The Washington Post has collected an amazing number of reasons to stop being a birder—all reflecting the fact that many birds are named after people deemed to be racists. “The Bachman’s sparrow, Wallace’s fruit dove and other winged creatures bear the names of men who fought for the Southern cause, stole skulls from Indian graves…
Search Results for: wildlife
Biden’s Land Management Appointee Gets a Grilling from Republican Senators
In a hearing June 8, Republicans challenged Tracy Stone-Manning’s nomination as head of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The Interior Department bureau is in charge of cattle grazing, energy development, and logging on about 245 million acres of publicly owned, mostly western land. Manning-Stone is a long-time environmentalist who is a senior advisor on…
Can a Rancher Kill a Grizzly Bear in Self-Defense?
The growing numbers of grizzly bears in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, are rankling ranchers. So the Montana legislature has passed two bills that aim at giving ranchers more rights to kill grizzlies. But will these laws fly? The will undoubtedly run into conflict with federal regulations for the grizzly, which is still listed as an…
Supreme Court Nixes Sierra Club FOIA Request, Protects ‘Deliberative Process’
Although most non-classified documents are available to the public, there are exceptions. The Supreme Court told the Sierra Club on March 3 that it could not have access to draft documents prepared in 2013 by staff members of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Amy Coney Barrett wrote the 7-2…
White Moose and Public Sacrifice
What ethical and legal claims can religion can make on resources and the property of others who do not share the faith? We begin with hunting. Every hunting season brings outrage and lament at the news that a hunter has killed a “white moose.” The animal killed could be elk, deer, or any animal that…
The Surprising Spread of Free Market Environmentalism
This is the second post by Shawn Regan of PERC, the Property and Environment Research Center, on “what free market environmentalists support.” Those who support the role of property rights and markets in environmental protection may not realize how many organizations agree with them. Here are a few examples (for others see Part I of…