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Stop the loss of America's wilderness – speak out by 9/30

Tell the Obama administration to support a strong conservation agenda

Sign the Petition

Dear John,

Thanks to the foresight of previous generations and conservation pioneers like Teddy Roosevelt, America has long enjoyed a public lands system unmatched anywhere else in the world.

Yet only 5% of total U.S. land is currently designated as wilderness, and our nation is losing open space at the rate of 5,000 acres every day - equivalent to losing two Yosemite National Parks every year.

The Obama administration is currently asking Americans for input on a new conservation plan called America's Great Outdoors that will shape our nation's approach to wilderness conservation for decades.

With growing pressure on our lands from population growth, vandalism, and risky oil and gas development, this could be one of our last opportunities to leave future generations a lasting natural legacy.

The deadline for adding your name in support of a strong conservation agenda is September 30th. We cannot waste this rare opportunity to speak up for bold leadership in preserving America's most beautiful and precious wild places for generations.

Our children -- and our children's children -- are counting on us to get this right.

We have a shared responsibility to protect the natural world upon which we depend. It's up to all of us to advocate for protecting our nation's disappearing public lands so we can continue to benefit from clean water, healthy air, recreation activities and restoration jobs for years to come.

The deadline to speak up for a strong conservation agenda is September 30th -- please don't miss this historic chance to leave your mark on our national conservation strategy.

Take action now and tell the Obama administration to put a bold conservation plan in place to preserve America's beautiful wild places and precious natural resources.

Thanks for adding your voice,

- The Change.org Team

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I'm all for setting aside wildlife conservation areas...a big proponent for reduction in habitat loss. Is this a good way to go about it?
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Here is my opinion. I think we should save tracts of land and marine habitat which are representative of different biomes as well as those important to the overall health of the planet. Focus less on the "pretty places with big rocks" and more on areas productive to as many types of wild things as possible. Also particularly productive areas which will benefit commercially important species like the MPAs ( marine protected areas ). Let those commercially valuable fishes, turtles, etc reproduce. Protect watersheds and as much marsh lands as practical. I think an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Restoration should be a last resort. I do not believe in prohibition as in protecting the removal of a non-endangered species. Will never work. Use does not have to equal abuse. Those who use a resource care about that resource more than those who have a hands off relationship to it. I know this from my work in Alaska. Our species is here to stay and I think we can coexist with nature in a better and more sustainable way. A hands off approach though will never work. Never has. There is my 1 cent.

I agree with all that. But what is this plea/effort going to accomplish? Will it benefit the things you've mentioned. Or, will it be more in the vein of the nature extremists.
Don't want pristine parkland for humans to play in. No resorts. No golf courses, ball fields, equestrian centers, etc. Don't want hands off lands with exclusive access only for the elitist authority figures, either.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

A friend just sent me this link in regard to my question:
LINK
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

I dunno John-that sounds like pretty standard "James Watt" style "profits vs wildlife" grousing.

I could find nothing in this initiative which would do anything to eliminate hunting, fishing or other sustainable recreational activities, and if that is indeed the case I would be wholeheartedly behind protecting MUCH more land from industrial and agricultural development. I just came back from northern NM, where I greatly enjoyed spending time hiking, birding and fly fishing on our public lands (Carson National Forest, in particular).
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase and Striped Desert California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

Here's a link to Trout Unlimited's take on this. I highly respect that organization, and if they're behind it, that's more than good enough for me.

http://takeaction.tu.org/c.ntJSJ8MPIqE/b.5381441/k.8E2C/Take_Action/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=ntJSJ8MPIqE&b=5381441&aid=14681
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase and Striped Desert California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

Brad, what I've noticed is that land set aside for commercial hunting and fishing interests is the norm. Not much value/consideration given to land set aside just because some animal needs habitat to avoid extinction and that animal has no commercial value.

An example -- Everybody is on the bandwagon for saving the Box Turtles nowadays. Consider this -- there would never have been a "pet" Box Turtle market had the Feds not initiated the 4" Rule.

There has been a lot of environmental talk lately to the effect of "watch where you tread", meaning there are far reaching ramifications to everything Man does to the environment. An epiphany?

Example -- Here in South Texas Rattlesnakes, Bullsnakes, and other large apex serpent populations have been diminished to the point that the varmints they run a check on are an epidemic. I personally believe that may have something to do with the Box Turtles demise.

The "leave it to the experts/authorities" mentality has a lot to do with all this, IMHO. We've outsourced/delegated our God given obligation to stewardship of our Natural Resources to ineptness, corruption, and malaise.

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

John,

Not sure what you're getting at here-after all "commercial hunting" is illegal in this country, as is most freshwater commercial fishing?
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase and Striped Desert California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

>>I dunno John-that sounds like pretty standard "James Watt" style "profits vs wildlife" grousing.
>>
>>I could find nothing in this initiative which would do anything to eliminate hunting, fishing or other sustainable recreational activities, and if that is indeed the case I would be wholeheartedly behind protecting MUCH more land from industrial and agricultural development. I just came back from northern NM, where I greatly enjoyed spending time hiking, birding and fly fishing on our public lands (Carson National Forest, in particular).
>>-----

Brad,

There are extremists on BOTH sides. But it's readily apparent that the left extremists have no problem disguising their agenda as feel-good programs "for the environment." Look, we all agree we want to protect the environment, wildlife, biodiversity, etc. But am I supposed to have faith in a President and administration that

1)keeps throwing my tax dollars down the toilet?
2)blatantly lies (ie, "health care costs will go down with our plan", then 6 months later, "oh, no health care costs will not go down"

Am I supposed to have faith in the DOI, which created the burmese python hysteria by publishing garbage "research" that a 12 year old snake hobbyist would laugh at?

Fool me once...

Thanks,
Ed

Well, to my mind you err on the side of caution when it comes to protecting the environment-after all, the money and lobbying power are definitely there on the other side of these questions, eh? It's up to us as private individuals (and through honorable and scientifically-oriented orgs such as TU , DU, RMEF, CCA, NWF etc) to make sure the right thing is done by our admittedly venal and ill-informed representatives in Washington!

I think so far this century both administrations have proven themselves adept at throwing away our tax dollars. I see little to choose between them on that score.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase and Striped Desert California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

You are 100% correct and I forgot to inject that into my argument. Any resources set aside for future and current generations need to be held for all. You and I own it as much as anyone. I was angry when I saw that Black Gap was being considered for privatization for that very reason. I was angry that commercial fishing will soon be IFQ everywhere. I have also seen a golf course develop one my favorite places I visited as a kid. I spent hundreds of hours there catching red diamonds, rosies, horn lizards, etc. I am against exclusionary principals till someone? thing proves themselves too reckless for the common good. BP, I say kick em out and lease to responsible American companies. Now I am ranting. I do think that areas should be set aside for everyone but that exclusion and regulation-to-the-death will make for a very unhappy bunch of citizens. Just a thought.

I don't know about you but I will fight for what belongs to us all. Simplest thing I have written all day.

You should look at biodiversity which includes 3 factors: #1...number of different species present...#2.....number of threatened or endangered species present...#3 number of endemic species...These are the important factors to consider that make specific wild places of great importance...Those places that have an abundance of all 3 factors are of the upmost importance...
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

Areas that are corridors that connect one area to another are just as important as the core areas with the greatest biodiversity and should be considered with the same level of importance.

Ed

That's all good and I agree wholeheartedly. I'm just a bit skeptical of Government at this point. Only in America can we take a simple concept and pervert it with so many evolutions, complications, gyrations as to be counter productive in the end.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

But remember all the good "government" has done for conservation in the past-The "Wilderness Act", our national park and refuge system, the ban on DDT and PCBs, the Clean Water Act, the Wilderness Act, our system of National Forests and Grasslands...I could go on and on.

As I've said before, government is only as good as the citizenry which elects it. Cynical, ignorant, ill-informed and/or merely complacent voters open the door for bad, inefficient and/or "bought and paid for" politicians.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase and Striped Desert California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

Like I've always said, "we get the government we deserve". And right now America is chocked full of dumb MoFo's. The Python issue is emblematic.
Moving in the direction of Mexico socioeconomically. More dependent on government assistance. More below the poverty line.
Basically an ignorant helpless citizenry dependent on Government for their subsistence.
That concentrates power in too few hands, in my opinion.
I agree good in the past, but the trend in recent years has not been good. Not getting any better, either.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Amen to that, John. As always, follow the money-who's out there trying to improve our education in math and science, and who seems to be working to keep the populace "dumbed down"? The less educated the voters, the more easily are they influenced by simplistic slogans and demagoguery.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase and Striped Desert California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

Brad, unfortunately you've just included a big part of our house and senate as well as many other elected officials...LOL
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

>>That's all good and I agree wholeheartedly. I'm just a bit skeptical of Government at this point. Only in America can we take a simple concept and pervert it with so many evolutions, complications, gyrations as to be counter productive in the end.
>>jsc
>>-----
>>"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
>>John Crickmer

That's really the debate, imo. We can discuss on this forum the specifics of how to best preserve and protect our wildlife and environment, but that's all moot if the government is either incompetent or taking the land under false pretenses.

Coincidentally, I am now at the book store doing some light reading (The Communist Manifesto.) I just read the following:

"... the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property."

I only hope that those that might label me (or anyone else) as a paranoid nutcase for even mentioning the word "Communists" at least read some of the writings of Marx and his followers.

We are already a Socialist Nation...limited personal property ownership and redistribution of wealth.
I don't quite believe we'll make the Communist model, rather the Fascist model would be more apt for the direction we're moving.
jsc
-----
"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

>>We are already a Socialist Nation...limited personal property ownership and redistribution of wealth.
>>I don't quite believe we'll make the Communist model, rather the Fascist model would be more apt for the direction we're moving.
>>jsc
>>-----
>>"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
>>John Crickmer

I don't think the Communist model can be achieved, since it's an illogical construct, and history has shown that trying to reach the Communist Utopia has disastrous consequences. But that doesn't stop idealists who want to gain power by creating class warfare and perpetuating the Utopian myth of a classless society where the government is magically void of any corruption or unethical behavior.

Thanks,
Ed

Actually I'm in total agreement. One of our biggest problems are wildlife corriders...
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

to this entire subject-I found it on the Trout Unlimited website, and it nicely sums up the situation.

Unfortunately, politics never really disappear from the conservation conversation. A decade ago, many in the Republican camp assumed that, because sportsmen often champion the traditionally conservative mission to back the Second Amendment, hunters and anglers were fully invested in other right-leaning policies regarding resource extraction, industrial development and privatization. Democrats, on the other hand, assumed sportsmen and women resided in the political back pocket of the conservative agenda, and therefore listened more closely to those in the environmental movement, thereby marginalizing the hunters and anglers who were interested in a more moderate approach to landscape-level protection.

It was then that we, as hunters and anglers, convinced politicians that protecting habitat also protected our opportunity to hunt and fish – now and for generations to come. Politicians began to understand that sportsmen and women were approaching conservation not from a political perspective, but from a deeply-held cultural point of view. With guidance from the SCP, sportsmen stopped the proposed liquidation of federal public lands, and played prominent roles in the campaigns to protect Montana's Rocky Mountain Front and New Mexico's Valle Vidal from unnecessary and intrusive oil and gas drilling.
-----
Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase and Striped Desert California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles