One paragraph:
We further understand that there's a great deal of politics in play with this issue. For one thing, a number of city and county officials in the Grand Prairie region want to balance the needs of farmers against the potential income these towns can realize from the woodpecker phenomenon. Some of these towns haven't had a thing to chirp about - pardon the poor pun - until the ivory-billed woodpecker became the rage. It's the one tourism draw these towns have in Arkansas' flatlands.2. "EnviroWhackoRama Continues" here.
3. Cyberthrush weighs in here. An excerpt:
...I do find it interesting though that the numerous vocal critics of the decision seem very quick to assume that they are privy to all the evidence that the judge had at his disposal. Perhaps, perhaps not.
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6 comments:
From CyberCrow: ...speaking of skeptics, how many skeptics does it take to screw in a light bulb? Apparently 2; one to screw the bulb in and one to videotape the whole affair to prove that the first guy did what he claims he did.
Not bad, not bad. Which of course means it's time for a thread that answers this question: How many True Believers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Is the Benton Currier the home town newsper of walmart or is Benton and Bentonville different?
This Op ed is a facinating addition to the literature on the enviro meme that "Nature Tourism" is an effective tool for convincing so called "local communities" to "preserve resources".
This meme has taken root no more strongly than among the "bird conservation" groups.
And the Ivory Bill story has long been linked to the mighty double edge sword of tourism, as the hordes of birders (with dollars falling out of their wallets) was used to justify the extreme secrecy during the run up to the "annoucement" and then promised as to become a major component of the region's economy ever after.
The carpinterio remembers fondly being encouraged by NJAS to leave cards at local sandwich shops in cape may that said "I am a birder and I spend dinero" or something back where there were half a billion red knots and no one thought they were headed toward extinction ... back when the ecotourism meme was still young.
I guess you could look at the Benton paper's op ed's call (through clenched teeth) for "balance" and "compromise" as a good thing.
Unfortunately the conservation community has now officially created a "valdez" moment for the non conservation side by resorting to litigation, and high pitched sales of ecotourism futures over a bird that has not been documented to exist, much less breed in the area.
How many True Believers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
______________________________
Obviously, the answer is none because belief is more important than reality.
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As Tom and many others predicted this fiasco is going to hurt the overall conservation movement in the long term. Short term gain and fame for CLO, TNC, and their followers.
Does anyone know the timing of this lawsuit? I would suspect that since this irrigation issue has been on-going for a while then the lawsuit might have been filed soon after the bird was "rediscovered".
In other words, on good faith that the bird was indeed refound. After all, there was a big announcement by the feds and a "peer-reviewed" paper to support the news.
So, could the reason that Fitzcrow et al felt such a need to rebutt Jackson and Sibley was simply the need to support the lawsuit freighttrain that was already set in motion?
I mean do these fellows feel trapped by their own events?
Speaking of the Red Knot declines here's a misguided IBWO quote from Eric Stiles, VP for Conservation and Stewardship, on NJAudubon's site from 2005:
http://www.njaudubon.org/conservation/HScrabalert.html
"Red Knot declines are the most drastic among shorebirds worldwide; and Red Knots now have the dubious honor of being one of the most endangered animals in the United States. Some give the Ivory-billed Woodpecker a better chance of survival."
It's been said before, but conservation needs to be based on science... somebody should point that out to Eric.
The real question is "How many true believers does it take to screw in a kayak?"
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