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#1
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Here's some food for thought for those contemplating paddling on Boulder
Creek east of 75th St. in Boulder, CO through the private property of Windhover Ranch LLLP. Please take note that the creek passes within 50 YARDS of the eagle nest, and that floating through the property is now not only illegal under Colorado law, but under federal law as well. Specifically, the Bald Eagle Protection Act, 16 USC §§ 668-668d. A high-resolution digital video surveillance and recording system that will allow law-enforcement agents to identify individual trespassers, which includes a motion-detecting system and time-coded nest surveillance camera is being installed. Violators will be referred to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for prosecution should they harass, molest or disturb the eagles. Your best plan of action is not to trespass through the property. Altnews Uncle Sam Stole My Land By Scott Weiser In an editorial in The Denver Post on November 6, 2005, former chief of the U.S. Forest Service Mike Dombeck and Berkely Conservation Institute director Jim Martin object to a rewrite of the Endangered Species Act thatıs working itıs way through Congress. While they make some valid points, their hyperbolic argument against compensating landowners when ESA regulations diminish (or more usually extinguish) their property rights flies in the face of fundamental fairness and the Constitution. They falsely claim that requiring government to pay for preserving critical habitat will lead to ³landowners who want to pollute our air or water demand[ing] to be compensated by the taxpayers if regulations stop them.² This is nonsensical fear mongering, and they know it. There is a significant difference between a landowner asking to be paid when the government seizes his property for use as public habitat for endangered species and a polluter exporting harm to the public. The call for just compensation for forcible habitat seizure by government regulation is firmly based in the constitutional principle that a private individual should not be forced to bear the entire economic burden for a regulation of property rights that in all fairness ought to be borne by the public as a whole. But that is precisely what the ESA as done since it was enacted. The entire burden of protecting privately-owned endangered species habitat has been dumped on those who are the least responsible for the plight of endangered speciesrural landowners who have voluntarily preserved habitat. At the same time, the ESA absolves those who are truly responsible for the loss of habitatthe seething public masses who demand more suburban homes and shopping mallsof any financial or legal responsibility. That amounts to nothing more than the political and economic enslavement of the few for the comfort and convenience of the many. I happen to be one of those oppressed few. For more than four decades my family has protected and preserved unique habitat outside of Boulder, Colo. As a result, we host several protected rare and endangered species on our property. One of the protected species we host is the American bald eagle. The eagles have been nesting here for more than a decade. They were welcome here, and our ordinary ranching operations never disturbed them enough to cause them to leave. Arguably they came here because of those activities. As a result of our stewardship, many generations of young eagles have grown up here. Of the vast majority of people, particularly including city-dwellers and suburban-sprawlites, all of whom presently live on what was once ³critical habitat² for some creature, I am one of the remaining few who are not responsible for the plight of endangered species, because we have preserved what others have not, and Iıve done so willingly and joyfullyuntil now. Last spring things changed when an employee of the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks department who runs their eagle surveillance program notified me that one of their eagle spotters, who regularly monitor eagle nests in Boulder County during nesting season, saw some tire tracks in the snow under the ³eagle tree.² These tracks were the result of our routine ranching and livestock management activities weıve been doing for more than 40 years. While the ranger was very polite, her message was crystal clear: If I, or anyone working for me, gets caught harassing the nesting eagles, which she correctly says the law defines as any activity that causes an eagle to ³flush from the nest,² we could be arrested, jailed, and fined tens of thousands of dollars under the federal Eagle Protection Act. Given the fact that they ³spy² on us regularly, this threat is particularly real. To connect my experience directly to the ESA, although the eagles have been de-listed, precisely the same kind of restrictions applies to endangered species and their habitat. This instantly turned the eagles from welcome guests into legal and financial liabilities. It had the practical effect of seizing and turning over to the government a 500 yard diameter circle centered on the nest. That amounts to about 41 acres I cannot enter without risking arrest and prosecution, not even to fix fences, fight fires, chase trespassers or tend livestock. I have been ejected from my land by the government, which is putting it to use as habitat for a species protected at the behest of and for the benefit of the public. Itıs not a seizure for a fire station or a public park, which always requires compensation, but the effect is exactly the same. The public gets total dominion and control over my land when the eagles are nesting, and I am forbidden from using or enjoying it, even to the extent of walking through it, which is my constitutional right. Neither can I simply cut down the trees or destroy the nest when the eagles arenıt actively nesting to relieve myself of this burden, because that too is a crime, as is destroying endangered species habitat to make the species unwelcome. How does this not equate to a physical, government-initiated seizure and occupation of my land on a par with building a highway or putting in an MX missile silo? How then would I be engaged in a ³greedy scheme,² as Martin and Dombeck falsely claim, by demanding that the public pay for the land theyıve taken dominion and control of? Why shouldnıt the public have to share in the economic burden of protecting the eagles or other endangered species? Obviously, the public should, but current federal laws, including the ESA, donıt force them to, and Dombeck and Martin like it that way. So as it stands we, the ³Habitat Slaves of the ESA² are forced to both sacrifice our constitutional rights and maintain the habitat at our own expense, under the threat of fines and imprisonment. How can anyone think thatıs fair? This precise scenario has been played out many thousands of times throughout the country since the ESA was enacted in 1973, with many thousands of blameless rural landowners as the victims. Landowners have been prosecuted for simple things like plowing their farmland or cutting brush around their houses to help prevent devastating wildfires. And itıs done in the name of protecting species the public places enormous value upon, but without the public as a whole supporting that preservation. Thatıs the grievance that Rep. Pomboıs bill seeks to redress. It simply, and fairly, calls upon the public accept the financial burden of preserving endangered species and their habitat, and to spread the cost of doing so among all the people, not place an unfair, ruinous and unconstitutional economic burden on individuals who happen to own something the public covetscritical wildlife habitat. İ 2005 Altnews This is a copyrighted article from Altnews, and is available for republishing on a one-time, non-exclusive basis for a fee of $20.00 U.S. Please remit the publishing fee to: Altnews P.O. Box 20507 Boulder, CO 80308 Direct questions or comments to: Altnews is a division of Windhover Creative Partners LLC. All the best and happy paddling...somewhere else. -- Regards, Scott Weiser "I love the Internet, I no longer have to depend on friends, family and co-workers, I can annoy people WORLDWIDE!" TM İ 2005 Scott Weiser |
#2
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Scott Weiser wrote:
A high-resolution digital video surveillance and recording system that will allow law-enforcement agents to identify individual trespassers, which includes a motion-detecting system and time-coded nest surveillance camera is being installed. Hi, Scott. Which law-enforcement agency is installing this system? Todd. |
#3
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posted to rec.boats.paddle
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Scott Weiser wrote:
Here's some food for thought for those contemplating paddling on Boulder Creek east of 75th St. in Boulder, CO through the private property of Windhover Ranch LLLP. Hi Scott! :-) I still wonder, who would *want* to paddle on Boulder Creek east of 75th street? When I paddled Boulder Creek, I think the takeout was at 39th street. Is there any whitewater between 39th and 75th, moreover any WW east of 75th? ;-) One of the weirdest WW runs ever! Putting in either at Eben G. Fine park or up a little higher as the road goes up into the mountains, paddling though the park and then behind a bunch of urban/suburban back yards, and taking out below a municipal office park parking lot! (Where Jose Muldoon's paddler friendly pub used to be!) I remember we spread our paddling gear all over the nicely mowed office park grassy areas, but Jose Muldoon's power was out, so we despondently put all our now dry paddling gear into bags and loaded it up, preparing to go find a place to get a beer and a bite, and by the time we did the power was back on, and we had a nice beer and a bite at Jose Muldoon's! :-) Fun though! Just lousy scenery (except for those two cute girls in a backyard that we got to meet!! :-) ) John Kuthe... |
#4
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I'm simply too lazy to review the whole thing but wondering.....is it only
in CO? I see alot of Eagles on my local streams in PA. We have nesting pairs all over that bird watchers, or anyone can get pretty close to. "Scott Weiser" wrote in message ... Here's some food for thought for those contemplating paddling on Boulder Creek east of 75th St. in Boulder, CO through the private property of Windhover Ranch LLLP. Please take note that the creek passes within 50 YARDS of the eagle nest, and that floating through the property is now not only illegal under Colorado law, but under federal law as well. Specifically, the Bald Eagle Protection Act, 16 USC §§ 668-668d. A high-resolution digital video surveillance and recording system that will allow law-enforcement agents to identify individual trespassers, which includes a motion-detecting system and time-coded nest surveillance camera is being installed. Violators will be referred to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for prosecution should they harass, molest or disturb the eagles. Your best plan of action is not to trespass through the property. Altnews Uncle Sam Stole My Land By Scott Weiser In an editorial in The Denver Post on November 6, 2005, former chief of the U.S. Forest Service Mike Dombeck and Berkely Conservation Institute director Jim Martin object to a rewrite of the Endangered Species Act thatıs working itıs way through Congress. While they make some valid points, their hyperbolic argument against compensating landowners when ESA regulations diminish (or more usually extinguish) their property rights flies in the face of fundamental fairness and the Constitution. They falsely claim that requiring government to pay for preserving critical habitat will lead to ³landowners who want to pollute our air or water demand[ing] to be compensated by the taxpayers if regulations stop them.² This is nonsensical fear mongering, and they know it. There is a significant difference between a landowner asking to be paid when the government seizes his property for use as public habitat for endangered species and a polluter exporting harm to the public. The call for just compensation for forcible habitat seizure by government regulation is firmly based in the constitutional principle that a private individual should not be forced to bear the entire economic burden for a regulation of property rights that in all fairness ought to be borne by the public as a whole. But that is precisely what the ESA as done since it was enacted. The entire burden of protecting privately-owned endangered species habitat has been dumped on those who are the least responsible for the plight of endangered species At the same time, the ESA absolves those who are truly responsible for the loss of habitat shopping malls nothing more than the political and economic enslavement of the few for the comfort and convenience of the many. I happen to be one of those oppressed few. For more than four decades my family has protected and preserved unique habitat outside of Boulder, Colo. As a result, we host several protected rare and endangered species on our property. One of the protected species we host is the American bald eagle. The eagles have been nesting here for more than a decade. They were welcome here, and our ordinary ranching operations never disturbed them enough to cause them to leave. Arguably they came here because of those activities. As a result of our stewardship, many generations of young eagles have grown up here. Of the vast majority of people, particularly including city-dwellers and suburban-sprawlites, all of whom presently live on what was once ³critical habitat² for some creature, I am one of the remaining few who are not responsible for the plight of endangered species, because we have preserved what others have not, and Iıve done so willingly and joyfully Last spring things changed when an employee of the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks department who runs their eagle surveillance program notified me that one of their eagle spotters, who regularly monitor eagle nests in Boulder County during nesting season, saw some tire tracks in the snow under the ³eagle tree.² These tracks were the result of our routine ranching and livestock management activities weıve been doing for more than 40 years. While the ranger was very polite, her message was crystal clear: If I, or anyone working for me, gets caught harassing the nesting eagles, which she correctly says the law defines as any activity that causes an eagle to ³flush from the nest,² we could be arrested, jailed, and fined tens of thousands of dollars under the federal Eagle Protection Act. Given the fact that they ³spy² on us regularly, this threat is particularly real. To connect my experience directly to the ESA, although the eagles have been de-listed, precisely the same kind of restrictions applies to endangered species and their habitat. This instantly turned the eagles from welcome guests into legal and financial liabilities. It had the practical effect of seizing and turning over to the government a 500 yard diameter circle centered on the nest. That amounts to about 41 acres I cannot enter without risking arrest and prosecution, not even to fix fences, fight fires, chase trespassers or tend livestock. I have been ejected from my land by the government, which is putting it to use as habitat for a species protected at the behest of and for the benefit of the public. Itıs not a seizure for a fire station or a public park, which always requires compensation, but the effect is exactly the same. The public gets total dominion and control over my land when the eagles are nesting, and I am forbidden from using or enjoying it, even to the extent of walking through it, which is my constitutional right. Neither can I simply cut down the trees or destroy the nest when the eagles arenıt actively nesting to relieve myself of this burden, because that too is a crime, as is destroying endangered species habitat to make the species unwelcome. How does this not equate to a physical, government-initiated seizure and occupation of my land on a par with building a highway or putting in an MX missile silo? How then would I be engaged in a ³greedy scheme,² as Martin and Dombeck falsely claim, by demanding that the public pay for the land theyıve taken dominion and control of? Why shouldnıt the public have to share in the economic burden of protecting the eagles or other endangered species? Obviously, the public should, but current federal laws, including the ESA, donıt force them to, and Dombeck and Martin like it that way. So as it stands we, the ³Habitat Slaves of the ESA² are forced to both sacrifice our constitutional rights and maintain the habitat at our own expense, under the threat of fines and imprisonment. How can anyone think thatıs fair? This precise scenario has been played out many thousands of times throughout the country since the ESA was enacted in 1973, with many thousands of blameless rural landowners as the victims. Landowners have been prosecuted for simple things like plowing their farmland or cutting brush around their houses to help prevent devastating wildfires. And itıs done in the name of protecting species the public places enormous value upon, but without the public as a whole supporting that preservation. Thatıs the grievance that Rep. Pomboıs bill seeks to redress. It simply, and fairly, calls upon the public accept the financial burden of preserving endangered species and their habitat, and to spread the cost of doing so among all the people, not place an unfair, ruinous and unconstitutional economic burden on individuals who happen to own something the public covets wildlife habitat. İ 2005 Altnews This is a copyrighted article from Altnews, and is available for republishing on a one-time, non-exclusive basis for a fee of $20.00 U.S. Please remit the publishing fee to: Altnews P.O. Box 20507 Boulder, CO 80308 Direct questions or comments to: Altnews is a division of Windhover Creative Partners LLC. All the best and happy paddling...somewhere else. -- Regards, Scott Weiser "I love the Internet, I no longer have to depend on friends, family and co-workers, I can annoy people WORLDWIDE!" TM İ 2005 Scott Weiser |
#5
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Granted throwing rocks into an eagles nest would be rotten but does
anyone else fing the blockage of what must be a navigable water way a little disturbing? For a country priding itself and based on freedome this seems a little ,,, well, off. |
#6
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I've been looking at various references to the Bald Eagle Protection
Act, and the only part of it that seems remotely relevant is the word "disturb" in the phrase '"take" includes also pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb'. In other words, paddling a kayak or canoe 50 yards away from a bald eagle nest isn't remotely illegal. Which is certainly good, otherwise the residents and vacationers at Kiawah Island, SC could not get to their homes, as there is a longstanding bald eagle nest about 50 FEET from the only road into the island. Having watched that eagle ignore long lines of motor traffic, it's pretty clear that kayaking 50 YARDS from an eagle is not intrusive. Nice try, though, Scott. How much is the camera costing you? |
#7
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#8
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Poor baby. Please allow me to be the first to pass you a hankie.
-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty -- ================================================== ==================== Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA .. rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net .. Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll .. rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu .. OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters ================================================== ==================== Scott Whiner typed: Uncle Sam Stole My Land By Scott Weiser In an editorial in The Denver Post on November 6, 2005, former chief ofthe U.S. Forest Service Mike Dombeck and Berkely Conservation Institute director Jim Martin object to a rewrite of the Endangered Species Act thatıs working itıs way through Congress. While they make some valid points, their hyperbolic argument against compensating landowners when ESA regulations diminish (or more usually extinguish) their property rights flies in the face of fundamental fairness and the Constitution. They falsely claim that requiring government to pay for preserving critical habitat will lead to ³landowners who want to pollute our air or water demand[ing] to be compensated by the taxpayers if regulations stop them.² This is nonsensical fear mongering, and they know it. There is a significant difference between a landowner asking to be paidwhen the government seizes his property for use as public habitat for endangered species and a polluter exporting harm to the public. The call for just compensation for forcible habitat seizure by government regulation is firmly based in the constitutional principle that a private individual should not be forced to bear the entire economic burden for a regulation of property rights that in all fairness ought to be borne bythe public as a whole. But that is precisely what the ESA as done since it was enacted. The entire burden of protecting privately-owned endangered species habitat has been dumped on those who are the least responsible for the plight of endangered speciesrural landowners who have voluntarily preservedhabitat. At the same time, the ESA absolves those who are truly responsible for the loss of habitatthe seething public masses who demand more suburban homes and shopping mallsof any financial or legal responsibility. That amountsto nothing more than the political and economic enslavement of the few forthe comfort and convenience of the many. I happen to be one of those oppressed few. For more than four decades my family has protected and preserved unique habitat outside of Boulder, Colo. As a result, we host several protected rare and endangered species on our property. One of the protected species we host is the American bald eagle. The eagles have been nesting here for more than a decade. They were welcome here, and our ordinary ranching operations never disturbed them enough to cause them to leave. Arguably they came here because of those activities. As a result of our stewardship, many generations of young eagles have grown up here. Of the vast majority of people, particularly including city-dwellers and suburban-sprawlites, all of whom presently live on what was once ³critical habitat² for some creature, I am one of theremaining few who are not responsible for the plight of endangered species, because we have preserved what others have not, and Iıve done so willingly and joyfullyuntil now. Last spring things changed when an employee of the City of Boulder OpenSpace and Mountain Parks department who runs their eagle surveillance program notified me that one of their eagle spotters, who regularly monitor eagle nests in Boulder County during nesting season, saw some tire tracks in the snow under the ³eagle tree.² These tracks were the result of our routine ranching and livestock management activities weıve been doing for more than 40 years. While the ranger was very polite, her message was crystal clear:If I, or anyone working for me, gets caught harassing the nesting eagles, which she correctly says the law defines as any activity that causes an eagle to ³flush from the nest,² we could be arrested, jailed, and fined tens of thousands of dollars under the federal Eagle Protection Act. Given the fact that they ³spy² on us regularly, this threat is particularly real. To connect my experience directly to the ESA, although the eagles have been de-listed, preciselythe same kind of restrictions applies to endangered species and their habitat. This instantly turned the eagles from welcome guests into legal and financial liabilities. It had the practical effect of seizing and turning over tothe government a 500 yard diameter circle centered on the nest. That amounts to about 41 acres I cannot enter without risking arrest and prosecution, not even to fix fences, fight fires, chase trespassers or tend livestock. I have been ejected from my land by the government, which is putting it to use as habitat for a species protected at the behest of and for the benefit of the public. Itıs not a seizure for a fire station or a public park, which always requires compensation, but the effect is exactly the same. The public gets total dominion and control over my land when the eagles are nesting, and I am forbidden from using or enjoying it, even to the extent of walking through it, which is my constitutional right. Neither can I simply cut down the trees or destroy the nest when the eagles arenıt actively nesting to relieve myself of this burden, because that too is a crime, as is destroying endangered species habitat to make the species unwelcome. How does this not equate to a physical, government-initiated seizure and occupation of my land on a par with building a highway or putting in an MX missile silo? How then would I be engaged in a ³greedy scheme,² as Martin and Dombeck falsely claim, by demanding that the public pay for the land theyıve taken dominion and control of? Why shouldnıt the public have to share in the economic burden of protecting the eagles or other endangered species? Obviously, the public should, but current federal laws, including the ESA, donıt force them to, and Dombeck and Martin like it that way. So as it stands we, the ³Habitat Slaves of the ESA² are forced to both sacrifice our constitutional rights and maintain the habitat at our own expense, under the threat of fines and imprisonment. How can anyone think thatıs fair? This precise scenario has been played out many thousands of times throughout the country since the ESA was enacted in 1973, with many thousands of blameless rural landowners as the victims. Landowners have been prosecuted for simple things like plowing their farmland or cutting brush around theirhouses to help prevent devastating wildfires. And itıs done in the name of protecting species the public places enormous value upon, but without the public as a whole supporting that preservation. Thatıs the grievance that Rep. Pomboıs bill seeks to redress. It simply, and fairly, calls upon the public accept the financial burden of preserving endangered species and their habitat, and to spread the cost of doing so among all the people, not place an unfair, ruinous and unconstitutional economic burden on individuals who happen to own something the public covetscritical wildlife habitat. İ 2005 Altnews This is a copyrighted article from Altnews, and is available for republishing on a one-time, non-exclusive basis for a fee of $20.00 U.S. Please remit the publishing fee to: Altnews P.O. Box 20507 Boulder, CO 80308 Direct questions or comments to: Altnews is a division of Windhover Creative Partners LLC. All the best and happy paddling...somewhere else. -- Regards, Scott Weiser "I love the Internet, I no longer have to depend on friends, family and co-workers, I can annoy people WORLDWIDE!" TM İ 2005 Scott Weiser |
#9
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A Usenet persona calling itself Todd Bradley wrote:
Scott Weiser wrote: A high-resolution digital video surveillance and recording system that will allow law-enforcement agents to identify individual trespassers, which includes a motion-detecting system and time-coded nest surveillance camera is being installed. Hi, Scott. Which law-enforcement agency is installing this system? Todd. Does it matter? -- Regards, Scott Weiser "I love the Internet, I no longer have to depend on friends, family and co-workers, I can annoy people WORLDWIDE!" TM İ 2005 Scott Weiser |
#10
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A Usenet persona calling itself John Kuthe wrote:
Scott Weiser wrote: Here's some food for thought for those contemplating paddling on Boulder Creek east of 75th St. in Boulder, CO through the private property of Windhover Ranch LLLP. Hi Scott! :-) I still wonder, who would *want* to paddle on Boulder Creek east of 75th street? When I paddled Boulder Creek, I think the takeout was at 39th street. Is there any whitewater between 39th and 75th, moreover any WW east of 75th? ;-) This is the same question I've been asking myself lo these many years. Evidently, people like to experience the natural area and see the cliffs, and floating through is the lazy way of doing so. I can't say I blame them for wanting to see the area, curiosity is natural thing. However, just because they want to see the place doesnıt mean they have any right to do so without my permission. One of the weirdest WW runs ever! Putting in either at Eben G. Fine park or up a little higher as the road goes up into the mountains, paddling though the park and then behind a bunch of urban/suburban back yards, and taking out below a municipal office park parking lot! (Where Jose Muldoon's paddler friendly pub used to be!) I remember we spread our paddling gear all over the nicely mowed office park grassy areas, but Jose Muldoon's power was out, so we despondently put all our now dry paddling gear into bags and loaded it up, preparing to go find a place to get a beer and a bite, and by the time we did the power was back on, and we had a nice beer and a bite at Jose Muldoon's! :-) Fun though! Just lousy scenery (except for those two cute girls in a backyard that Well, I'm somewhat further east... But your point remains. No whitewater at all. we got to meet!! :-) ) Someday soon, I hope. -- Regards, Scott Weiser "I love the Internet, I no longer have to depend on friends, family and co-workers, I can annoy people WORLDWIDE!" TM İ 2005 Scott Weiser |
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