A Test Killing

[Gary_C]

Yes, it's true. Here is the story:

Experiment to test killing 1 owl to help another



GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - Federal biologists are designing an experiment to see if killing the aggressive barred owl that has invaded old growth forests of the Northwest would help the spotted owl, which is protected.



I guess shutting down logging in the PNW was all for naught.  :

DanGed Endangered Species Act! 

[Tom]

It's Environment by Design, not Environment Protection

The EDP department.  Data Processing will have to get another set of letters.

Eco-scientist will now be known as designologist
The goal is make things be the way we(?) Think they should be.

Bought any carbon credits lately?

[Gary_C]

I just can't get the image out of my head of the trusted Federal Biologist walking around on the floor of the forest with this recording playing loudly, "don't worry, this is just a test." And then BANG, you're dead.  :

Unfortunately that is what they did to the logging industry in that area.

[Magicman]

I read somewhere about some yoyo's cutting down a big tree so that they could count the rings to determine how old it was.   Guess an increment borer wouldn't work... :(

[pappy19]

When working as a Woodland Forester for the Idaho Department of Lands in the 1970's central Idaho had a really bad spruce budworm epidemic and decided to spray Sevin on all state and private timber lands in Valley and Adams County. The US Forest Service was asked to also participate but declined over too many "environmental" issues. As a part of the spray program, the Feds did pay for testing of birds and fish to "prove" that the spraying was environmentally detrimental to birds and freshwater trout. Well, the Feds during and after the spray operation shot 67 birds and trapped and killed over 100 trout to test for those effects. Guess what, other than those birds and fish that were intentionally killed for the testing, NO birds or fish were found dead or otherwise affected by this huge spraying effort.

The spraying totally stopped 80% of the spruce bud worm infestation and it hasn't been a problem since in that area. Just goes to show you-

[maple flats]

Unfortunately that all too often sounds like the way OUR government works. They get one person or small team of "experts" and they screw up the whole thing. I might also add that they do it with a high price tag and at our expense. >:( :(

[zopi]

Sounds like taking the Navy's shibuilding capabilities away and farming it out to mom and pop...hence the nightmare I am living right now.

[Jeff]

The first year we had real bad gypsy moth infections here, there were some outfits hired by communities, including our sub division that were hired to come in and use high pressure sprayers to spray what was supposed to be an approved application.  Turned out to be sevin.

Everything dropped out of the trees that year. Bees bugs and butterflies and any other sort of insect. We didn't see a song bird here the rest of the summer.

[rebocardo]

> the Feds during and after the spray operation shot 67 birds and trapped and killed over 100 trout to test for those effects.

And they complain about Japanese whale "research"  :D

[pappy19]

The spruce bud worm project in central Idaho used straight Sevin. However, the old pine beetle project around the Idaho side of Yellowstone in the early 1960's used Sevi-mol, which was Sevin mixed with molasis to stick to the bark and also to attract the bark beetle. It worked great. Only problem was that Yellowstone park would not spray, of course. It took another 20 years for most all of Yellowstone's Lodgepole pines to die from the bark beetle and finally burn 90% of the Park, but that's ok for the Park. Too bad that billions of board feet of merchantable timeber went up in smoke in Idaho and continues today all over the western states. For those that have valuable pine trees and want to keep them from being infested by bark beetles, spray your trees 2/3 of the trunk with Sevi-mol every year and it won't get hit.

[critter]

    this sounds like project for nero and "his people"