Non-PNWers Will Find This Hard To Believe

[Humptulips]

Yes. The Fish and Wildlife folks have been sued in the past for not considering all the nominated species. Budget and time were their defense. I cannot remember the outcome. I believe nobody won. Think of the dollars......

Here's a little article on the outcome.

By Laura Zuckerman
Wed Jul 13, 2011

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters Life!) - The U.S. government would have until 2018 to decide whether to extend Endangered Species Act protections to hundreds of imperiled animals and plants under a new deal with environmentalists.

The agreement between the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would settle that group's legal claims that the government has been too slow in assigning federal safeguards to various species on the brink of extinction.

The proposal, filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., must be approved by a judge.

Under the plan, the government would be required to make at least preliminary decisions by 2018 on whether to set aside critical habitat or provide other protections for more than 750 species, including the American wolverine, a bear-like animal of the mountain West, and the Pacific walrus.

"This is a landmark agreement that gives species a fighting chance to stave off extinction and survive for generations to come," said Noah Greenwald, the center's endangered species director.

The proposed deal came after negotiations between the group and the government over timelines for evaluating creatures ranging from the Florida sandhill crane to the Arkansas darter, a fish of the central Plains.

The settlement would address a backlog of 250 animals and plants the government says warrant protections but which have been placed on a waiting list behind species deemed a higher priority.

Some mammals, birds and fish have been on the so-called candidate list for decades. The deal would require those animals be approved or denied listing as threatened or endangered by the 2018 deadline.

Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe said in a statement that the agreement would pave the way for government scientists "to more effectively focus our efforts on providing the benefits of the Endangered Species Act to those imperiled species most in need of protection."
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The thing you need to understand about the Center for Biological Diversity. The law pretty much guarantees they will get paid all legal fees by the federal government, usually the USFWS. So this is these peoples job. We pay them to sue us and win or lose they make money. It has become a good business for some.This is the part of the Endangered Species Act that needs to be changed.

 

[Humptulips]

The Mole in my yard is eating all these slugs!

They are welcome to come and get rid of my Mole, then there will be more slugs and then no problem! (They can also take the slugs and "relocate" them. Perhaps they would like them in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service yard?)

Fine for you in Oregon to get rid of the mole but in the great State of Washington, maybe I should say the State of Greater Seattle, it is illegal to trap moles, gophers too.:help::bang:

 

[slowp]

Gologit Bob, the FS has been doing "mollusk" surveys for at least a decade. You will need a trowel, and rainy weather. There is a window for doing it...temperature and precipitation have to be just right.

At first, there was a rare snail that could only be distinguished from a look alike if it was dissected. That didn't last long.

Folks who were timber cruisers, soon found themselves employed doing slug and snail surveys. It was a paycheck and they did have some t-shirts made up. They crawled around and looked. This goes on during what I call "the throwing out unit process." The former wildlife biologist here was very protective of all maples because they made for good mollusk habitat. I believe he has published a paper on slugs and snails.

Now, on an un-named ranger district, another wildlife biologist got into a little hot water by the enviro industry. He had common sense. He went around, gathered up and relocated the threatened slugs and snails to an area with the same habitat. Then he OKed the timber sale.

At least he didn't send lynx fur from a stuffed lynx into the lab.

 

[Gologit]

Well, that got me all wound up for a great, high paying, low hours, outside job, only in good weather, that would be great for extra bucks in 'retirement'. Tried to find an opening on US Census site, but no luck. Maybe they'll post some openings tonite.

That's what I had planned but I don't think people like you and I are qualified. They'll probably want an bunch of young, idealistic, vegetarian, electric car driving, chronically unemployed, voiciferous Sierra Club and CBD members who don't bathe or shave as often as they should and have multiple tattoos and body piercings. That's the gals...the guys will probably be worse.

I probably wouldn't get along with the rest of the crew. In fact, it would scare me if I did.

 

[redprospector]

I wish I was surprised about all this, but somehow I'm not.
They are fighting over some kind of lizzard in SE New Mexico.
The Checkerspot butterfly has all but shut down the Lincoln National Forest in the fall.
The (I think) Sacramento Salamander has it shut down earlier in the year. Just fish bait to me.
Mescalero Thistle closes many areas to use of any kind. Can you believe that......a thistle???
Of corse there's always the Mexican Spotted Owl, which is not really even a Spotted Owl, just an excuse.
I'm sure I'm missing another dozen or so local endangered species that can shut you down on a moments notice. What difference is a slug and a snail gonna make? :mad2:

Andy

 

[slowp]

That's what I had planned but I don't think people like you and I are qualified. They'll probably want an bunch of young, idealistic, vegetarian, electric car driving, chronically unemployed, voiciferous Sierra Club and CBD members who don't bathe or shave as often as they should and have multiple tattoos and body piercings. That's the gals...the guys will probably be worse.

I probably wouldn't get along with the rest of the crew. In fact, it would scare me if I did.

Actually, I was told a story. I has egos involved.

When the mollusk surveys first came out, the Wildlife bio here declared only he and folks with the same higher education were qualified to do surveys.

Then he had to work in the rain.

Suddenly, the lower paid people were now needed because the biologist was too busy to do surveys.

You would get along with the folks who did the surveys. They were bovine muscle tissue eating, drinking, spitting,
cussing timber folks.

 

[forestryworks]

They were bovine muscle tissue eating, drinking, spitting,
cussing timber folks.

The good kind of people!

 

[lfnh]

That's what I had planned but I don't think people like you and I are qualified. They'll probably want an bunch of young, idealistic, vegetarian, electric car driving, chronically unemployed, voiciferous Sierra Club and CBD members who don't bathe or shave as often as they should and have multiple tattoos and body piercings. That's the gals...the guys will probably be worse.

I probably wouldn't get along with the rest of the crew. In fact, it would scare me if I did.

Actually, I was told a story. I has egos involved.

When the mollusk surveys first came out, the Wildlife bio here declared only he and folks with the same higher education were qualified to do surveys.

Then he had to work in the rain.

Suddenly, the lower paid people were now needed because the biologist was too busy to do surveys.

You would get along with the folks who did the surveys. They were bovine muscle tissue eating, drinking, spitting,
cussing timber folks.

Some good leads here. Took it heart and did some heavy searching on the net for slug jobs.
Well, turns out there are slug operator openings - but that's in water, sewer and gas pipelines.
Crawling around alittle more in that net morass of irrelevant search results, up pops the title limacologist. Yup, a limacologist, is someone that studies slugs. The kind that slime around.

Armed with this new information, searching for a job as assistant limacologist, work study, summer intern to limacologist, turned up nothing. Not even a trainee slot. Very disappointed in this turn of events. :msp_sad:
Was even prepared to memorize all the right buzz words to pass the atttitude test.

Perhaps there's a job flipping slugs in Seattle - my bad, Seattle was naturalized in another thread..

Career and/or retraining advice would be welcome. .

 

[056kid]

Put some kind of fake robot bug out there, one that looks real pretty, let all the green people find them, let them find a bunch of reasons to do what they did with the yellow slug and the owl as well as others. See how many reasons they can conjure on the bug's behalf. THEN, show them that their precious insect that "is this and does that", and that needs all this special attention is nothing more than some electronics and some plastic.
I know it is a pipe dream, but I wonder how they would take it?
Slugs around here seem to be as common as carpenter ants back east. . There are no laws about carpenter ants. Well I don't think there are but you never know these days.

 

[lfnh]

Put some kind of fake robot bug out there, one that looks real pretty, let all the green people find them, let them find a bunch of reasons to do what they did with the yellow slug and the owl as well as others. See how many reasons they can conjure on the bug's behalf. THEN, show them that their precious insect that "is this and does that", and that needs all this special attention is nothing more than some electronics and some plastic.
I know it is a pipe dream, but I wonder how they would take it?
Slugs around here seem to be as common as carpenter ants back east. . There are no laws about carpenter ants. Well I don't think there are but you never know these days.

Daumm good idea ya got. Think I found a good starting point tonight.
TCM is running "The Thing from Another World". Related to plants and slugs - kinda.
Cult classic from my day.

 

[lfnh]

That slug flipping job beens put on hold for the time being.
Turns out there are Self-Flipping-Slugs out there in the wild.
Nope. Just cant make this stuff up.

The keeled jumping slug is one of those slugs on the proposed consideration for Federal Protection under the ESA.

If anyone has any comments, they are due by December 5, 2011.

Guess i'd better get a butterfly net, notebook, #2 soft yellow pencils, umbrella and sandals just in case there's an openng.

Excepts taken from Source:

"
Washington
The Secret Lives of Jumping Slugs

Blame it on the carnivorous snails.
Those predatory mollusks have a healthy appetite, and they’ve got a taste for the slugs of western Washington. To escape the snails, many gastropods turn to unique methods of defense. And you’ll find a true fighter in the jumping slug.

Secretive, mysterious and often overlooked, the jumping slug can be found around forested areas throughout Washington, including the Conservancy’s Ellsworth Creek Preserve.

Researchers believe our state is actually the center of biodiversity for jumping slugs, with at least five species including the warty jumping slug (Hemphillia glandulosa), the keeled jumping slug (H. burringtoni) and Malone (H. malonei). Of the group, the dromedary jumping slug (H. dromedarius) is the Olympic gold-medal jumper.
...
...
Though often overlooked, jumping snails have a lot to offer.
“They eat living and decomposing vegetation. They’re kind of recyclers. They also are thought to be potentially important dispersal agents for fungal spores,” Leonard said.

And aside from predators like snails, beetles and salamanders—their only threat is the loss of habitat. Jumping slugs rely on Washington’s forests to thrive.
...
"

Just like to see a Spotted Owl try an snatch one of them jumpers in mid-air.

 

[floyd]

Think fish eat any snails? I doubt they eat slugs as slugs don't swim well.

I think skunks eat slugs. Bears eat snails. Course bears eat most anything. Something eats skunks when they are dead.

So, someone is now starting in on the bottom of the food chain. See, the top of the food chain has already been hobbled. We aren't going to talk about who. Foil hat stuff better left off the net. Top of food chain being the out of work loggers because no one is building houses because banks aren't loaning us OUR money because no one is working. That includes Congress. I'm stopping here because theey are watching.

I don't know who theey are.