Another outdoor decision by Washington

[LongLine]

Loss of habitat is a key driver in reduced numbers of species worldwide. A scientific approach would be beneficial however the current admin is definitely not big on science.  Refer back to first post in this thread.  "Harm" in the Endangered Specie Act now means can't directly hurt the "animal" but perfectly okay to destroy its habitat. 

 

There are plenty of trees on private lands that the loggers can go after.  The gov't will get pennies on the dollar for these trees, hence just a money grab for some.  Anyone who thinks this will make lumber, furniture or toilet paper cheaper is living in "alternate reality."

 

25% of 16,000 acres is 4,000 acres.  

 

The Genny will never recover from the logging that happened along its banks over 150 yrs ago. 

[Gill-T]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/11/politics/national-monuments-trump-justice-department

[Gill-T]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/13/trump-salmon-population-agreement

[Gator]

Ouch. This undos decades of negotiations and will simply spur more lawsuits to fight whether something that was put in place to suspend all the lawsuits can itself be suspended. My head is spinning now lol. 

[zach]

Canceled the salmon restoration project on the Columbia River..... this aint what people voted for.

[Gill-T]

https://www.fieldandstream.com/stories/conservation/public-lands-and-waters/map-of-public-lands-for-sale-budget-bill
 

 

[Gator]

FYI. 58 million acres. The scope of this order is mind boggling, agree or disagree.

 

https://apnews.com/article/logging-national-forests-0607a77e0ab812ea6fa609034fbb20d9

 

Arguments to be made on both sides. Is roadless land really benefiting the American public? IMHO, it's good for the soul to know that there are places untouched by development. But practically? I've hiked many of these remote areas. I doubt there's many that have benefited from them though. It's not much of a leap however from the $hitshow that Yellowstone has become to see what happens with unfettered access.

 

And then there's the argument against old growth versus managed areas, habitat diversity, fire suppression (good? bad? Sequoias require fire for seed germination), economic benefits, etc.. Lots of stuff to unpack.

Edited June 24, 2025 by Gator

[Gill-T]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/08/02/public-land-water-conservation-fund/

[Gill-T]

https://gearjunkie.com/outdoor/onx-map-public-land-for-sale

[Gill-T]

https://www.outdoorlife.com/opinion/lwcf-redirect-threatens-public-lands/

[Gill-T]

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/blm-public-lands-rule-rollback/

[LongLine]

yay!

[Gill-T]

WTF is he doing now??

 

 

[Gator]

As amusing as it is, I don't think that there's much in the way of outdoor pursuits going on at the White House lol.

 

Every king needs to leave his mark on the castle. It's an age-old trope.

[J.D.]

 

 

Edited October 22, 2025 by J.D.

[J.D.]

3 hours ago, Gator said:

Every king needs to leave his mark on the castle. It's an age-old trope

 

[fisherdude]

Other presidents had projects built in the White House swimming pools bowling alleys Exedra. I wonder if those projects was funded by the taxpayer. Trump's Ballroom supposed to be funded on his dollar. Although he is suing the doj for 230 million I guessTrump didn't like special counsel Schaefer rifling through his wife's panties and his underage boy bedroom . I could care less that Trump building a ballroom.. half the country hates Trump and the other half loves him

[Gator]

I know that's true! I don't really care about the ballroom thing, I just thought it was funny given the recent No Kings demonstrations. Frankly, it's the kind of distraction that keeps us from discussing real issues. But this is not the forum for that IMHO.

 

On the Outdoor Decision front...not federal, but more local...there's a proposal on the NYS ballot in the upcoming election to authorize a transfer of ADK lands. My understanding is that it will resolve an ongoing dispute centered around the Mt. Hoevenberg sports complex by allowing new Nordic type trails to be build on the existing ~350 acres in return for 2500 acres being added to the Forest Preserve "elsewhere". 

 

We've hiked Mt Hoevenberg and been there when the mountain bike national competition was held last year. It's a nice complex. And it's already well-utilized. I don't think we are losing anything by allowing new trails to be constructed in an existing facility; I'm less certain as to the value of the swap, and having not read the proposal I don't know if they've tagged some bits in there using fine print. But on the surface until I hear otherwise, I'm okay with it. 

 

Anybody have any deeper intel on the deal?

[Gill-T]

 

[Gill-T]

With all the problems facing Washington, Senator Michael Lee chooses to spend his time trying to pass legislation that would strip public lands from us in support of development by the rich. Please email the senator and tell him how as American sportsmen we feel about his land grab attempt. 
 

https://www.lee.senate.gov/services/forms/29DA679C-D1AA-48A7-B3A7-B636DB627659/contact

 

 

[Gill-T]

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/epa-guts-clean-water-act/

 

 

[GAMBLER]

While you guys are busy watching what’s going on in Washington, Hochul and her gang are at it in NY.  https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Dmtr3GTb7/?mibextid=wwXIfr

[Gator]

I know that's true! The push for wind and solar power is NOT BENIGN. There's a bunch of fly by night outfits looking to make a quick buck and ignoring all else in the pursuit of $$. It makes me sick to pass by some of these projects and remember that what we've lost is gone for at least my lifetime.

 

And our state subsidizes their greed...

Edited January 30 by Gator

[GAMBLER]

2 hours ago, Gator said:

I know that's true! The push for wind and solar power is NOT BENIGN. There's a bunch of fly by night outfits looking to make a quick buck and ignoring all else in the pursuit of $$. It makes me sick to pass by some of these projects and remember that what we've lost is gone for at least my lifetime.

 

And our state subsidizes their greed...

It's a mess.  As I type, my work is planning on load shedding electric for the 6th day in a row so NYC doesn't brown out.  We put the cart before the horse for this green initiative stuff.  Let's go electric for everything when the grid can't handle it already........  I'm all for moving to green energy that makes sense.  We can't jump off a cliff, we need to walk down the hill.  

[Gator]

You and I have talked about this before, but I don't understand why we aren't employing more nuclear. I recall hearing that NYS, albeit slow out of the gate, is planning on developing a Gigawatt of nuclear power - unfortunately, it will be 2040 before this initiative pays off.

 

We're not Japan; we aren't going to have earthquakes and Godzilla lol. Well, apart from that one across the lake this week...