URGENT ACTION NEEDED
We received this from our friend Kirk McKenzie at DRA. The opposition to public lands is stuffing the comments on the frogs and toads listing so they can close 2.2 million acres of OUR land from you. We need you to be heard like never before. We’ve included a link in the middle of this post which is the comment page at regulations.gov This listing is not about frogs, it is about an agenda it we must stand up and say NO.
VOTE NO TO FROGS & TOADS LISTING
The following frogs & toads commentary submissions highlight a significant issue. As I’m discovering, the agencies do two things with comments.
1. They respond to substantive commentary.
2. Substantive or not, they tally all commentary as being FOR and AGAINST the proposed listing, then report this tally as “public input”. Here’s the deception. The tally does not differentiate between those that live in the affected area, the state, or even in the USA. Nor does it differentiate between custom written commentary vs. form commentary. In other words, everybody anywhere gets to vote, and equal weight is given to a one-click response from someone who never set foot in the affected area, county, state, or even country as is given to thoughtful commentary made by the people who actually live and work there. This is a direct assault on representative government.
The submissions listed below―for just October 17―clearly indicate the “ballot box” is being stuffed with form commentaries in favor of the listing. Here is an example. This is a strategy pursued by the Sierra Club, among others, to send out alerts that allow members to submit form commentary with a simple click.
I don’t have a one-click button for you, but I do have the next best thing. Copy and paste the following commentary, modified if you want, into the comment box.
Here is the link to post the comments, we strongly urge you to oppose this using this link.
http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FWS-R8-ES-2012-0100-0790
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I DO NOT SUPPORT the USFWS proposal to list as endangered species the Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frog, all populations of Mountain Yellow-Legged Frogs that occur north of the Tehachapi Mountains, and the Yosemite Toad.
The science clearly shows the danger to the frogs and toads comes primarily from a virus that kills frogs and toads even in pristine wilderness areas devoid of humans and human activities. So-called “habitat restoration,” i.e., the expulsion of people and their recreational and commercial uses of these forests will not restore the frog and toad mutations. The proposed listing will not solve the problem, but will devastate the recreational enjoyment of our public lands, as well as the economic prosperity of the families, communities, and counties that actually live on, work on, and care for these lands.
Real solutions are already being explored by scientific and state actions, and do not require federal intervention. Furthermore, the federal government has not established it has jurisdiction over the proposed designated habitat, which belong to the People of the State of California, and I therefore challenge the federal government’s jurisdiction in this matter. Jurisdiction once challenged cannot be assumed, it must be proven.
NO THANKS to the USFWS for entering into secret settlement agreements with the Center For Biological Diversity and pursing a course of action that is so destructive to all concerned, including the frogs and toads.