So here it is again for my fellow CF retrobates:
One more reason Trump's picks are truly historical. This one is great for sportsmen.
I got this Thursday day from our lobbyist, who is originally from Idaho and a true sportsman himself. This appeared in DC media:
"Zinke pick shows hunting, fishing groups hold a line to Trump
By Esther Whieldon and Annie Snider
12/15/2016
Hook and bullet groups appear to have the ear of the Trump administration on environmental issues, if the selection of Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke as Interior secretary is any indication.
That job has been sportsmen's groups’ top priority in the incoming Trump administration, and they have had two clear criteria for any candidate: A leader who was a hunter or angler, and someone with a strong commitment to keeping public lands public.
The groups objected to several names that were floated for the job because those candidates didn't check either of those boxes — including Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who last week was seen as the frontrunner for the job. When Donald Trump Jr. hit the phones, asking conservation groups for their suggestions, the sportsmen voiced their fears about her stance on public lands, sources close to the discussions say.
Zinke was among the names floated to the president-elect's oldest son, who is himself an avid sportsman, and other potential candidates included Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval. Within a matter of days, McMorris Rodgers’ star had fallen, and Zinke was called in for a Monday meeting, along with Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho).
While sportsmen’s groups can’t claim all the credit for the turn of events, they are heartened that the expected Zinke nomination shows their voices were heard — and will continue to be.
“There was some negative reaction to some of the names that were put forward and those comments were shared all the way to the very, very top,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation.
“We’re not going to win on every issue, but I think we’ll have the ability to make our case. And at this point, that’s all we can ask for,” he added.
Conservationists see Zinke, a freshman Montana congressman and colorful former Navy SEAL commander, as someone who shares their values and isn’t afraid to stand his ground in the face of opposition.
He has bucked his party on efforts by House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) to transfer public lands back to the states, and even resigned as a delegate to the RNC this summer because the party platform included language calling for the sale of public lands.
Zinke was also the lone Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee to support a Democratic amendment to permanently authorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund last year — a top priority for conservation groups but a move that Bishop has staunchly opposed absent major reforms to the program. “He’s definitely one who’s not afraid — just look at his military background,” said Steve Moyer of Trout Unlimited.
To be sure, hunting and fishing groups have their concerns with some aspects of Zinke’s record, and environmental groups are hardly sold on him. Defenders of Wildlife President and CEO Jamie Rappaport called him “unsuitable for the job” because of votes against endangered species act protections for individual species and pro-fossil fuel development stance.
"Other than supporting the Land and Water Conservation Fund, we struggle to find something positive," she said in an interview.
Moreover, Zinke is firmly anti-regulation, voting the Republican line in opposition to the Waters of the U.S. rule — an Obama administration effort that Trout Unlimited and NWF strongly backed — as well against the Clean Power Plan. The League of Conservation Voters gave him a lifetime score of 3 percent on environmental issues.
He has also backed legislation to rip up the Obama administration’s greater sage grouse management plans, an effort to prevent listing the species under the Endangered Species Act by boosting protections for the bird on federal lands. And he’s called for greater coal, oil and natural gas development on federal lands. Zinke also criticized Interior's overhaul of the royalty and valuation process for fossil fuels on federal lands and co-sponsored a bill that would sunset the agency's moratorium on new coal leases in 2019.
Endangered Species Act issues are likely to be front and center in Congress next year, especially as Bishop angles for major reforms to the bedrock law, which has come into increasing conflict with energy and natural resource development around the country. That makes some of the groups that most frequently litigate on ESA issues nervous.
Zinke has "voted for legislation to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list, wolves, lynx, he's fought protection for the sage grouse and at every turn and he wanted to exempt big water developers ... in California from the endangered species act," said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity.
But sportsmen’s groups are hopeful that with Zinke at the table, the conversation will more constructive than it would be with a Republican-controlled Congress and White House.
“He’s not somebody saying we should eliminate the act or not care about the species,” said O’Mara with NWF, adding that he hopes Zinke can shift the conversation away from controversies around which species should be added to the list to focus more on how to manage them better.
Zinke could help cut through some of the politics around the 1973 law, said David Allen, president and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. "The Endangered Species Act has been hijacked and has gone way beyond what it was ever intended [to do] when it was introduced during [President Richard] Nixon's time,” he said, arguing that Zinke can hopefully make the act a “conservation tool and less of a political tool."
Indeed, Zinke’s fellow Republican Westerners have laid some key groundwork for new approaches to the ESA in recent years. Wyoming Gov. Mead lead a year-long initiative on ESA during his year chairing the Western Governors’ Association, focusing on states’ role in the process.
And a blue ribbon panel of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, led by former Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, and Bass Pro Shops CEO Johnny Morris this year made its own recommendations on the issue, including greater investment in conservation at the state level to prevent species’ listings."
FYI, in my opinion, the Center for Biological Diversity is by far the biggest enemy sound science-based wildlife management faces. In my experience the CBD exists for no other reason other than to support a whole lot of azzhole attorneys and a couple of pseudo 'biologists' in a fine high lifestyle while preying on the emotions and heartstrings of otherwise good people who love wildlife but who don't know any better..
Every single thing REAL conservationists support, the CBD automatically opposes. No science needed.
The Rock
Cleo's getting the barge out as we speak......floatin' down De-nial.......
Thanks for the laugh.
Maybe you should read one of the threads about obama putting more federal lands unavailable to all of us - maybe?
