All federal waterfowl and wetlands research proposed to be eliminated from USGS

[Eric Patterson]

You did. Because I don't care about you or anyone else opinion on the subject.

Y'all are free to your thoughts and opinions and I'm free to mine.

You haven't offered anything to substantiate your opinions or elucidate why you have them. You make claims and fail to expound. I've seen stuff like yours online for years. It isn't convincing when you can't offer any evidence or even explain it. Not even an anecdote. If you have thoughts and opinions yet can't come up with anything to back them you might want to rethink things.

Go ahead and have your opinion, share it or not. You are certainly welcome to that. Just as I'm welcome to ask you why.

 

[Carl]

Thoughts and opinions not backed up by facts and data are no way to make law or policy, or serious decisions regarding the management of our natural resources.

 

[William Reinicke]

You did. Because I don't care about you or anyone else opinion on the subject.

Then why respond at all? Theres a saying…. When digging yourself a hole, sometimes it’s best to lose the shovel.

Y'all are free to your thoughts and opinions and I'm free to mine.

Problem is…. Your opinions are baseless and your claims lack depth. In other words, you sound like a 3rd grader trying to complain but can’t quite get your thoughts from point a to point b to make any sense at all.

Originally I kind of agreed with you, but it’s only because I’ve spent time across the country hunting waterfowl the last 10-12 years, and some things are wonky as heck that’s being done. We absolutely need the management and we absolutely need the data. Are we getting it the best way and is the country being managed the best it can be? I don’t think so, but I have my reasoning and beliefs based on what I’ve observed. Hard to tell a farmer I can’t help them with 30k snows eating up their wheat because the govt didn’t allow a conservation season in one state only and in one of the biggest wintering grounds in the country, all because it was based on one crappy migration year the season prior.

Your reason is based on some bs “I can’t state this or that legally”. In other words, you are back pedaling your statements and looking for a way out. You don’t know the first thing you are talking about. And I’ll go one step further… this whole post is about the entirety of the country, not just LA, so get out of here with your weak posts about your little state govt drama that was easily googled and not at all secretive as you made it out to be. Cmon Mr./Mrs. John, let’s try and keep the posting to an adult level.

 

[RM Anderson]

The enemy is not Clinton John, Donald Trump, Democrats or Republicans. The enemy is us the voters who voted in politicians who promised the greatest largesse. Few people know that in a few short years every dollar the federal government takes in will be used to pay just the interest on the national debt. I love ducks as much as anyone but we all have to pull together and suffer a little. With any luck many cut programs will be temporary. In other cases maybe technology will come to the rescue. Consider waterfowl counts. In the past the government hired pilots and observers. Maybe the job could be performed by a drone. Something greater than duck hunting is at stake; the country as we know it. Richard

 

[Carl]

Our national debt and deficit spending is an existential threat to our country. And like I noted, spending cuts and tax cuts alone won’t fix it. As much as no one likes it, we probably need to go to pre-Bush 2 marginal income tax rates.
Through in all the critical infrastructure needs, and it’s gonna take a new generation of real leaders to fix this mess.

 

[Ed L.]

USGS to eliminate Biological research

The Office of Management and Budget has proposed to eliminate the biological resources division of USGS. This division is in charge of all of the USGS research stations like Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Station, the National Wildlife Health Center, The Alaska Science Center, the Cooperative Wildlife Research Units at the land grant universities across the country, the Bird Banding Lab and other important waterfowl and migratory bird research activities. This will cripple waterfowl research and management in the US.The concept is to replace all research with competitive grants to universities. I see major flaws with this approach when it comes to long-term, focused research or monitoring.For example, can you imagine a university running the bird banding lab? There are terabytes of banding data to maintain, lots of bands to distribute, handling reports from banners and hunters and making the data available to managers. If you are as concerned about this as I am, please contact your members of Congress and urge them to continue the biological research function of USGS. If cuts need to be made, they should be targeted and strategic.

To me this just sounds like another attempt at finding more money savings by DOGE and eliminating an additional 10,000 federal employees. Whether there is a legitimate reason for ending this research or not without more information published in coming to this conclusion, once it's gone, it's gone.

 

[Dani]

With any luck many cut programs will be temporary.

Richard,

While I share your concerns about the deficit and agree that it is the fault of the voters for voting in someone like Trump (and all the other far left or right politicians), I don't share your optimism about cut programs being temporary.

Too often, whether it be local, state or federal gov't, when things get cut it takes almost an act of god to get anything back. Once something is gone, the money is allocated somewhere else and then it seems almost impossible for anyone to get the money back for the thing that was cut. And something as critical to us as conservation is not seen as critical to the majority of people anymore. Gone are the days where more people than not live off the land. Gone are the days where more people than not actually care about our wild places and the animals that live in those places.

I truly hope I am wrong, but I don't see how cutting something like these programs will end up being a good thing long term. But maybe there are some folk who will be able to think outside the box and truly find a way to keep these programs as neutral as possible. Not being used for university funding or agendas.

 

[Richard Lathrop]

No politician was elected for advocating raising taxes. The problem in the US has been coming since 1945 with the baby boom. You can cast blame on everyone for the mess we are in. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky upheld Clintons Budget over a conference on entitlement reforms and when she flipped her vote the House sang bye bye to her and she was not reelected.

The issue with DOGE is the slash and burn and the long term effects of all the institutional knowledge being lost. There is no transfer of knowledge happening with the cuts. When it is gone it is gone.

Rick

 

[HenryHawthorne]

Yes, 2 extremes. Cut and it never comes back... or begin and fund a program and it never gets ended or even re-evaluated.

I'm of the opinion that most of our waterfowl programs are value-added and that we should advocate against blanket cuts to them. But I also recognize there are thousands of programs that other special interest groups value similarly.

Our problem is that we spend more than we fund. We fund our government at between 15% and 17% of GDP. That's been pretty consistent since WW2, and regardless of which tax bracket/rate scheme has been in place. Currently, we're near the top end of that range.

On the other hand, where we once spent what we funded, for the last 15 years typical spending has been 20%-25% of gdp (spiked to over 30% during covid).

We're in for some tough decisions that will either include cutting programs many consider valuable or that will require individuals to cut their own expenses in order to increase funding to the government by paying more in taxes/fees.

There simply isnt enough money to fund all our valued programs, and borrowing the money just makes the problem worse. Should we advocate for our preferred programs? Indeed. But we should be prepared to fund them. I'm sorry to learn banding and other important programs aren't funded through duck stamps and gun/ammo/taxes. We'd have an easier argument. Perhaps we advocate for both funding and for paying for it through increased duck stamp and firearm/ammo taxes - and some type of federal tax/licensure requirement on guides/outfitters.

 

[SJ Fairbank]

Perhaps we advocate for both funding and for paying for it through increased duck stamp and firearm/ammo taxes - and some type of federal tax/licensure requirement on guides/outfitters.

If the bill passes with the cuts described I think the research has to be continued through taxes/fees. Pay (more) to play may be the way of the future. Especially for those making money off the resource, as it should be.

 

[RM Anderson]

The political pendulum does seem to swing wildly in recent years. I too am saddened by many of the cuts to truly righteous programs. My wife's job is a prime example. She works for a state administered federally mandated program that helped the elderly move out of nursing homes where they are often neglected because of staffing issues. That program is slated to be cut by DOGE. As a public servant for over 30 years, my wife is devastated. I am equally troubled by all the wildlife biologists who have dedicated their lives to wildlife only to find themselves without a job. Whether it be drilling for oil in ANWAR, mining in the BWCA or cutting funding to national parks I also find it worrisome. I was against stimulus money being given out during covid by both administration's and I certainly do I not agree with tax cuts given the financial trouble we are in today. If raising user based fees such as hunting licenses would be slated for keeping the ball rolling on research I would be in favor. There is alot of fault to go around. What if churches helped the needy or people saved for their own retirement instead relying on the government. For many years we've been fed a lie and now we are paying the price. On a positive note, Trump did not take the easy way out and fire up the printing presses like many countries have tried. That never ends well. Richard

 

[HenryHawthorne]

Deleted after thinking about it and recognizing my response was migrating towards political.