Posted on 06/28/2005 1:23:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
GROVE POINT - Jim Twohy's waterfront home might soon tumble into the Chesapeake Bay from atop a 60-foot cliff. He wants to build a wall to save the house, but some meddlesome neighbors are standing in the way.
The neighbors are puritan tiger beetles, a threatened species half an inch long. To protect the bugs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to stop construction of a rock barrier that Twohy and his civic association say is necessary to prevent a half-dozen houses from toppling into the water.
Although Twohy had never heard of the beetle until he applied for a permit last year, it turns out the puritans have highly rigid breeding rituals that happen to clash not only with development but also with many people's ideas of environmental protection.
The drab little insect demands the continued breakdown of cliffs along the Chesapeake Bay - active erosion - so its larvae can tunnel into crumbling clay beside the water. The rock wall that Twohy wants to build would stop the erosion and, thus, could illegally prevent the beetles from reproducing.
"We've heard a lot of support for the puritan tiger beetle from the federal government," said Twohy, 65, a retired computer consulting executive. "But what about the concerns of citizens, their lives and homes, and keeping the Chesapeake Bay clear of muddy runoff and siltation, which is killing marine life?"
Several clashes like this one across the country - over development plans complicated by the Delhi sands flower-loving fly in California or the eyeless Kretschmarr cave mold beetle in Texas - have persuaded some congressional Republicans to push for overhauling the Endangered Species Act.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Well, that covers all property owners! Every bit of land is part of some ecosystem, just like every piece is part of a watershed. They use broad definitions so they can snare us all in their net...
Society of Environmental Journalists
and all I'll say is the Environmental movement and its acolytes never cease to annoy me.
It is a psuedo-religion, or a substitute for more mainline religious beliefs, nothing more.
I like the older ideas of husbandry and conservation-- use it, replentish it, preserve it, while still benefitting from nature.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
BTTT!!!!!!
Do what you need to do.
And never mention it.
The misguided Republicans and Nixon are the ones who instituted the damned ESA -- you really expect them to fix it? Be serious!
When they took the fifth amendment,
I was quiet because I didn't own real estate.
When they took the fourth amendment,
I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs.
When they took the sixth amendment,
I was quiet because I was innocent.
When they took the second amendment,
I was quiet because I didn't own a gun.
Now they've taken the first amendment,
and I can say nothing about it.
No.
I expect us to keep pushing them to do it.
It is OUR JOB to tell them what to do.
what happens to the damm things when their habitat compleatly erodes?
These people have no dammed brains at all
They move on.
I wonder how many animal's breeding grounds the Kennedy Compound currently occupies in Hyannis on Cape Cod? John Kerry's five mansions? How about Barbra Streisand's castle on the coast of California?
Maybe someone ought to throw an few handfuls of these beetles onto their property and let nature do its thing.
Environmentalist Whackos ----- The only species on the planet that cares more for other species than for its own.
And when his house falls into the Chesapeake, they'll charge him with dumping in a protected waterway.
Maybe landowners realize that if they speak up, they're just begging the feds to find some "endangered species" on their property.
What a delicious idea. Bravo!
Why should a few homes stand in the way of a balanced eco-system?
They spun Zell Miller right out of his party.
He still calls himself a Democrat but the party isn't his anymore.
They can't tax bugs.
endangered human bump
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