John Muir's tears from Heaven
Historian and wonderful film maker Ken Burns stated that the single greatest achievement of the USAwas the establishment of the Natural Parks system, the first of it's kind in the entire world.
Naturalist John Muir was a key figure in both the concept and the battle of getting it finally done.
It forever preserved natural lands as a refuge for the public to appreciate the natural beauty of undisturbed undeveloped lands.
Unfortunately, several acts by the scammer-in-chief, Trump, are severely threatening OUR parks.
First Trump raised the price of admission. Then, he made it possible for companies to mine and drill for oil in the parks.
Now, he opens up preserved land in Alaska to severe barbaric extreme hunting techniques.
Yes, the ANYTHING for money lowlife president strikes again.
In response to:
Trump Team Moves To Lift Ban On 'Extreme' Hunting Tactics In Alaska
HuffPost Chris D'Angelo,HuffPost Mon, May 21 6:28 PM EDT
The Trump administration on Monday proposed rolling back a 2015 rule that bans aggressive predator control tactics
in national preserves in Alaska, including shooting bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens, a move
immediately blasted by environmental groups.
The proposal, slated to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register, would amend the National Park Service’s current regulations
to again allow for controversial sport hunting and trapping techniques on roughly 20 million acres of federal lands in Alaska.
The park service, part of the Department of the Interior, said lifting the prohibitions would increase hunting opportunities
on national preserve land, as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called for in a pair of secretarial orders last year.
The proposed rule would allow hunters to lure brown and black bears with bait, hunt black bears and their cubs using artificial lights,
shoot bear cubs and wolf and coyote pups in their dens, and use dogs to hunt black bears.
It would also allow hunters to shoot swimming caribou from motorboats.
Allowing the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens is barbaric and inhumane. Jamie Rappaport Clark,
Defenders of Wildlife president and CEO
Environmental groups voiced disgust at the attempt to strip away protections.
“I’m outraged that [President Donald] Trump and his trophy-hunting cronies are promoting the senseless slaughter
of Alaska’s most iconic wildlife,” said Collette Adkins, a lawyer and biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Cruel and harmful hunting methods like killing bear cubs and their mothers near dens have no place on our national preserves.”
Defenders of Wildlife said the 2015 park service rule prevented “extreme methods of killing predators.”
“The Trump administration has somehow reached a new low in protecting wildlife,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark,
the nonprofit’s president and CEO. “Allowing the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens is barbaric and inhumane.
The proposed regulations cast aside the very purpose of national parks to protect wildlife and wild places.”
The park service said in an emailed statement the proposed rule would “establish consistency” with state regulations.
“The conservation of wildlife and habitat for future generations is a goal we share with Alaska,” agency regional director Bert Frost said.
A 60-day public comment period begins Tuesday.
The proposal comes a little more than a year after Congress approved a measure to repeal an Obama-era rule
that largely banned hunting of Alaska’s most iconic predators in Alaska’s national wildlife refuges.
The Republican-sponsored legislation opened the door for the state to resume aggressive predator control tactics,
including shooting bears and wolves from airplanes, on more than 76 million acres of refuge land.
Trump signed that bill into law in April 2017.
Trump Team Moves To Lift Ban On 'Extreme' Hunting Tactics In Alaska
HuffPost Chris D'Angelo,HuffPost Mon, May 21 6:28 PM EDT
The Trump administration on Monday proposed rolling back a 2015 rule that bans aggressive predator control tactics
in national preserves in Alaska, including shooting bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens, a move
immediately blasted by environmental groups.
The proposal, slated to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register, would amend the National Park Service’s current regulations
to again allow for controversial sport hunting and trapping techniques on roughly 20 million acres of federal lands in Alaska.
The park service, part of the Department of the Interior, said lifting the prohibitions would increase hunting opportunities
on national preserve land, as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called for in a pair of secretarial orders last year.
The proposed rule would allow hunters to lure brown and black bears with bait, hunt black bears and their cubs using artificial lights,
shoot bear cubs and wolf and coyote pups in their dens, and use dogs to hunt black bears.
It would also allow hunters to shoot swimming caribou from motorboats.
Allowing the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens is barbaric and inhumane. Jamie Rappaport Clark,
Defenders of Wildlife president and CEO
Environmental groups voiced disgust at the attempt to strip away protections.
“I’m outraged that [President Donald] Trump and his trophy-hunting cronies are promoting the senseless slaughter
of Alaska’s most iconic wildlife,” said Collette Adkins, a lawyer and biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Cruel and harmful hunting methods like killing bear cubs and their mothers near dens have no place on our national preserves.”
Defenders of Wildlife said the 2015 park service rule prevented “extreme methods of killing predators.”
“The Trump administration has somehow reached a new low in protecting wildlife,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark,
the nonprofit’s president and CEO. “Allowing the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens is barbaric and inhumane.
The proposed regulations cast aside the very purpose of national parks to protect wildlife and wild places.”
The park service said in an emailed statement the proposed rule would “establish consistency” with state regulations.
“The conservation of wildlife and habitat for future generations is a goal we share with Alaska,” agency regional director Bert Frost said.
A 60-day public comment period begins Tuesday.
The proposal comes a little more than a year after Congress approved a measure to repeal an Obama-era rule
that largely banned hunting of Alaska’s most iconic predators in Alaska’s national wildlife refuges.
The Republican-sponsored legislation opened the door for the state to resume aggressive predator control tactics,
including shooting bears and wolves from airplanes, on more than 76 million acres of refuge land.
Trump signed that bill into law in April 2017.
How anyone could support the lowlife scammer-in-chief is beyond me.
Comments (19)
Intensive Management in Alaska
Alaska's Predator Control Programs
Overview
Alaska's Programs
Research & Resources
Intensive management (IM) programs are authorized under a specific procedure where the Alaska Board of Game determines a particular ungulate population important for providing high levels of human consumptive use and sets population and harvest objectives for deer, caribou, or moose in those specific areas. Those programs are listed under Active IM Programs or Inactive IM Programs on these pages. For other prey species harvested by hunters or in other areas, the Commissioner of ADF&G may authorize predation control to recover depleted prey populations under Alaska Statute 16.05.020(2), and the Board may adopt regulations for similar purpose under AS 16.05.255(a)(6). Programs authorized under either of these authorities are listed under Other Programs.
Predation control programs, authorized under intensive management regulations, are currently active in four specific areas in Alaska, covering approximately 5% of the state's land area. These programs are designed to reduce predation by wolves or bears and increase moose, caribou, or deer populations that are a needed food source for Alaskans.
Each predation control program employs specific methods to increase sustainable ungulate harvest. In these areas, predators will be reduced but not eliminated. The goal is to reduce predation rates, allowing humans to take more ungulates while also maintaining sustainable populations of predators.
Before any predation control program begins, the Alaska Board of Game reviews the program's feasibility and proposed operation plan and then adopts a regulation to authorize the predation control if the program is approved. Those regulations, formally adopted in the Alaska Administrative Code in Title 5, Chapter 92, contain detailed information about each predation control area. You will find links to the regulation and implementation plan for each program listed here. View the entire Intensive Management and Predator Control section (5 AAC 92.106 – 5 AAC 92.127).
The Interior Department is abandoning a plan to more than double entrance fees to some of the country's most popular national parks, opting instead to apply a "modest" fee increase to 117 parks beginning this summer in an effort to raise funds for park maintenance.
The announcement Thursday comes after an outcry from the public and from lawmakers, who were concerned that certain large increases that were initially proposed would price people out of the nation's parks.
The original proposal, which called for nearly tripling entrance fees to 17 of the most popular parks during their peak season, generated more than 100,000 public comments.
"I want to thank the American people who made their voices heard through the public comment process on the original fee proposal," Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a statement. "Your input has helped us develop a balanced plan that focuses on modest increases at the 117 fee-charging parks as opposed to larger increases proposed for 17 highly visited national parks."
Entrance fees for vehicles will increase by $5 at the fee-charging parks, starting in June. Park-specific annual passes will also cost more, though the price will vary from park to park.
The price for the annual "America the Beautiful" pass, which allows access to most parks, and the Lifetime Senior Pass will continue to be $80.
More than two-thirds of national parks, historic sites and monuments will remain free to enter, the National Park Service says.
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Here's a complete list of the fee increases.
The National Park Service has said it needs to increase entrance fees to its parks to help cover the cost of $11.6 billion in deferred maintenance in the nation's park system — a backlog that ranges from crumbling roadways and campgrounds to aging sewage systems.
The Interior Department's original proposal was projected to raise $70 million a year. Officials hoped to capitalize on record visitor numbers to hugely popular national parks like Zion, Yosemite, Yellowstone and Glacier.
The park service estimates that the new plan, once fully implemented, will increase annual entrance fee revenue by $60 million. Entrance fees reached $199 million in fiscal 2016, according to the agency.
Most of that money stays in the park where it's collected.
"Fees do have a role to play in our parks," Theresa Pierno, the president and CEO of the nonprofit advocacy group the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement. "he administration's move to abandon its original proposal in favor of more measured fee increases will put additional funds into enhancing park experiences without threatening visitation or local economies."
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The NPCA opposed the larger fee increase when it was first proposed.
Pierno and Zinke both stated that the fee increase alone is not enough to address the park system's maintenance backlog.
Zinke is pushing Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that would use revenue from new energy development on federal land and water to address park maintenance. Zinke says the proposal could generate $18 billion for the park service over 10 years.
Pierno and the NPCA are calling on Congress to increase funding to the nation's parks.
Trump wanted significant fee increases;
Plus, the lifetime senior citizen pass increased from $10 to $80 ! That fee increase is not "modest".
The fees increases will be moderate and are needed to help cover the costs of maintaining roads and other up keep in the parks. Have you even been to a National Park lately to see how crowded they have become? They are being loved to death. $5 more per vehicle won't hurt anybody.
This from the article I linked: "Entrance fees for vehicles will increase by $5 at the fee-charging parks, starting in June. Park-specific annual passes will also cost more, though the price will vary from park to park.
The price for the annual "America the Beautiful" pass, which allows access to most parks, and the Lifetime Senior Pass will continue to be $80.
More than two-thirds of national parks, historic sites and monuments will remain free to enter, the National Park Service says.
You are twisting the facts. Trump tried to significantly increase the fees.
The public stopped it.
Give Trump time to figure out how to make $ for himself off of those too however,
Fees from hunting and fishing licenses are actually used for wildlife conservation. Balancing the needs of humans and animals isn't always easy, but it is a job better performed by experts in the field than by limousine liberals living in gated communities.
That is NOT what this is about. Stop TRYING to confuse things.
Shooting wolves from helicopters, caribo from mototrized boats, killing bear & wolf cubs is totally unacceptable.
You would do more good for your cause if you stuck to the facts and didn't try and make it sound like Trump came up with predator control. All he did was sign a bill passed by congress that turned predator control decisions back over to the state of Alaska. The goal of Alaska's predator control is to increase the number of caribou, moose, deer, elk herds to provide more available food for Alaskans who depend on it...…...by eliminating the numbers of predators who also kill and eat the game. They have a certain number of wolves they want reduced in certain areas and they do allow hunting from helicopters by government hunters to achieve those numbers. However this may be the last year they try this control since it hasn't lead to the increase in herd populations they had hoped for. I also read they are not going to be killing black bears for predator control this year.
That's a crucial part of what presidents do. Some veto bad bills and others sign them.
Apparently deciding which is appropriate to sign and which should get a veto is beyond Trump's capability.