New DNR Report: Who Should Pay to Protect & Encourage Fish & Wildlife

By Kathleen Vinehout 

Wisconsin is number one in hunting! Don’t take it from me. The Department of Natural Resources has studies to back it up.

A new DNR report noted Wisconsin had the number one Boone and Crockett Trophy whitetail entries from 2005-2010 and the number one black beer harvest of all states.

Wisconsinites hunt deer at nearly three times the US rate and fist at twice the US rate. We lead the nation in world record musky caught and are the reigning world record holder of brown trout.

According to the DNR report, which included options to fund wildlife management, Wisconsin is number one in annual revenue from hunting - $2,833 per hunter or $2.5 billion.

Yet funds to manage Wisconsin’s fish, wildlife and habitat have not kept up with needs. In fact, revenue dropped by nearly four million dollars in the past five years. Officials estimate the gap between authorized expenses and revenue is $4 - $6 million a year. Anticipating less revenue, the DNR looked for ways to spend less, which resulted in staff reductions and cuts to programs.

For example, with a 15% vacancy in fisheries management, there are fewer fish surveys and less accurate information for anglers. There was a significant reduction in the stocking of larger walleye.

With a 12% vacancy in wildlife management, there is less assistance provided to landowners for habitat development. The DNR reduced collaboration with conservation groups on habitat development and reduced trout improvement work. Pheasant restocking was cut in half. Two thousand acres of wetland impoundments were left unmanaged.

With 10% fewer conservation wardens, there are fewer patrols and less enforcement of hunting and fishing rules.

Our state leans on hunters and anglers to fund wildlife programs. Wisconsin ranks in the top ten states for tapping license fees to fund wildlife management.

The DNR reports, “Nearly ninety percent of revenue to manage the state’s fish and wildlife resources comes from hunting, fishing and trapping license fees and the federal excise tax on the sale of hunting and fishing equipment including firearms and ammunition and a portion of the gas tax attributable to motor boats and small engines.”

There is no similar fee to protect non-hunted species. The report quotes federal sources describing funds needed to protect the 12,000 or so species in State Wildlife Action Plans that are “in greatest conservation need”.

The heavy reliance on license fees is concerning as the number of hunters and anglers decrease. For instance, gun deer hunting has dropped by 12% from its peak in 1999. Several efforts by lawmakers to increase the number of hunters and anglers failed and left bigger holes in the DNR budget.

For example, in 2011 lawmakers passed a bill that included a reduction in fees for first-time hunting and fishing license purchases. Surveys later found reduced fees had little impact on increasing the number of licenses sold. Eighty percent of first-time-license-buyers did not even know about the discount until they paid for the license and most did not continue buying in successive years.

The DNR report stated the need to sell “four times as many resident first-time-buyer licenses and two times as many nonresident first-time-buyer licenses to break even”.

The report details several options for lawmakers in the upcoming budget debate. Ideas include raising fees, standardizing license discounts, eliminating the failed “first-time-buyer” program. In addition, the report suggests new ways to encourage and better serve hunters and anglers with automatic license renewal, gift cards, loyalty discounts and increased flexibility for combination license buyers.

Does rehabbing a trout stream benefit you if you don’t fish? You bet it does.

The report reviews a great deal of economic data related to our natural resources. The upshot? Businesses locate and new businesses start where people want to live and people value a high level of scenic and natural amenities.

The report documented that people want to share in the protection of our natural resources. Maybe it’s time to spread the cost of protection over more than just the hunters and anglers, as Minnesota did with their legacy fund to benefit natural resources.

Thank you to the authors of this well-written report. I encourage you to read it and let me know what action you would like to see taken.

Walker Doesn't Need No Education!

By Jeff Simpson

“Education’s Purpose is to Replace an Empty Mind with an Open One." – Malcolm Forbes

This story from WKOW:

MADISON (WKOW) -- It has been well publicized that Governor Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) never graduated from college, but 27 News has now learned three of his top executives also lack a college degree.

At least one of those appointees was recently called out by a subordinate for being unqualified.

32 year-old Ryan Murray is a former campaign and office staffer for Governor Walker, who became Chief Operating Officer at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation in 2012, despite having no college degree and no real experience in economic development.

Former State Senator Cathy Stepp now serves as Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources.  Like Murray, she has no real background of expertise in the area of regulation her agency oversees.

The Secretary of the Department of Administration, former Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, also holds no college degree.

I know, not everyone needs a college degree.  Let's let the walker group explain it:

Regarding Ryan Murray:

 "There are many quality people that span the spectrum from folks from high school graduation to college degrees to technical degrees to post-graduate degrees.  We have people that have the whole spectrum of things," said Gov. Walker.

 See Ryan Murray needs no education, or work experience, he knows things!  Now Cathy Stepp:

 Cathy does not have a college degree," DNR Spokesperson Bill Cosh told 27 News.  "She has a tremendous amount of real world experience which includes management training with McDonald's Corporation, several management positions with various businesses including Stein Optical and Wisconsin Optical, and the experience of running her own businesses."

If management experience at Stein Optical and McDonalds isnt enough to be in charge of the Wisconsin environment, then nothing is.    Now Mike Huebsch:

"Secretary Huebsch, the leadership at DOA, and the Administration's cabinet embody the variety of education, experience and knowledge that exists across Wisconsin," wrote DOA Spokesperson Stephanie Marquis in a statement to 27 News.  "There are thousands of professionals, entrepreneurs, and farmers that may not have gone to college, but they are competent, intelligent and talented.  Our leadership is experienced and educated, whether that's through work experience, professional knowledge or a college degree."

Marquis says Secretary Huebsch left Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma just nine credits short of a degree, because he ran out of money at the time.

I would have never guessed that the guy who testified that the protestors did $7,000,000 wort hof damage to the Capitol would have money problems his whole life.

10. “Education is Simply the Soul of a Society as It Passes from One Generation to Another.” – Gilbert Chesterton

Sikmathelioma

 

By Jeff Simpson

Asbestos poisoning - mesothlioma - is a deadly disease!

Mesothelioma (or, more precisely, malignant mesothelioma) is a rare form of cancer that develops from cells of the mesothelium, the protective lining that covers many of the internal organs of the body. Mesothelioma is most commonly caused by exposure to asbestos.^[1] The most common anatomical site for mesothelioma is the pleura (the outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall), but it can also arise in the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity), the pericardium (the sac that surrounds the heart),^[2] or the tunica vaginalis (a sac that surrounds the testis).

Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked in jobs where they inhaled or ingested asbestos fibers, or were exposed to airborne asbestos dust and fibers in other ways. Washing clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos also creates a risk for developing mesothelioma.^[3] Unlike lung cancer, there seems to be no association between mesothelioma and tobacco smoking, but smoking greatly increases the risk of other asbestos-induced cancers.^[4]

It is a major problem for people who work in the mines for a living! Has our friends to the north have found out, there are risks and serious implications for mining.  

Risk

The risks associated with asbestos are significant, and workers have historically been subjected to concentrations 10–100 times the Canadian legal limit of 1 fibres/cm³ (3, 17, 13). These workers have suffered from a wide range of health effects. Asbestos has a significant risk even at lower concentrations. The families of workers have therefore had elevated rates of asbestos-related diseases from the asbestos inadvertently brought home on the clothing of miners. Radiographs of the spouses of workers exposed to asbestos indicated that 19% of them suffered from pleural changes, and that the only factor of significance in detailed questionnaires was the latent period since first exposure. The microscopic fibres of asbestos are therefore impossible to eliminate from the indoor air environment, and pose a significant risk for the workers, their families and those whose homes contain airborne asbestos.

Implications

The laxness of the regulations concerning the sale, export and mining of asbestos has detrimental consequences for the health of Canadian communities. The Chrysotile Institute continues to receive federal subsidies to mine asbestos in Quebec, and sets safety regulations “in accordance with government” in Canada (1). The safety regulations developed were described in the previous section, and since these regulations protect corporate interests more than community health, there are serious implications for community health.

Since asbestos-related diseases appear many years after first exposure to asbestos (Figure 3), it is often difficult to establish a link between disease and exposure, especially since smoking and genetics are confounding factors in the incidence of asbestos-related diseases. Lawyers and corporations have therefore depended on scientists to prove or disprove this link. Miller (2006) found in his analysis of radiographic readings for asbestosis using International Labour Office classification that evidence has been misused by the media and attorneys to give undue compensation to victims. However, evidence has also been found that victims of asbestos exposure are often misdiagnosed, and fail to receive adequate protection (4). The lack of firm government guidelines for the use and mining of asbestos is therefore of great detriment to miners and their communities.

Figure 3

Delay between the time of first exposure and employee diagnosis with asbestos-related diseases (Kamp and Weitzman, 1999)

Recommendations

Since epidemiological analyses and animal testing have clearly shown that asbestos has health effects through occupational and environmental exposure, it is the responsibility of the government to protect the health of its citizens instead of yielding to economic corporate interests. The government of Canada must stop exporting asbestos to EU countries in which asbestos has been banned, instead of continuing to challenge the rights of these countries to refuse imports using WTO guidelines (36). Although chrysotile is less potent than other forms of asbestos, serious questions must be asked about whether the benefits of economic development in Quebec outweigh the long-term health consequences of exposure to asbestos. One potential way in which these costs and benefits can be better balanced is by forcing companies such as the Chrysotile Institute to assume responsibility for the compensation of people affected by asbestos.

Overall, better monitoring is required, both of the health of miners and their communities and of indoor air quality in buildings containing asbestos. Despite claims that indoor air quality testing of public buildings is unnecessary and unduly frightens the population, the overwhelming risks of exposure and subsequent health effects warrant testing these sites for indoor air quality. It is only through a thorough knowledge of the potential health effects of a specific site that informed policies can be created.

Mesothlioma is no joke, unless of course your right wing extremist Brian Sikma


See Sikma had a crony leak him a preliminary report, that says that there is asbestos on the site and its dangers to the workers and the local community.   Sikma is having a field day making fun of this report because it was worked on by ...... (sit down for this) -----   Scientists and Academics! 

The non-governmental author participating in the report’s creation is Tom Fitz, an associate professor of geoscience at Northland College and outspoken mine skeptic. Northland touts itself as an “environmental liberal arts” college that focuses on climate change, sustainability, and green practices.

(Edit note to Sikma - Liberal arts colleges are not another word for Democratic Colleges) 

Another non-DNR expert whose work was featured in the report is Marcia Bjornerud, a geology professor at Lawrence University. Although she didn’t participate in drafting the report, the DNR panel repeatedly referenced a study of hers from 2012. Tom Fitz helped produce that study.

Why would a geologist have any credibility on geology study?  Especially when a guy who went to mailorder U.com disagrees with said study!   

The reality is this mine is dangerous for the long term health effects of our friends and neighbors in Northern Wisconsin.  However, to advance his extreme right wing, global warming is a hoax and the mine will be perfectly safe and create a gajillion jobs, Brian Sikma and the rest of the right wing cabal are putting your and your children's health and long term well being at serious risk! 

Who cares if your children die of cancer as long as Scott Walker gets re-elected! 

In Wisconsin we not only have to worry about mesothlioma, but also Sikmathelioma(the only thing that matters is electing republicans, no matter how many lives are destroyed in the process)!  

Amen! 

Walker Falls Short On Corrupt Sweetheart Deal

Last week, I reported on the corrupt sweetheart deal that Scott Walker and his Teapublican allies in the state legislature was in the process of signing off on.  In a nutshell, what Walker and the Teapublicans were trying to do was give a never-ending stream of taxpayer money to a thinly-veiled political action group.

The mainstream media finally caught on that something wasn't up to snuff and did something I had thought they might have forgotten how - investigative journalism.

First, it was found that the group misrepresented itself, claiming to have a tax-exempt status which they do not have:

The group, which has close ties to Republican politicians and other conservative organizations, now says its president, Andy Pantzlaff, was confused when he told state committee last week that United Sportsmen had been approved by the federal Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. United Sportsmen has also stated that on its letterhead in a letter to the state.

"Mr. Pantzlaff did not speak directly with the foundation’s counsel concerning the 501(c)(3) status, and was mistaken about the exemption process," a statement issued by the group reads. "There was no intent to mislead anyone and, in fact, the 501(c)(3) is not required for the purposes of the current grant application with the state of Wisconsin. The foundation apologizes for any confusion caused by this misunderstanding."

Despite this, Walker's DNR toady Cathy Stepp sent them a check for $50,000 anyway.

It was also learned that Andy Pantzlaff, president of the fraudulent group was convicted of hunting without the proper license. Keep in mind that the money-give away to this group was so that they could teach people how to hunt properly.  That would be like Robin Vos and Michele Litjens teaching people how to preserve their marriages through fidelity.

Finally, one of Walker's handlers must have finally smacked him up side the head and pointed out that this was becoming rather problematic and would have a negative effect on both of his campaigns (gubernatorial and presidential).  I say this because Walker reluctantly announced that he was stopping the taxpayer-funded campaign revenue stream (emphasis mine):

Gov. Scott Walker late Thursday canceled a controversial $500,000 grant to a sportsmen's group with little training experience but close ties to GOP politicians.

The decision was announced only hours after the Journal Sentinel asked state officials about a 2005 case in which the president of the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation Inc. was cited for hunting with an improper license.

In a statement, Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp said she spoke with Walker on Thursday and he canceled the grant to United Sportsmen, which had been aimed at promoting the state's sporting heritage. Instead, Walker ordered the DNR to find other means to achieve that goal.

"We also agreed that it is essential for any organization that receives financial support from the state to have the trust of the public in its capabilities to produce concrete results. Even though United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation Inc. did and does still meet the statutory criteria established by the Legislature for the grant award, the governor asked me to not finalize the grant award. I will honor this request and fully support this decision," Stepp said.

This will not do. This group, especially its leader, committed fraud. They should not only not get the money, they need to return the $50,000 that Stepp already gave them. Furthermore, because they tried to commit fraud, they need to be charged for the crime - and in a real court of law, not one of the DNR's rinky dink slap-on-the-wrist pantomimes.

Don't hold your breath for that to happen any time soon.  Under the current regime, corruption is not only acceptable, it is encouraged.

Ah, but wait, there's more.  There's always more.

As I pointed out in my article, as Walker was trying to arrange this money-laundering scheme, he was also manipulating things so that this false front group would have digs in the Mackenzie Center.

Sure enough, the same DNR that was going to give the fraudsters all that money had decided to deny the bid from Wisconsin Wildlife Federation - the only bid they received - to keep running the center (again, emphasis mine):

The Department of Natural Resources has rejected the only bid it received - from current tenant Wisconsin Wildlife Federation - to run the MacKenzie Environmental Education Center in Poynette.

Instead, the agency will run the facility itself, according to a Thursday statement.

And contrary to its stated intentions when it opened the bid process in February, the DNR will very likely increase its spending on the center, an agency official acknowledged.

The DNR said to "address a nationwide decline in hunting, angling and trapping, we will begin work to develop a new outdoor skills curriculum" at the center.

Wow! Now isn't that just coincidental!

As I said before, this whole thing was a scheme to give this front group a flow of taxpayer money to use for helping keep Walker in elected office so that his corporate masters could continue to pillage the land unabated. To do so, Walker was also going to give the Mackenzie Center to this group as a false address for them to work out of.  They were counting on people not to pay attention.

And don't think for a minute that this is over.

Given Walker's modus operandi, he will find another patsy in the legislature to again get this money to be secretly sent to another front group, in the hopes that they can continue with the plan of using it for political purposes.

Heck, the way things are going in this state, I wouldn't be surprised if someone goes to the Mackenzie Center on January 2nd and find some private security guards walking around in camouflage and with assault rifles.  And I wouldn't be surprised if the corporate media turns its collective head and whistles while it looks the other way.

Pave Over Paradise, Put Up A Shooting Range

The Mackenzie Center in Poynette, Wisconsin, is a classic success story.

In 2005, the center was toppling at the edge of failure due to successive budget buts and short staffing.  Two groups, The Friends of the Mackenzie Center and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, stepped up to the plate and entered into an agreement with the DNR to run the place for the state.

Since then, they have turned the place around.  They now host 16,000 children a year, teaching general environmental education and outdoor skills.  The state's contribution to maintain the facility is $185,000, which is a mere .04% of the DNR's budget.  And that cost has not gone up in all the years of the contract.

But now, the Mackenzie Center is about to become a classic story of failure.

Scott Walker, acting through his sockpuppet political appointee, Cathy "Bambi-Killer" Stepp, says that's too much money.  Never you mind that he gives exponentially more money to his campaign donors and corporate masters every day.

Don't expect Walker to sweat the loss of important education for tens of thousands of children either.  First off, we know that he sees our children as being only so much chattel to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.  Secondly, if the kids get an education, especially regarding ecology and the environment, they might catch on that the iron mine bill is so much garbage and that fracking is killing the state, figuratively and literally.

Instead, Walker feels it's much easier to just go ahead and turn it over to the NRA and let them make it into a shooting range where they can hold controlled hunts.  That's what they call "sportsmanship."  I call it animal cruelty.

Another thing to note is that they aren't even bothering to pretend to hold a non-listening session.  Since they haven't given a damn what the people think, why should they keep up that facade?

Perhaps when the NRA build their shooting range, they could specialize in teaching people how to shoot themselves in the foot and call it the Wayne LaPierre Shooting Range.

Walker's DNR: Technological Advances Bad, Killing Good

One of the things that was on Scott Walker's agenda for turning Wisconsin into a third-world state was killing off the biomass power plant that was being built by UW-Madison. In Walker's world, being on the cutting edge of developing alternative energy sources is just too dang expensive.

However, what is not too expensive for the Walker administration is learning about the lives of deer:

Wisconsin wildlife officials plan to capture about 200 deer from a helicopter over the next few weeks.

The $94,000 project calls for sending a helicopter into the skies over Sawyer, Price, Rusk, Shawano, Waupaca and Outagamie counties looking for deer. A person on board will select a deer, fire a net at it, fit the captured deer into a sling and air-lift it to researchers, who will fit them with radio tags.

The idea is to monitor the deer until they die and learn more about deer mortality. It's all part of a $2 million effort to get a better handle on Wisconsin's deer population after hunters complained about an anemic hunt in 2009.

You know, for $20, he could have gone to Amazon.com and gotten any number of books that deal with the patterns of white-tail deer. Instead, he's spending two million dollars so that he can help make it easier for people to kill more deer.

I'm just waiting for the time when he proposes a bill to make knuckle-dragging the official state pastime.

Unless there is, of course, an ulterior motive. The areas being targeted include where my trailer is. Perhaps it's time for me to look up that nonsense about black helicopters the conspiracy nuts do go on about...

Walker Introduces Cabinet

And here his Walker's cabinet:

Awfully white, isn't it?

Not only does Walker's cabinet not reflect the citizenry of Wisconsin, as closer looks at his appointees are being taken, it's down right scary.

James Rowen takes a look at Cathy Stepp, Walker's hatchet woman for the DNR. Now word yet on who is going to be the Deer Czar.

And Bill Christofferson points out that Walker's new head of Health and Human Services, Dennis Smith, was the lead hatchet man with the Bush administration tried to kill SeniorCare. Don't be surprised to see 100,000 senior citizens thrown to the insurance wolves. It will probably kill them since they won't be able to afford the outrageous rates the insurance companies charge, but Walker won't care. The elderly don't donate to campaigns like Big Insurance does.

DNR's Dumb Idea of the Week

The DNR took a lot of heat after last year's annual cervinicidal season. Hunters were in a rage because they felt the DNR overestimated the size of the herd and allowed it to be over-hunted. They were mad because they wanted to kill something, dammit, and there wasn't enough deer for them to kill!

Anyway, the DNR came up with a plan on how to deal with getting an accurate count of how large the herd is. It had to have been dreamt up by some bureaucrat:

State wildlife officials want people to report every deer they see over the next two months.

The Department of Natural Resources' Operation Deer Watch will run from Aug. 1 through Sept. 30. The agency will use the observations to help determine population estimates going into the fall hunting seasons.

I can see it now. Drunks will be reporting at least twice as many deer, since they're seeing double. People will be reporting the same deer numerous times, making the herd look larger. Hunters will report seeing nothing, whether they see anything or not, to maximize the herd so they have more to kill.

No matter what, I seriously doubt that they will get anywhere near an accurate count again.