Replies

"You don't know diddly about these people, or me."

I don't know diddly about you, but I was an active environmentalist for a decade or more. I know alot about them. I don't work with them anymore because I don't like the direction they are taking and I don't like the fact that they don't respect others' rights to enjoy the wilderness.

"Then why, pray tell, are so many of their policies inevitably destructive to the fish? They think whatever they are told to think buy a professorate and bureaucrats with vested interests in the outcome, not to mention politicians who make a good buck pleasing the corporate interests that cash in on the game."

That's part of why I left the movement. These species consevaration plans often do not protect nature because there are no scientists verifying that they will.

"When your friend has spent $250,000 on land and improvements, spent fifteen weeks solid bent over weeding, when your friend is willing to hang off the end of a rope over a cliff to do it, then I'll know he "cares." Until then, he's doing his volunteer work for self aggrandizement and the sheer pleasure of controlling other people's land."

Well excuse him for being poor and not being able to shell out $250,000 to restore habitat. And what makes you think he is doing this out of "self-aggrandizement" or a desire to "control other people's land?" You don't know him, and you are apparantly unaware that his work is on public land, not yours. He is a retired botanist, and just because he is doing this in his retirement doesn't make him evil for not accepting money for his work. Older people, when they retire, do volunteer work often. Why have you decided to dislike my friend? He doesn't crawl around on private property or file lawsuits. He is an older man who has decided to do this instead of working at a VFW thrift shop or picking up trash on the highway. Who are you to judge his interests?

"It's very easy to show that your friend is very likely to be a plant killer."

Again, you have decided to dislike my friend, for no reason, and the only info I gave you was that every spring, he drives through California taking photos of wildflowers and donating them to museums. I am baffled. I can't see why your long reply seems aimed at discrediting him for his hobby.

"Here's how: Take tarweed for example. This is a species that is endangered in Santa Cruz County. Never mind that it probably isn't a separate species and produces viable hybrids, let's just presume it is in trouble. Well, what do the econuts have codified into law?"

Wait a minute. You have classified this botanist as an eco nut, simply because he takes pictures of flowers and categorizes them.

"They have the land where there is tarweed REQUIRED to be preserved, and not touched. Too bad for them that the plant REQUIRES occasional disturbance to survive. It pops up all over wherever a bulldozer has broken up the surface. Worse, a no disturbance policy absolutely guarantees eventual weed infestation and thereafter, extinction."

I assure you my friend knows full well (30 years of study) where plants, grasses and flowers belong. He is an expert on all of the above. I assure you he knows where tarweed should and shouldn't be and what helps it grow and what doesn't. For instance, there is a road that was cut into a hill near where I live, and as a result, it is very rich in wildflower diversity. He said he was glad they cut the road, whereas you probably think he wants to move the mountain back over it. You have my friend pegged wrong.

"Most plants on the endangered list in California are either threatened by weeds or are post disturbance (early succession) species."

That is obvious. But there are reasons why weeds grow in certain areas. Overgrazing can cause this, as it has on my family's property. My rancher uncle is the one who told me this, not an eco-nut.

"That's how stupid and destructive these people are, and clearly, so are you to have taken such a pompous position without knowing what you are talking about or whom you are addressing. Your covetous greed to control other people's property without any accountability for the consequences makes me puke."

Please explain to me where I said anything that would indicate that I desire to control anyone's private property.
You will have a hard time finding that, because it doesn't exist. I suspect you have drawn conclusions about me because I favor wildlife conservation, but donating money to BUY land, or being concerned about the steelhead population is NOT the same as telling my neighbor not to cut a tree down.

"Read the tagline, and repent."

Repent of what? Am I supposed to hate nature because I believe in Jesus? What has paying fishing license fees or saying I don't want my community to turn into a city have to do with sin? Should my friend repent for his wildflower hobby?