I wrote this piece a year ago upon the realization of what was about to happen to wildlife safeguards with the election of Donald Trump. My worst fears are being realized.<\/p>\n
![\"Endangered](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_0328-300x240.jpg?resize=300%2C240\")
Endangered Piping Plover chicks<\/p><\/div>I am very afraid of what is happening in the United States. I am fearful for all of those who will personally be endangered by Trump\u2019s election but I also fear for the wildlife. Back in the eighties, I was responsible for purchasing close to $10 million dollars worth of Ponderosa Pine annually from the forests of Northern California and Oregon. The old growth pine forests were the home to the Northern Spotted Owl. There was enough concern at that time for this Owl that large forests were made unavailable to the loggers. We found other ways to make windows. The Endangered Species Act in 1990 provided some further respite for the Spotted Owl as well as many others of our forest, field and stream friends.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, even with this help, the Spotted Owl is still in trouble. \u201cPersistent logging in Western Oregon is steadily destroying the spotted owl’s habitat, causing the species’ numbers to decline. Although old-growth logging has slowed, due in part to President Clinton’s Northwest Forest Plan , the population continues to dwindle.<\/p>\nAnother cause for concern is the increased competition for habitat and prey the spotted owl faces from the barred owl. The more aggressive barred owl is not native to the Pacific Northwest \u2014 its original range was from Florida north to Maine, but by the 1990s Barred Owls started to take over Spotted Owl nest sites in Washington and Oregon.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
I digress. I came to write about Trump and his merry band of qualification deficit idiots. Trump has nominated Scott Pruitt who describes himself as a \u201cleading advocate against the EPA\u2019s activist agenda\u201d. As Oklahoma\u2019s attorney general he repeatedly sued the agency and other government entities over environmental rules and regulations, at times in co-operation with fossil fuel companies. The GOP will gut the Endangered Species Act and in doing so will allow drilling, mining, logging and other activities to take place that will turn back the hands of wildlife protection by 50 years.<\/p>\n
During Obama\u2019s presidency, the GOP lawmakers have sponsored dozens of measures aimed at curtailing the landmark law or putting species such as Gray Wolves and Sage Grouse out of its reach. Most have been blocked by the current administration or lawsuits from environmentalists. That safety net will be gone on Friday, January 20, 2017.<\/p>\n
I hope that everyone can stay involved and committed to doing everything possible to help protect our wildlife at every opportunity. They will need our help now more than ever before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I wrote this piece a year ago upon the realization of what was about to happen to wildlife safeguards with the election of Donald Trump. My worst fears are being realized. I am very afraid of what is happening in the United States. I am fearful for all of those who will personally be endangered Read more about Musings on Wildlife Protection<\/span>[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5,7,4,6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_0328.jpg?fit=1758%2C1406&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9APuD-47","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":924,"url":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=924","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":0},"title":"Musings on Wildlife Protection","date":"January 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I wrote this on another site on January 18, 2017 shortly before the inauguration of Donald J Trump as President of the United States. I was concerned but I never realized how prescient I was being. I am very afraid of what is happening in the United States. I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Barred-Owl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":778,"url":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=778","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":1},"title":"Palm Oil","date":"April 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Accelerated growth of illegal palm oil plantations and the deforestation of the rain forests, threatens the very lives of orangutans, rhinos, tigers, elephants and indigenous people. Palm oil is a vegetable oil derived from the fruit of the African Oil Palm tree. Oil palms are native to Western Africa, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/orangutan.jpg?fit=710%2C888&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":313,"url":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=313","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":2},"title":"a Nightmare","date":"January 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Frightful barely describes last night's dream. Stephen King could not have come up with a more frightening scenario. I dreamed that Trump had been elected president and was busy dismantling everything that was ever good about the United States. I dreamed that racists were running loose on the streets and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Image13.jpg?fit=300%2C383&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":671,"url":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=671","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":3},"title":"Protecting Carden Alvar","date":"May 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Today we read the following message from Jean Iron, one of Ontario's premier birders, to the Midland-Penetanguishene Field Naturalists Club and became instantly concerned. Jean writes: \"I'm wondering if the Midland-Penetanguishene Field Naturalists Club knows about this proposed shooting center. If not, would you please pass on this information to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/shrike.jpg?fit=930%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":604,"url":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=604","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":4},"title":"End Raptor Baiting – Petition","date":"February 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Our purpose is to initiate an enforceable regulation that makes the baiting of Raptors illegal for any purpose other than those outlined in the petition below. The petition is being forwarded to the Honourable Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario and the Honourable Nathalie Des Rosiers, Minister of Natural Resources and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/15904390142_888852f108_z.jpg?fit=640%2C428&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":436,"url":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=436","url_meta":{"origin":255,"position":5},"title":"Drowning in Plastic Waste","date":"February 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Plastic waste is one of the largest problems confronting the environment today. We are drowning in it. In our landfill, along our roads, in our waterways and in the ocean. According to the Guardian\u00a0\"a\u00a0million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20%\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environment"","img":{"alt_text":"Washed up plastic waste on a beach in Singapore.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Litter_on_Singapores_East_Coast_Park-1.jpg?fit=1007%2C805&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions\/299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}