Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake (R) Heckles the Anti-Fire Radical Environmentalists

Flake is clearly the nation's largest friend to the taxpayer. He's a "no" kind of voter.

Solar powered chainsaw? We already have solar powered envirowhackos. As soon as the sun goes down, their lights go out.

the group supports forest thinning so long as it does not benefit commercial loggers and is done with solar-powered chainsaws.

So, in reality, the group does not approve of forest thinning at all. First, who is going to thin a forest it they can't make money out of it? Secondly, there is no such thing as a "solar-powered chainsaw".

Oh Lord,
My Garden is So Big,
And My Chainsaw is So Small!

so long as it does not benefit commercial loggers

And there is the crux of thier agenda. When they give up the wood studs in the walls of their houses, then, they should complain about commerical loggers.

/john

It just goes to show that their overriding, primary concern is to put the loggers and lumber companies out of business. Actual concern for the forest is secondary, if it even ranks that high.

Kirsten Stade
Email: vonstade@fguardians.org

Contact Information
Address: Kirsten Stade
Forest Guardians
1411 Second Street
Santa Fe, NM 87505
Phone: 505-988-9126
Fax: 505-989-8623

Profession or Area of Expertise:
Grassland Ecologist

Personal Statement:
I graduated from Stanford University in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in Earth Systems, and went on immediately to an internship with the Park Service in southeast Utah. My passion for western wildlands and the life they support began in my college years, when I spent a summer living in an alcove beneath a rock outcropping in a canyon in southern Utah, and came to feel an incredible kinship with these fragile and beautiful ecosystems. My work with Forest Guardians is motivated by my love for these ecosystems and by a fierce protectiveness for all the wild critters who suffer from the ranching industry and other destructive uses of our public lands.

Why do people with the most oxymoronic names decide to become Representatives?

Probably a good guy, but this is another example of the circus atmosphere sure to occur in the next quarter.

"Solar-powered chain saw", hmmm....

Maybe "low-tech", but how about a magnifying glass?

As soon as the sun goes down, their lights go out.

Actually there never were any lights, it only looks that way due to reflections in an empty skull!

i.e. They do not support thinning of the forests.

Contacts: Martin Taylor, Center for Biological Diversity, (520) 623 5252, ext 307
Kirsten Stade, Forest Guardians, (505) 988 9126 ext 151

SUIT FILED TO ENFORCE PROTECTIONS FOR SIX ENDANGERED SPECIES ON 55 NATIONAL FOREST GRAZING ALLOTMENTS
The Center for Biological Diversity, Tucson Office, and the Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians have filed a complaint against the United States Forest Service in the Federal District Court in Phoenix, alleging multiple failures to implement mandatory protections from livestock grazing for six threatened and endangered species.

Both organizations previously sued the Forest Service in 1997 to stop harm to several endangered species by livestock grazing on hundreds of grazing allotments throughout the southwest. Forest Service biologists confirmed that grazing on many of these allotments would harm the species. In 1999 the Fish and Wildlife Service issued several biological opinions setting forth mandatory restrictions on grazing for many of these allotments so as to reduce harm to the species.

After conducting a year long investigation, the two environmental groups recently found that the Forest Service had failed to observe these restrictions on 55 grazing allotments. The allotments cover 633,870 acres on the Coronado, Coconino, and Tonto National Forests. 53 of the allotments are in the Coronado National Forest. The two groups claim that by failing to monitor and observe grazing restrictions, the three National Forests are in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

"There is a chronic lack of follow-up in endangered species protection" said Dr Martin Taylor, coordinator of the Grazing Reform Program for the Center for Biological Diversity. "Two years after restrictions were put in place, the Forest Service has failed to implement them on these allotments, and six species still face extinction as a result" he concluded.

The investigation uncovered failures to remove livestock when grazing exceeded established limits and, more commonly, failure even to monitor for livestock impacts as required by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Kirsten Stade of the Forest Guardians said that: "If the Forest Service does not have enough staff to administer the grazing program, they should not be issuing grazing permits and allowing this damage to go on the way it has."

Over 13,000 cows roam these parcels of public land every year, causing untold damage to the habitat needed for the survival of many threatened and endangered species.

Three fish species, the endangered Gila Topminnow and Razorback Sucker, and the threatened Little Colorado Spinedace are harmed by livestock damage to soils, streambanks and streamside vegetation, causing erosion, high sediment load and impaired water quality. The Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl is harmed by livestock destruction of the grasses and shrubs that provide food and protective cover for the lizards, rodents and small birds that the owl hunts.The endangered Lesser Long-Nosed Bat is harmed when cattle eat the flower stalks of agaves and trample baby agaves and saguaros, major nectar sources for this species. The endangered Huachuca Water Umbel is a semi-aquatic plant native to the San Pedro and Santa Cruz rivers that is harmed by livestock trampling and degraded stream flow conditions.

The two groups are being represented in this action by the law firm of Kenna and Hickox of Durango, Colorado. The case number CIV 01-2009 PHX JWS has been assigned to Judge John Sedwick in Anchorage, Alaska due to the Arizona Court's overloaded docket.

A bachelor's degree in Earth Systems? These people need a solar-powered boot to the head.

Groups Protest Proposal to Control Predators
Thursday, March 7, 2002

A coalition of wildlife groups is protesting a federal plan that would kill predators if necessary to ensure the survival of bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope it hopes to re-introduce into the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

The Bureau of Land Management environmental assessment for the reintroduction program acknowledges that predators are part of the natural process, but "insists that protective measures are sometimes needed to allow the newly transplanted animals and their young time to become established."

If necessary to the success of the project, which was approved last month, the BLM would work with Utah Department of Natural Resources employees to kill coyotes, mountain lions and fox.

According to the study, any environmental imbalances caused by predator control would return to normal after the herds are established.

The wildlife protection coalition, which includes Forest Guardians, Rocky Mountain Animal Defense, Great Plains Restoration Council and The Fund for Animals, say they will appeal the decision within the U. S. Department of Interior because eliminating predators has unintended biological consequences and would violate the intent of the law that created the monument.

"If the BLM is truly concerned about the survival of native wildlife, it is entirely inappropriate to address it by killing other native wildlife," said Kirsten Stade, a biologist for Forest Guardians. "It's a waste of taxpayer money, and it has been shown to be ineffective. Predator populations rebound."

-- Glen Warchol

Well in order to use a "solar powered chainsaw" you would have to clear about 40 acres of forest of forest for the solar panels to operate one chainsaw.

I wonder how many species were wiped out by these fires, made far worse by these idiots meddeling in something they only THINK they understand.

RangeBiome
A Public Rangeland Almanac

A Cowfree 21st Century

This page is dedicated to the proposition that the commercial production of domestic livestock is no longer an appropriate use of the public lands that make up America's Natural Heritage. Articles, papers, links, and other information in support of A Cowfree 21st Century for the public lands are posted here. Readers who have other such materials or links are encouraged to forward them to rangebiome@rangebiome.org for inclusion on this page.

Stewardship or Rhetoric?
by: Kirsten Stade, posted 4/22/02 (originally submitted to Albuquerque Tribune)

Forest Guardians believes Sherry Robinson’s recent editorial (11-12-01), in which she contends that members of the livestock industry are stewards of the public lands, ignores ecological limits of the arid landscape and completely mischaracterizes our efforts to protect the ecological integrity of the landscape.

We’ll cut right to the chase: If ranching is environmentally compatible, and if it can and does take place in harmony with natural processes and native wildlife, then why are Robinson and the ranchers for whom she speaks worried about environmental litigation brought by Forest Guardians and others?

The answer is that livestock grazing in the arid West is not compatible with wildlife, and is not compatible with healthy ecosystems in the American west. As an example, we would do well to remember the plight of the Southwestern willow flycatcher, an endangered songbird whose fate is inextricably linked with the fate of streams and rivers and the riverside habitat they support. This species has declined dramatically over the past century, as the livestock industry has spread throughout the southwest. This is not surprising when you learn that according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, 80-90% of riparian areas throughout the southwest are in degraded condition. Also according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, this fact is almost entirely attributable to the ravages of livestock grazing in these sensitive habitats.

These people need a solar-powered boot to the head.

They are more likely and more needfull of a ethanol-powered boot the the side of the head. Here, hold his beer.

/john

Report for the week of July 1, 2001

FOIA REQUESTS

On June 22, Kirsten Stade of Grassland Ecologist for Forest Guardians filed a Freedom of Information Act request for information from the Rocky Mountain Region. The request is for copies of programmatic biological assessments prepared for grazing-related activities and forest plans; communications with the Fish and Wildlife Service concerning the assessments; documents related to water-depleting activities relating to grazing on the Platte and San Juan River system; and conservation measures for the southwestern willow flycatcher that have been applied to grazing allotments. The Regional FOIA and Renewable Resources staffs are responding.

sounds like a Nader voter....