In an unfortunate decision, the Department of the Interior did not designate the Greater Sage Grouse an endangered species, though the bird’s status will be reviewed yearly, because scientists at the United States Fish and Wildlife Service had determined that the bird is endangered, but not as endangered as other species, meaning that the grouse would be categorized as “warranted but precluded.”
Despite the fact that the bird did not get listed as an endangered species, one gibbering idiot, Republican representative Rob Bishop of Utah, was not happy: “Today’s unnecessary federal designation is one more on a growing list of examples that this administration places environmental special interests before job creation.”
Even he wasn’t as big a jerk as another Republican representative from Utah, Jason Chaffetz, “The only good place for a sage grouse to be listed is on the menu of a French bistro,” he said recently. “It does not deserve federal protection, period.”
UGH. Those comments are infuriating. Maybe protecting them could CREATE some jobs – more land managers, some biologists, etc.
I thought representative Chaffetz’s comments were clever. The sage grouse is holding it’s own due to the efforts of the people working in industries that make a living in the western states. Getting tired of someone living in New York City telling us westerners what is good for us. Come spend some time out here before you tell us what to do with our land
@Patrick: I know, right?
@Randy: Chaffetz’s comment was ignorant. Sage grouse, according to all accounts from anyone who has eaten it, tastes horrible. The sage grouse is not holding its own, which is the whole reason its population is declining, as per the Audubon Society:
“This species’ historic range once included parts of 16 states and three provinces, but now encompasses only 11 states and two provinces. In all these remaining states and provinces, Greater Sage-Grouse has experienced a range reduction and/or population decline.”
No one is telling you what is good for you. What concerns me is what is good for the sage grouse, something that obviously does not concern you one bit.
Randy: And the rest of the conservation world is well past fed up with people living in the areas where these birds are being destroyed telling the rest of us to butt out because we don’t ‘understand’. It may amaze the ‘west’ to know that even people in the UK can read what’s going on in Sage Grouse country through the internet, newspapers, online conversations, books etc etc. The argument that only local residents are aware of a situation died out with the invention of the printing press.
Have a good day.
Conventional wisdom states that only a westerner “understands” the issues well enough to be a proper Secretary of the Interior. It’s the same conventional wisdom that states that only Republicans can hold high-ranking defense positions because only they “understand” the military.
I guess what I’m saying is conventional wisdom sucks hard.
The decision could work out for the sage grouse by forcing people who own land used by sage grouse to protect the bird. They don’t want it to be listed, because that would limit what they could use their land for. Therefore, it would make sense for them to try to keep the birds population up so as to avoid the federal regulations that would follow if the bird was listed.
It’s interesting how Mr. Bishop replaced the words “the environment” or “endangered species” with “environmental special interests.” Weighing the environment against job creation is a trade-off for many people, but when its “environmental special interests” against job creation, it’s no contest. Mr. Chaffetz is not being clever. If the whole point of this decision is for it to be a compromise, then saying stuff like that pretty much ruins any hope of a compromise.
We, the American people, own the land most critical to the sage-grouse. We, the American peOple, are not protecting the land – especially with rancher Ken Salazar – a shameless shill for industry – as Interior Secretary..
BLM and Forest Service land that is the heart of this bird’s habitat is OURS. Salazar is in charge of BLM as well as USFWS who makes Listing Decisions.
U.S. taxpayers right now are massively subsidizing the destruction of these sage-grouse habitats by public lands welfare ranching. Ranchers (increasingly hobby ranchers, foreign gold mines, water miners, etc.) acquire public lands grazing permits through purchase of “base properties”. BLM and the Forest spend huge sums just administering these permits – where ranchers pay $1.35 per month to graze a cow. And the cattle and sheep trash the streams, and spread weeds that cause the sage-grouse habitat to burn up.
PLUS huge wind farms are now targeting some of the last remaining sage-grouse strongholds.
See http://www.westernwatersheds.org
In most civilized countries, representatives would be kicked out of their office by a law suit after such silly and ignorant comments.
And, not to beat a dead horse, but Chaffetz was also one of thirteen to vote AGAINST “H.Res.362. It expresses the House’s support for the goals and ideals of the National School Lunch Program and ‘recognizes that our pupils deserve access to high-quality, safe, and nutritious meals in school.'”
What a jerk.
It is interesting to watch those that feel it was a mistake to settle America tell us from there concrete jungle in Queens how to live in the west. There is not a bird or a wild mammal in all of queens. Please leave the west along or we will cut America in half and you can have east of the Mississippi.
@jgjjackson: Your stupidity is only overcome by your inability to tell one homophone from another and your inability to spell. Had you bothered to read (assuming you can) any of my posts on this blog you would have some idea as to the amazing array of wild creatures that make their way through Queens.
And I’m glad you are so patriotic as to offer to partition the country.
Idiot.