CP Habitat destruction: Disinterested Officials

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

There is an issue of vital interest that was posted on the CP Listserve. If you love CP, please review the matter documented at this URL:

http://www.sarracenia.com/land-abuse/bullscat.html

Your help is urgently needed!

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

If there is anyone who can still post to Gardenworld, please post the above message there. Thanks.

[harrytomuk]

#### those ranchers. They should watch their cows more closely in the future. especially when it entails a special colony of cobra lillys that produce yellow flowers! They should put some sort of barrier up if they don't watch the cows to stop them from getting to other places where they are not meant to be.

Tom

[DreamScape]

ii say put up a 16000000 volt electric fence around the site >http://www.**********.com/iBhtml/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[imported_cephalotus88]

ranchers dont care...its all about the cows to them. I say we should write up a report with all our sigintures or something (excuse me if i sound like one of those one of those people going house to house getting sigitures lol) and send em in to the cow people.

[harrytomuk]

Ok then. Let's make a sort of petition with all of our names on and our locations in the world.

[chris]

what i dont understand is why they dont fence in the cobra plant habitat so that the cows dont invade?

following up with the forest service etc is admirable, but when noone else will raise a hand to help you gotta help yourself...

lets all eat extra burgers this weekend to help the cobra plant population...

[imported_cephalotus88]

by eating burgers will only make room for MORE cows lol. anyhow, lets do a petion. ranchers might not read it but i noe some people in the plant/wildlife preervation area (SF zoo, i volunteer there; BACPS, etc).

[DreamScape]

sounds great! how are we going to go about it?

and we could put up a fund for lethal-to-cows electric fencing!!!

did i say lethal? ...i meant deterrent...yeah ...deterrant o.O;

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

There is an email form at the end of this site where you can send comments to the Wildlife Managers involved. I wrote a looooong letter and had a reply that it would be forwarded to the appropriate persons.

[PlantAKiss]

Well I sent my comments. Pretty outrageous story. There are some AWSOME pics in the article worth seeing. I didnt realize Cobra Lilys could get so big! And sad to see it get destroyed like that and even more appalling that "authorities" thought it no big deal. I'll bet if someone sneaked into a protect forest with a chain saw and cut down some 300-year old trees for firewood, they woul be outraged. But alas...a few flowering plants?? No biggie.

Hopefully if they get enough emails they might do something.... maybe?

thanks for sharing the info, Tamlin. :-)

Suzanne

[Parasuco]

Smithers, unleash the hounds...

[Dyflam]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from cephalotus88 on 1:51 pm on April 13, 2002
ranchers dont care...its all about the cows to them. I say we should write up a report with all our sigintures or something (excuse me if i sound like one of those one of those people going house to house getting sigitures lol) and send em in to the cow people.
[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
If there were some way to make it profitable for the ranchers they MIGHT be responsive. The question is, how do you make it profitable?

[wickedthistle]

If the land owners agreed to this, someone could take clippings of a plant (if any left) that had the rare yellow flower. All profits could go toward protecting this special habitat.

[Pyro]

D. californica 'Othello' is in cultivation but I don't think there is enough of it to make a big enough profit to help (unfortunatly) though it is a good idea.

Think the best bet lies in everyone just writing a civilized email, reuardless of length, to the proper people. A large enough public outcry can usually induce officials to recognize that they might have screwed up.

Pyro

[unknownclown]

I say lets grab the rifle some briquettes and BBQ sauce #### I'll bring the potato salad! http://www.**********.com/iBhtml/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Dyflam]

Not a bad idea unknownclown but the cows didn't do anything wrong. It always comes down to people...

[unknownclown]

Yeah I know that the cows are just being cows but you know.... they are going to end up on the dinner table anyway why prolong it?
Oh and what cow? I thought that was a deer! http://www.**********.com/iBhtml/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[RamPuppy]

what a sad story... I have a few thoughts however...

While, I am no fan of 'over-rabid environmentalism for the sake of being environmental'

(example - My sister and bro-in-law used to work at Johnston Atol in the South Pacific, where they worked at responsibly destroying the worlds stock pile of chemical weapons. (they just finished with Hitlers Sarin stockpile in the mid 90's if you can believe that.) ANy how, the facility is so state of the art and environmentally friendly, that NOTHING leaks out into the surrounding reefs and nearby game preserve, it is a very highly regulated, and highly maintained site... yet... every day they had a greepeace ship circling the island taking water samples (and finding nothing) and had to deal with them harrassing people that lived on the island by pulling on the horn and such... in the long run, I am sure the ship did more damage than the plant.

Any how... that being said... Green Peace is a rabid organization, and the last thing the forestry service would want is an organization like that hounding it.

hmmm... twisted thoughts...

****

I am all for a petition, I think this is a valuable sight that MUST be protected! Who wants to organize it? we are now taking volunteers.

Finally, I love the idea of having a bbq. gotta tell a story now.

I used to date a girl who's daddy was a platoon commander out at Ft. Hood. Ranchers are allowed to run their cattle on Ft. Hood as long as they sign forms stating they know if they do not remove them when they are notified that live fire exercises will be held, then it's tough luck. well, one day, a rancher I guess didn't get his cattle off the property, and they are out threir in their M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks.

As he tells it, a target on a track representing an enemy personell carrier popped up and started running along it's track. One of the tanks in his platoon sighted in on it, loaded a SABOT round (during war time SABOT rounds are made of depleted uranium, since this was a test fire, it was inert metal) and fired. The round, as expected, punched through the target. But rather than just disapear and dive into a berm some where on the live fire range, it ended the life of a bovine. The tankers finished their exercise a few minutes later, and then hooked chains around the largely intact cow, and towed it back to base. Apparently freshly killed cow really is better than the stuff in the super market! Who knew. They said you could hardly taste the accelerants.

http://www.**********.com/iBhtml/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Emesis]

This info is taken from the CP Listserv. It's written by the author of the &quot;Bullscat&quot; webpage.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 13:29:28 -0700 (PDT)
Reply-To: cp@opus.labs.agilent.com
Sender: cp@opus.labs.agilent.com
From: Barry Meyers-Rice &lt;bamrice@ucdavis.edu&gt;
Subject: Update on Darlingtonia and cattle



Hey Folks,

Today I had a long conference call with staff from the
Forest Service, who were most displeased with my bullscat web site. It
seems they've been getting a lot of annoying email messages.

They have assured me that they are planning on taking a more careful
approach with the ranchers this year, although it sounds like the grazing
activities of the ranchers will be continuing (surprise surprise).

I'll keep you updated. In the meantime, in the spirit of &quot;trust but
verify&quot;, I've changed my web site some to make it a little more friendly.
The site is still there, though, at:

http://www.sarracenia.com/land-abuse/bullscat.html

At this point, you can hold off on emailing the Forest Service until they
reveal what they plan to do regarding the grazing permits.

Thanks for your help!

Cheers

Barry

---------------------
Barry Meyers-Rice, Ph.D.
bazza@sarracenia.com
Carnivorous Plant FAQ--author
www.sarracenia.com/faq.html
Carnivorous Plant Newsletter--editor
www.carnivorousplants.org

[RamPuppy]

Way to Go everyone! Pats on the back all around! (Ready for Round 2!)

[PlantAKiss]

I sent them an email which was NOT &quot;annoying&quot;. I expressed my concern in a nice way. And I got an email back in just a few days which I thought was reasonable...filling in some of the gaps in the facts. It has a lot to do with centuries old grazing laws. I don't think they are insensitive to the subject but want to work out something that will please all parties. And I hope they do.

Suzanne

[DarthBuck]

Who ever wants to organize a petition, you could try http://www.petitiononline.com/. Some one start it and post the link. We'll all go &quot;sign&quot; it.

And if the Forestry Department is upset about getting annoying E-mails from people concerned about the environment, maybe they are in wrong line of work.

D. Buck.

[RamPuppy]

my sentiments exactly DB.

[RamPuppy]

I don't understand how the EPA can take someones land away because of a beaer dam, or why I have to get federal permission to cut down a mountain cedar tree (WEED!) because of the spotted owl (which is not even indigenous to our area), or we can take land away from people for immenent domain, but we cant bypass centuries old grazing laws and protect a few acres... I mean, it is obvious the cattle never grazed there in the past, otherwise the bog would have been destroyed long ago.

HEY EVERYONE LISTEN UP!!!! BUY TEXAS BEEF! http://www.**********.com/iBhtml/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[CPSINC]

i think these special sites where endangered cp species exist should be protected by all means,look at all the ones that have been destroyed.they are there for us to enjoy and we all love them enough to post this many messages on this subject.it makes me sad to see what damage that has already been done over the years,but now we have all of you each one voice lets use it and be heard,at least this time we will be heard and noted.so that if there is ever a next time maybe it will be different... http://www.**********.com/iBhtml/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[RamPuppy]

well, with 95% of all CP habitats destroyed more steps do need to be taken. I am not all for stealing peoples land, I am for protecting that land, letting the owners keep it and steward it properly, or entrusting that stewardship to another who cares. The owners in this instance seem to be pretty cool people, and concerned with these plants plight at that.

Pyro and I have been taling about how as hobbyists, we have a responsibility to give back if we can, I know a lot of us are not in a position to do that, but those of us that have large collections, or space, and time and inclination, could literally work as teams to tissue culture, cultivate, and through reasonable means neccessary, work to multiply a captive population of endangered plants such as Darlingtona 'Othello' and Sarracenia Oreophylla (sandy mountain as well), in self made programs to re-introduce these plants into the wild through groups like the forestry service, and so on.

I mean, think about it. Say three or four of you have Darlingtona 'Othello' and it's big enough to take cuttings, or you trade pollen and get seed. Ship your cuttings and seeds to someone who knows how to tissue culture, and is willing to make the investment in time and money, perhaps help that person defer the costs a little, then if we send those plants to someone who can harden them off, and grow them out to a mature size, we could then contact the guy who stewards this bog, and say &quot;Hey... we got 500 Darlingtona Othello to help you re-populate your bog since the friggin cows ate it.&quot;

He goes &quot;GREAT! takes the plants, tags them, makes sure they are pure, and satisfies his needs to ensure that we aren't polluting the gene pool in this bog, and boom, all of a sudden we have a restoration occuring at a much more rapid pace.

Sarracenia Oreophylla, if enough people got involved in returning this plant to the wild, trading it freely amongst hobbyists, and so on, we could restore and augment endangered habitats and so on, perhaps taking this plant off the endangered species list.

I don't think we can ever recover 95% habitat loss, but a devoted group of hobbyists could most definately make a significant impact on the decline of precious natural resources.

With the caveats that it is done responsibly, and with the proper approval (government if neccessary) and so on... I am not an environmental expert, so I could be way off base and blowing sunshine out m.. err... um... ear... but it all sounds good to me.

[CPSINC]

look at all the plants that have been used for medicinal purposes to cure diseases etc,one day cps may be used for a cure for a certain disease or symptom.and they wont have none cause they wiped out all the population of rare plants already.it just makes me sad that our wild cps are being destroyed. http://www.**********.com/iBhtml/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif