Interesting News Items

Opinions and News Briefs by Kip Hansen — 3 February 2024 — 1100 words/4 minutes

Over the last few days there have been a few interesting general news items touching on topics that I have covered here in the past.  I’m just going to mention them, with my opinions, and give links to the original stories.

[Note:  There are hardly ever “original” stories, almost all that become visible in your news feeds are re-writes of some other coverage elsewhere.  Were it important, I would track down the earliest version of each one.]

Gray Wolves

The U.S. Wish and Wildlife Service has issued a ‘finding’ — an official statement — on the Gray Wolf:

“After an extensive peer-reviewed assessment using the best available science, the Service today announced a not warranted finding for two petitions to list gray wolves under the ESA in the Northern Rocky Mountains and the Western United States. This finding is not action-forcing; the legal status of gray wolves does not change as a result of this finding.”

“Gray wolves are listed under the ESA as endangered in 44 states, threatened in Minnesota, and under state jurisdiction in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and portions of eastern Oregon and Washington. Based on the latest data as of the end of 2022, there were approximately 2,797 wolves distributed across at least 286 packs in seven states in the Western United States. This population size and widespread distribution contribute to the resiliency and redundancy of wolves in this region. The population maintains high genetic diversity and connectivity, further supporting their ability to adapt to future changes.”

“To accomplish this and address the concern about nationwide recovery for gray wolves, the Service will undertake a process to develop a first-ever nationwide gray wolf recovery plan by December 12, 2025. Recovery plans provide a vision for species recovery that is connected to site-specific actions for reducing threats and conserving listed species and their ecosystems.”  [underlining emphasis mine – kh]

What this means depends on your opinion about the re-wilding of Gray Wolves in the United States.   On the most basic level, US FWS has decided not to change the rules about Gray Wolves.  FWS attempts to de-list the Gray Wolves from Endangered to Threatened have been repeated successfully challenged in Federal court by conservation activists groups —  the resulting in the fact that 5 of 6 previous FWS’s issued rules on Gray Wolves have been shot down by courts.

There is a report  from the FWS dated December 2023 available here [.pdf].  This report basically finds that wolves are doing fine and don’t need to be protected under the Endangered Species Act [ESA].

Nevertheless, FWS is not going to try again, at this time, to lessen protections for the Gray Wolf.

PBS NewsHour reprinted a piece by Associated Press’sMatthew Brown and titled it: “Feds won’t restore protections for gray wolves, propose national recovery plan”.

How’s that?  The “won’t restore” is what the FWS calls “a not warranted finding for two petitions to list gray wolves under the ESA in the Northern Rocky Mountains and the Western United States.”  The petitions demanded restoration of full Endangered Species status for the wolves in the Northern Rockies and the Western United States – which the FWS has declined to do – as “not warranted”.

Expect more legal challenges and noisy advocacy and pushback to that advocacy.  The topic of wolves produces a lot of opinions, viewpoints and emotional response [ mine here ]

# # # # #

Lake Oroville Dam water release

Who says “people never learn”?  The California Department of Water Resources made this announcement on 30 January 2024:

“Ahead of forecasted winter storms this week, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) began increasing water releases to the Feather River today from the Oroville-Thermalito Complex. These releases provide flood control protection for downstream communities and are coordinated closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other water operators. Feather River recreation users are advised to remain alert as river flows are expected to be swift and cold and may change based on projected weather forecasts.”

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has a terrific video of the event (2:20).

Why is the interesting news?  Let me refresh your memory, when in 2017 the DWR failed to release adequate amounts of water prior to heavy rains.  This created the Oroville Dam Crisis  and resulted in the evacuation of 180,000 people.  At that time, Anthony Watts’ hometown was close enough for the Oroville Dam story to be local news and this crisis was covered here at WUWT.

The Great Salt Lake: Personhood ?

The U.S. State of Utah says “Not so fast, Lefty!”

Oddly covered in the Climate Crisis News cabal outlet Inside Climate News (ICN), we get this as:

Utah Legislature Takes Aim at Rights of Nature Movement

“Nonhuman entities like corporations and municipalities have long had “legal personhood” in U.S. law. Now, Utah lawmakers want to prevent lakes, forests and other parts of nature from having the same legal status.”

“Lawmakers in Utah are advancing legislation aimed at stopping a growing “rights of nature” movement that has coalesced around efforts in the state to save the Great Salt Lake, which is drying up as a combination of climate change, development and agriculture drain on its freshwater sources.” 

“With activists promoting legislation recognizing that the Great Salt Lake has a right to exist, lawmakers in Utah’s House of Representatives on Tuesday voted in favor of a bill that would prohibit state and local governments from granting “legal personhood” to lakes and other bodies of water, animals and plants, among nature’s other constituents. The bill also prohibits governments in the state from granting legal personhood to artificial intelligence.”

Of course, the ICN slants the issue way off to the left, but the issue is about what is known as the Rights of Nature movement.  A specious legal argument that posits that lakes, trees, rivers should be granted Legal Personhood, with advocates appointed to act on their behalf under the law. 

The Utah House of Representatives has passed HB 249 which states:

“       63G-31-102. Legal personhood restricted.
51          Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a governmental entity may not grant legal
52     personhood to, nor recognize legal personhood in:
53          (1) artificial intelligence;
54          (2) an inanimate object;
55          (3) a body of water;
56          (4) land;
57          (5) real property;
58          (6) atmospheric gases;

59          (7) an astronomical object;
60          (8) weather;
61          (9) a plant;
62          (10) a nonhuman animal; or
63          (11) any other member of a taxonomic domain that is not a human being.
64          Section 3. Effective date.
65          This bill takes effect on May 1, 2024.”

This bill is expected to pass the state Senate and to be signed into law by the Governor of Utah.  So not just “no personhood for the Great Salt Lake”, but, sorry Hal 9000, no personhood for you either.

# # # # #

Author’s Comment:

I see many more interesting things than my current life allows me to write about.  I thought I’d try a little different format and bring a few of these to the forefront. 

Let me know in comments if this type of thing is any good.

Thanks for reading.

# # # # #

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Ireneusz Palmowski
February 6, 2024 12:36 am

El Niño works. An atmospheric river is flowing into southern California.

comment image

Ireneusz Palmowski
Reply to  Ireneusz Palmowski
February 6, 2024 6:06 am

Ron Long
February 6, 2024 1:59 am

Thanks, Kip. It looks like you discovered that: 1. there are more Grey Wolves than honest politicians, 2. after realizing that attempts to flood out WATTS won’t work, they do the right thing with reservoir capacity, and 3. Utah rejects WOKE nonsense (Utah also rejects hippies, child gender reassignment, and Net Zero).

Reply to  Ron Long
February 6, 2024 3:40 am

When Salt Lake dries it leaves a flat. Does the flat have a Right of Nature to exist?

Scissor
Reply to  David Pentland
February 6, 2024 4:28 am

The forgotten Great Basin says, “yes.”

Ireneusz Palmowski
Reply to  David Pentland
February 6, 2024 8:33 am

Does Tulare Lake still exist?

Ireneusz Palmowski
Reply to  David Pentland
February 6, 2024 9:22 am

If the Salton Sea gets more water, maybe the flamingos will come?

Reply to  Kip Hansen
February 6, 2024 8:23 am

Where I am sitting used to be about 1500 feet deep.

Reply to  Mark Whitney
February 6, 2024 9:44 am

There are sharks teeth in sand dunes 1500 feet above my house.

SteveZ56
Reply to  Kip Hansen
February 6, 2024 2:22 pm

I lived in the Salt Lake City area for eight years, and have gone on hikes in the nearby Wasatch Mountains to the east of the valley, which extends for about 30 miles south of the Salt Lake to the freshwater Utah Lake near Provo. There is a hiking trail, which follows a contour line about 500 vertical feet above the valley floor called the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, which may have been bathed by the waves of Lake Bonneville thousands of years ago. The climate of that area is much drier now than during the time of Lake Bonneville, and it wasn’t caused by human CO2 emissions.

The drying of the climate of that area is not recent, since the Mormon settlers in 1847 reported that the valley south of the Great Salt Lake was dry, and very little grew there except sagebrush. In order to raise crops through the hot, dry summers, the Mormons built many north/south irrigation canals to capture runoff from the snowmelt in spring (the highest rainfall there is March through May). These canals are still in operation today, as well as freshwater reservoirs at mid-level elevations in the nearby mountains.

This trapping of the freshwater runoff from the mountains has likely turned the valley much greener than in 1847, although it may be contributing to a lowering of the water level in the Great Salt Lake.

There is also a park called Antelope Island near the southeast corner of the Great Salt Lake, where the Park Service maintains a herd of some 800 to 1,000 bison. However, recent droughts have left the area to the south of Antelope Island very shallow, so we shouldn’t be surprised to see a few bison ford the shallow water straight into the Salt Lake City International Airport.

strativarius
February 6, 2024 2:03 am

there have been a few interesting general news items 

My favourite was the very idea of getting Gen Z ready for war….

“Britain must train citizen army, military chief warns”

[General Sir Patrick Sanders] talked about the need for the UK’s “pre-war generation” to prepare for the possibility of war and said that was a “whole-of-nation undertaking”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68086188

“Applicants seeking to join RAF described as ‘useless white male pilots’ in bid to hit ‘impossible’ diversity targets

Leaked emails show the pressure apparently being applied to filter out white male recruits and fast-track women and ethnic minorities.”
https://news.sky.com/story/raf-recruiters-were-advised-against-selecting-useless-white-male-pilots-to-hit-diversity-targets-12893684

All that for an outfit with around half a dozen aircraft.

Jim Turner
Reply to  strativarius
February 6, 2024 5:58 am

Despite having a population larger than ever, the British armed forces have rarely been smaller. This is partly due to cutting equipment to save money (Cameron savaged the air force as part of ‘austerity’ a few years ago), but this can be reversed in an emegency. More worrying is the increasing difficulty to recruit. The navy has recently withdrawn the frigate stationed in the Falklands and is considering decomissioning the two amphibious assault ships, both due to the inability to crew these vessels as well as the two aircraft carriers and their supporting frigates and destroyers.Coupled with the destruction of industry by ‘net zero’, I am far from optimistic about the future..

Reply to  Kip Hansen
February 6, 2024 8:10 am

Yeah, I remember gym class using the Marine Corps fitness test.
Good times.
I don’t think the local schools have done this for decades probably due to the shame of not having anyone pass the course.

sturmudgeon
Reply to  Brad-DXT
February 6, 2024 5:22 pm

Except the girls?

February 6, 2024 3:41 am

The U.S. Wish and Wildlife Service has issued a ‘finding’ — an official statement — on the Gray Wolf:

_____________________________________________________________

Or maybe just some wishful thinking (-:

Tom Halla
Reply to  Kip Hansen
February 6, 2024 7:34 am

The Green Blob is heavily influenced by both those hostile to pastoralism and animal rights activists.

Reply to  Kip Hansen
February 6, 2024 12:34 pm

Trying to be too cute when pointing out a typo doesn’t always work (-:

                                       WWS vs FWS

Ed Zuiderwijk
February 6, 2024 3:41 am

i believe in the person rights of my apple tree (a bramley) when it contributes to the mortgage payments.

Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
February 6, 2024 3:53 am

I spend a lot of time caring for my large lawn. I love and respect it. I want it to have person rights too. It’s only fair!

Richard Page
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
February 6, 2024 4:47 am

If it did ‘become’ a person, with full rights, how could you run a mower over it? Trimming ‘personhooded’ bushes and trees might well turn into a legal battle – is it care or mutilation of a person? Let’s leave them as they are, eh?

Reply to  Richard Page
February 6, 2024 6:27 am

nah, I’ll tell my vegetation I’m just giving it a haircut- cleaning it up so it’ll look pretty again 🙂

recently, a male tree (yes, they have sex) asked to have a gender change- I talked it out of that- it later thanked me 🙂

sturmudgeon
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
February 6, 2024 5:25 pm

o.k., I love and respect you. Fair enough?

jshotsky
February 6, 2024 3:47 am

Legal personhood? Why would they have to identify what are NOT legal persons? That’s politicians for you. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just say only people can have legal personhood? Oh, of course, there is this from the CRIMINAL RESOURCE MANUAL

CRM 1000-1499
1048. Definition—”Person”The term “person” is defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2510(6) to mean any individual person as well as natural and legal entities. It specifically includes United States and state agents. According to the legislative history, “(o)nly the governmental units themselves are excluded.” S.Rep. No. 1097, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. 90 (1968).
So, that seems to indicate that senators are legally people, but the senate is not. Huh? It takes tax dollars to come up with that?

rogercaiazza
February 6, 2024 4:25 am

In response to your question is this type of thing is any good I would say yes.

February 6, 2024 5:24 am

 when in 2017 the DWR failed to release adequate amounts of water prior to heavy rains. This created the Oroville Dam Crisis  and resulted in the evacuation of 180,000 people.”
A misunderstanding, they already had been releasing water in line with their normal operating procedure, however damage occurred to the spillway and they temporarily stopped the flow to check it out. As a result it flowed over the emergency spillway, causing the flooding.

Reply to  Kip Hansen
February 6, 2024 10:22 am

I don’t need to read those posts, I followed it very closely at the time. The key to the whole issue was the failure of the main spillway while it was in use in the normal flood control. Shutting it down to check it out and then allowing the emergency spillway to be used led to the lack of control. The amount of corrosion of the emergency spillway led to them having to crank up flow over the regular spillway despite the damage but concern over possible failure led to evacuation.

February 6, 2024 5:24 am

There is excellent aerial coverage and intelligent dialogue on the Northern California dams and reservoirs by an avid aviator, on his site:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5aWP31r9Vs&t=10s (Oroville Update! “Open The Gates!” 2 Feb 24)
He also has around a hundred videos on the Oroville and other reservoir conditions, mishaps, drought and flood info, along with first hand accounts of various CA wildfires.

Reply to  D Boss
February 6, 2024 10:24 am

Yes Juan Browne gave the best coverage of the Oroville dam situation.

February 6, 2024 7:25 am

Oh, those pesky wolves…especially in Northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The “finding” is that they are finding more wolves than ever. But the program must continue so the finders can find more wolves.

Reply to  Kip Hansen
February 6, 2024 9:14 am

Despite their issues with humans wolves continue to maintain a presence in the northern tier of the country. The reality however, is that they are blamed for the depredations of coyotes, common canines that the average person can’t distinguish from a wolf.
For some years now there’s been a program by the USFW to reintroduce Mexican wolves to eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. Evidence of this unpopular move was sometimes seen by drivers who noticed them running around with blaze orange collars to protect them from armed ranchers. Killing one was a very serious offense. A personal investigation revealed that the entire program was initiated by a retired lady in Phoenix who felt that the wolves should be returned to their former range.
The wolves in Wisconsin are protected. Unprotected are the feral hogs that have escaped from styes and are rampaging through the state. Wisconsin DNR encourages hunters to kill any wild hog that they see. Feral hogs are also a problem of sorts on the Big Island of Hawaii, the problem being locating one so it can become the centerpiece of a feast.

sturmudgeon
Reply to  Kip Hansen
February 6, 2024 5:31 pm

Easy. Just send the ‘pigs with lipstick’ that we have in gov’t. and msm to walk by.

February 6, 2024 8:03 am

This bill is grossly unfair.
Why do we give personhood to a lot of congress critters and the current POTUS, who have less intelligence than a wolf (with similar ethics) yet we can’t do the same for any other natural objects.

Racists!
FJB

Reply to  Kip Hansen
February 7, 2024 8:20 am

I take it that the professor is not associated with the medical or biology departments. He must have failed grade school biology if he thinks cats and dogs are people.\

I consider my dogs part of the family and care for them like one of God’s creatures that I am honored to associate with. I would defend them against harm like I would a child (more likely they would defend me). I am not delusional enough to think they are people.

thumbnail_20220820_135906
February 6, 2024 8:21 am

Infringing on personal rights and insisting on them for the absurd is a strange thought process that only an absurd person could explain. Glad our legislature here in Deseret gets that. As for the Lake, it may get some love this year. We have a normal snowpack and a “robust” reservoir profile at about 80%.

Mr Ed
February 6, 2024 8:55 am

USF&W agency types have a very bad reputation in my neck of the woods. I attended every
reintroduction hearing held for the wolf reintroduction back in the 90’s and every single
claim they made in reference to what the wolfs impact would be was a outright lie. Things like
they would only eat the sick and old animals and not livestock ect. Idaho recently redid their
wolf management plan and opened it up for public comments. Just one main result of the
wolf reintroduction was the Lolo elk herd population on the Idaho side. Back in 2010 the herd
was aprox 25,000 head, by 2020 it was estimated to be 2,500. In southern MT
several herds were completely wiped out..Now imagine what those wolves will
eat when the wildlife is wiped out. The same greens that get discussed and bashed on this forum
are trying to ban wolf trapping…The USF&W are a very shady group of agency tyrants IMO, their
trucks pulling bear traps have been caught on surveillance cameras at 4:00 am in remote
areas in central MT this fall bringing in problem grizzly bears and dumping them on unsuspecting
residents. Out on the prairie in the small town of Valier the school kids can’t go outside
during recess anymore because of grizzly bears that have been seen on school property. The
fencing crews now have to have a armed watchman when out working especially in brushy bottom
ground. If one sees a backhoe going down the road in the morning you wonder who shot the bear.
I asked an old friend who’s brother farms up on the Marias River if his brother had any prairie bear issues. He paused for a moment and said his brother shoots every bear he see’s, as long as
it’s on the neighbors place, and his neighbor does the same for him. The Mexican border
would be a good location for dumping these problem bears.

Mr Ed
Reply to  Kip Hansen
February 6, 2024 10:43 am

An issue related to the wolf reintroduction that never gets any attention that I learned
about some 5-6 yrs into the reintroduction was the “coywolf” hybrid. There was a
livestock depredation in WA state in the Okanogan area and a ADC trapper was brought in
and when he caught the culprit a hair sample was taken and DNA’ed as custom. It was found to be half wolf and half coyote. It was radio collared and released. It traveled back and forth across the border traveling several hundred miles and ended up near Judith Gap MT a few months later and was shot by a rancher for killing some sheep on his ranch.

I have a two packs of coywolves in my area, 80-90 killing machines. I hear them at nites at times, their vocalization starts out with a yodel and ends in a howl a very distinct sound. I had a pack on my place 2 yrs ago after a grizzly killed a neighbors cow close to my house during a dry spell that pushed the cows off of the summer range to the bottoms. There was
nothing left of that cow in less than 3 weeks, no bones, hide, nothing. I collected the
eartag and gave it to the owner. You haven’t lived till you have a dead cow near
your house in grizzly country. I got some interesting trailcam pics that summer.
I wonder why the agency boys never bring up the coywolves and the issues from
them?

Mr Ed
Reply to  Kip Hansen
February 6, 2024 12:33 pm

Taking a wolf is regulated but a coyote is not. As a livestock producer
that is a serious issue. There is nothing in the regs that defines
where that falls. I can set a snare for a coyote year ’round but
that is prohibited for wolf. I’ve asked several agency guys and
they have yet to give a clear response. I’ve always had respect
for wildlife on the land I run and always will. These agency guys
have an agenda that reminds me of the climate change agency
types and it’s not based on reality.

insufficientlysensitive
February 6, 2024 9:41 am

Fine article, for which many thanks.

February 6, 2024 12:36 pm

It’s always good to see what new avenues they are taking to shut down civilization.

Bob
February 6, 2024 1:17 pm

I struggle with the wolf issue. For the most part I accepted reintroduction of wolves and grizzlies. My fear was that the program would get out of hand and both species would be protected beyond what was needed. And that has happened. I do not worship any animal that would include me on its menu. There may be some areas where these animals still need protection but not where I live we have plenty. Protect them where they need protection and lift the protection where they are abundant.

February 6, 2024 6:05 pm

It strikes me that today, many people — especially those who are ‘woke’ — don’t understand and appreciate the distinction between the words “right,” “privilege,” and “protection.” Inalienable rights, as listed in our Declaration of Independence, include “life,” and “liberty.” They explain the behavior of any sentient being in resorting to self defense or trying to escape captivity. Typically, a legal right, such as a constitutional right, is an action that one can exercise, such as voting, the right to a trial by one’s peers, or the right to enter into contracts for one having reached the age of majority. It is essential that one both exercise and defend their rights, which one sometimes does by hiring a specialist in the law. Driving, flying, or operating a large ship are legal privileges that require a license, and can only be engaged in by minors close to the age of majority if they have a special license and typically operate under much stricter regulations than an adult.

Minors, who haven’t otherwise been legally emancipated, usually don’t have standing in a trial by virtue of their being barred from contractual obligations and otherwise having handicaps such as no education or limited education, and no resources to hire an advocate. Thus, society expects that the parents of minors are their first line of protection, although, society does pass laws protecting children from even their parents, and individuals and agencies are tasked with looking out for the welfare of children. Similarly, society has often passed laws protecting animals from cruelty.

As to the legal “personhood” of corporations, they are a group of humans, employed by humans, and usually have staff or resources to be legal advocates for the collection of humans with rights of various types.

Now, when it comes to trees, lakes, or other non-sentient objects, they can’t participate in activities such as voting, and it makes no sense to give them “personhood” or standing in court because they can’t even communicate their non-existent desires to a legal advocate. Calling societal protections created by humans, rights, does not make them so. Inanimate objects cannot exercise rights, actively defend them, or even communicate a desire to do so. Therefore, it is most accurate to refer to them as what they are, societal protections deemed necessary and appropriate by humans, and as defined by humans. This is part of the problem with ‘woke’ people. They are not rational.

dk_
February 6, 2024 11:04 pm

the legal status of gray wolves does not change as a result of this finding.”

The population maintains high genetic diversity and connectivity, further supporting their ability to adapt to future changes.

To accomplish this and address the concern about nationwide recovery for gray wolves, the Service will undertake a process to develop a first-ever nationwide gray wolf recovery plan

So for the wolves to actually accomplish further adaptation, the agency must establish a plan, providing the wolves with

a vision for species recovery

To heck with that Darwin guy, there’s no way that these un-threatened animals, or for the wishful Fish and Wildlife Service, to survive without agency intervention.

Even nature is coopted to service Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy. https://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html

I think the FWS small arms ammo budget has been raised again. Wonder who they’re threatened by?

Ireneusz Palmowski
February 6, 2024 11:39 pm

More fronts with precipitation will reach California from the northwest.