan Revision process and to learn how to submit
formal comments." ~ IPNF Website
The USFS rationale and excuse is that there is
no way to increase public usage because that
would violate a number of provisions of the ESA.
Most of the conclusions in this management plan
are derived from the “opinions” of so called
“experts”.
Webster
Dictionary defines an opinion as “a view or
judgment formed about something, not necessarily
based on fact or knowledge.”
So, how does being “in cahoots” work between the
USFWS and the USFS?
The USFWS “believes there are, or might
be,” 45 or 46 caribou in their planned Caribou
Critical Habitat plan.
What they don’t want you to know is that
all but possibly one or two of these caribou are
in
Canada.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game
(IDFG) has openly challenged the USFWS caribou
numbers (http://www.newsbf.com/news/1201/24caribou.html).
The USFS can
then use the “opinion” of the USFWS as being
factual and continue shutting down whatever
little access we now have to our so called
“public lands.”
The USFWS can point the finger at the
USFS saying that they weren’t responsible for
shutting down our forests, and the USFS points
the finger at the USFWS saying that they had to
shut the forests down because of their
designating the 375, 562 acres as Caribou
Critical Habitat or for any other species that
they can use in the name of the ESA.
As stated in
both meetings by the USFWS, they do not take
into account the predation of any possible
caribou that happens to wonder across our border
by the grizzly bear, the Canadian Gray Wolf or
the Cougar.
It is the goal
of the extreme environmentalist to promote their
own agendas and self interests to the detriment
of all of us and our way of life.
One way they
promote their “end justifies the means”
philosophy is their abuse of the Equal Access to
Justice Act (EAJA).
This act was intended to make the justice
system more accessible to individuals of modest
means, small businesses, and nonprofit
organizations through limited recovery of their
attorneys’ fees when they prevail in disputes
with the Federal Government.
Idaho, along with eight other states, is saddled
with the the
U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit which
is full
of activist judges who continuously hear and
rule in favor of the extreme environmentalist.
Subsidized by federal tax dollars, environmental
groups are filing a blizzard of lawsuits that no
longer yield significant gain for the
environment.
During the 1990s, the U.S. Treasury paid
$31.6 million in legal fees for environmental
cases filed against the government.
From 2003
through July, 2007,
$4,716,264,730.00 (yes, that is billion with a
"b") in total payments were paid in taxpayer
dollars from the Judgment Fund for attorney fees
and costs in cases against the federal
government
(www.maninnature.com/Bovines/Cattle/Cattle1d.html).
As long as the
extreme environmentalists are allowed to foster
their program of purity, the judges continue to
rule in their favor, and the federal government
agencies like the USFWS, USFS, EPA, etc., stay
“in cahoots”, you and me, our children and
grandchildren will be denied the ability to
engage nature as God intended.
So, let’s get back to the USFS’s forest plan.
The USFS management plan is solely based on
flawed opinion and assumptions regarding the
ESA. As
pointed out by Tony McDermott, IDFG, no plan
will ever make any sense unless you evaluate all
the predatory relationships between the species
in the affected area (Grizzly Bear, Canadian
Grey Wolf, Mountain Lion, etc.).
Excluding man
from the equation is not the answer, or is it?
If in
fact the larger plan is to remove man from the
area and create a “wilderness zone," then we are
well on our way!
People need to
understand and educate themselves that this is
the single biggest reason why our economy is
dying and why there are no jobs here. Without
food, water and shelter, life cannot exist.
Natural resources make life possible.
Feeling a little
overwhelmed by the Feds?
You are not alone.
So, what can “We the People” do?
·
Every time a
federal government agency comes to town and
dictates to us what they are going to do, we
need to invoke “Coordination.” Boundary, Bonner,
Kootenai, Benewah, and Shoshone Counties, along
with Eastern Washington,
Western Montana
and any other county that feels they are being
encroached upon by the Feds can join this
coalition.
·
The 105
legislators of the State of
Idaho
need to start implementing new legislation
stating that the State of
Idaho
has the ability to manage our own timbered
ecosystems and will do so.
·
Governor Otter
and Attorney General Wasden need to support this
effort.
·
When these
extreme environmental groups go to federal court
and sue, we need to counter sue at a higher
level to slow down this nonsense.
“We the People” have the right to use the
Equal Access to Justice Act.
·
A major overhaul
in the ESA need to be completed, and soon.
Finally, if
all else fails, “We the People” of the State of
Idaho
need to stand up and assert our 10th
amendment rights through the power of the US
Constitution and our state sovereignty.
It’s time to
tell the Federal
Government that we have had enough and we’re not
going to take any more abuse from the
“eco-terrorists” that have set their sites on
north Idaho specifically, and our surrounding
states.
It took many years to get where we are today and
it can’t be fixed overnight, but if we do
nothing, we will have no one else to blame but
ourselves.
We have
compromised ourselves into a corner with the
Feds, the extreme environmentalists and the left
wing of society until we have little choice left
to us.
“We the
People” are here to stay
and I have no plan to
just go away because the Feds say so.
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