So many good points brought up that I wanted to expand on some of them.
Yesterday I was part of a live broadcast panel discussing the threat against wildlife in Point Reyes National Seashore. One might think the threat I'm referring to is that of wildfires, but sadly, the threat is from the park staff who are under control of animal agriculture. I have embedded the original broadcast on my sites (wachinghumans.com and shameofpointreyes.org), but also recorded a follow up to the panel because the panelists brought up some great points that I wanted to expand on. Please watch these, also embedded below the original broadcast. I also want to thank Jane for asking the tech community of the Bay Area to use their clout and their resources to help in the fight against this corruption. My old tech friends, you have the power to make a difference and activists desperately need your assistance. Nature is under assault across the globe, but also right here in your back yard, even national park units aren't safe! You can make your mark by preserving this gem on our coast rather than letting it turn into what the rest of the world is becoming...a desolate feed lot of cattle.
#pointreyes #pointreyesnationalseashore #california #drought #tuleelk #wildfires #agriculture #climatechange #janeunchained #skylerthomas #livestock #cattle #dairy #animalagriculture #ranching #ranchingtruth
0 Comments
"Hey, elk poop too!" - Rancher rationale for allowing thousands of cattle to saturate a national seashore with feces.
#ranching #feces #waste #poop #everyonepoops #elk #dairy #beef #livestock #planetpoop #pointreyes
There's a long list of private business expenses our tax dollars payoff on public land, but road repairs is one you probably never thought of. Road maintenance is one of many management expenses that fall on the park service, which means it is paid by tax dollars. The park roads endure a lot of traffic from tourists, but have you ever considered how wear and tear from standard vehicles stacks up against the trucks going in and out of the park with their shipments of cattle feed? How about the massive milk trucks? The combines? The cattle trucks. Manure trucks. Slaughter trucks. Any other large, agricultural vehicle? I haven’t specifically counted the trucks, but it has never been a challenge to get a picture of one, thus it seems they are ever-present. That’s the reality of large, agricultural businesses operating within a federally owned park. Whatever damages that heavy equipment is or isn’t causing, YOU are paying the repairs. #privatebusiness #publicland #traffic #maintenance #expenses #taxes #federalpark #nationalpark #wearandtear #haytruck #milktruck #feedtruck #manuretruck #cattletruck #combine #pointreyes #tourism
Watch on Youtube
This was once a dairy…
An inconspicuous sign just off Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Inverness tells a wonderful tale of recovery. Today, a living, breathing, wetland filled with native plants and animals provides beauty, health, and even recreation for humans where once there stood a massive dairy ranch. Cut off from the natural ebb and flow, plants and animals disappeared. The soil became heavily polluted from sedimentation, manure, and other factors. The purchase of this land and the massive restoration effort that followed is a feel good story that puts a smile on almost anyone's face. Today the park service is dedicated to destruction in the name of profit for a few rather than recovery for the benefit of us all. I wonder if that sign on the side of the road will disappear now. It is evidence that today's park service contradicts itself.
#pointreyes #Inverness #giacomini #wetlands #dairy #ranch #recovery #wildlife #cattle
What to watch after watching the film...
The film director and an ecologist return to Point Reyes with the goal of cutting through myths, propaganda and misconceptions surrounding this national treasure. No fancy editing or overly verbose arguments, just a common sense approach while standing amongst the evidence. This series provides entry level learning about the complexities of ecosystems, especially ones as fragile as Point Reyes.
The direct and immediate threat of shooting elk certainly deserves to be the attention-grabbing subject regarding what's happening in the seashore, but it's important for everyone to understand that it's not just the elk. Businesses operating within the park that depend on the exploitation of the land will always be at odds with wildlife that are trying to live there as well.
Consider that an herbivore, the beautiful Tule elk, is considered a threat to the profits of the ranchers just by eating grass. How do you think things are going to go for predators when the seashore allows the ranchers to bring in more commodity animals, smaller ones, such as pigs, chickens, etc.? Coyotes are screwed. Bobcats are screwed. If there is a mountain lion out there somewhere you might as well say goodbye to it now. Do you believe that hawks and other birds won't enter the new row crops that are going to be allowed? How about the badgers, deer, and rabbits that will understandably be tempted to partake in such food. Once again, to "protect their bottom line" ranchers will turn to means of battling against the wildlife and it won't end with adding even more ugly barbed wire fences out there. Traps, pesticides, annual culls will follow. If you need an indication of the odds ranchers and wildlife are at, every year, a government agency abusively titled "Wildlife Services" kills millions of native animals every year strictly for the agriculture industry. Remember, elk eating grass is enough of a financial threat to the ranchers that the park service is has been asked to kill them. How about when the wildlife start eating the actual commodities, not just the grass the commodities eat? But we need look no further than birds to see how ranching affects wildlife. You can ALWAYS see certain species of birds flocking to the feeding bins of the cattle which both alters the natural behavior of the birds while promoting certain species (such as ravens) who then dominate and kill off other species. The annual silage harvest is proven (through park mandated studies) to have reduced diversity and richness of native bird species in the seashore. How? By mowing down fields where these animals nest each year. Yes, I mean chopping up native animals in harvest blades. I've seen it. It's as bad as it sounds. So now the park service in their great wisdom is going to allow even more crops to be grown and harvested? And how about the fact that the amount of cattle manure in Point Reyes has already ranked as one of the most e-coli polluted locations in the nation. Now we're going to add pig manure, chicken manure, and all the byproducts that come with feeding and growing commodity animals and crops? This national seashore is in for a world of hurt. For those who believe (without evidence I might add) that the legislation intended for ranches to remain in the seashore, do you also believe that the well being of the seashore was to always come second to the profits of the ranches at the expense of the land and wildlife? The ranchers are literally taking a $%@! on this magical seashore and we, the public continue to watch and fit the bill while muttering lies about sustainability and culture.
Ecologist and author Laura Cunningham tries to explain the portrayal of native plants as invasive problems within Point Reyes National Seashore.
Another excerpt from a field trip into Point Reyes National Seashore with Laura Cunningham. What are some unsuspected consequences of removing native habitat for the sake of creating pasture land? How many of us are aware that the “golf course green hills” that we pass on the highway are far from being wild habitat?
First Episode of a mini series featuring ecologist Laura Cunningham.
While exploring a cattle-free section of Point Reyes National Seashore, ecologist, anthropologist, and author, Laura Cunningham, spots some wildlife excrement that she believes to be from Tule elk. This leads to a comparison of wildlife excrement and domestic livestock excrement, particularly that of a dairy cow. One of the many lies agents of animal agriculture will tell the public is that domestic livestock can perform the functions that foraging wild herbivores perform as though they can be considered a replacement for nature's ungulates. The truth is that they eat differently, move differently, and defecate differently. In the case of dairy cows these livestock are manipulated to produce unnatural amounts of milk. This is achieved by perpetual impregnation, separation of baby from mother, harvesting the milk, and feeding the cow incredible amounts of feed. Unlike a wild, foraging animal, in addition to open grazing the cattle are fed tons of supplemental feed just to keep up with the caloric need of producing enough milk to be profitable. But what goes in must come out, leaving the landscape of Point Reyes National Seashore absolutely saturated in cow shit. So how do plants and animals fare in habitat exposed to cattle vs. cattle-free? Stay tuned for the next video. #lies #manipulation #animalagriculture #cattle #ranchers #ranching #bullshit #cowshit #nationalpark #feces #wildvslivestock #ungulate #elk #dairy #cow #cattle #tuleelk #lauracunningham #ecology #pointreyes #pointreyesnationalseashore Guest post from Sheila Matthers. On Friday, January 24th, I attended Jared Huffman’s Town Hall Meeting in Point Reyes. I’ve been watching Huffman more closely over the last year so I was somewhat prepared for what I would hear, but one part in particular sticks out in my mind. At one Point Mr. Huffman began speaking about the future of ranching in the national seashore and stated that he’s been “looking closely at the legislation” and that it “clearly states ranching was meant to continue in the seashore”. Someone in the audience asked a follow up question, “Mr. Huffman, could you please tell us where it says that and exactly what it says?” As I anticipated, he did not have that answer, but instead backpedaled into another topic. In both business and politics the technique Mr. Huffman had demonstrated is called, “Lying with confidence.” He sounded like he’d done his research and that he knew what he was talking about, and most ears in the audience would hungrily accept whatever he had to say as long as he said it confidently, but luckily one person knew enough to ask a specific question...a question he couldn’t answer about the very thing he just finished claiming to know about. There’s a good reason he couldn’t answer it. Because the part of the legislation that says ranching is meant to continue in the seashore doesn’t exist. I repeat, it does not exist. Instead we have had years of attempts to CHANGE the legislation to say what the ranching community wants it to say. If the legislation already “clearly stated” that ranching was meant to remain in the seashore forever why would it be necessary for pro-ranching lobbyists to attempt to amend that same legislation? What the original legislation DOES spell out is that the leases that were granted as part of the purchase deal had an expiration date. The legislation also states that the purpose of forming the seashore was to preserve and restore the area to its natural state and to protect it from anything that will harm that state. Politics, amendments, and confident lying aside, we can also use basic common sense. Below I present to you two scenarios and a simple question. Which scenario represents the real world and which one is a fantasy?
#Huffman #JaredHuffman #liar #ranching #environment #pointreyes
|
TAX DEDUCTIBLEThis project is independent and self-funded. The time and financial investment is significant. Support is greatly needed and appreciated.
|