The Center for Biological Diversity and Wild Earth Guardians have set the circumstances for an alarming increase in Endangered Species Listings in Washington State, with the projected possibility of 81 species by 2016 in Washington State alone. The Conflicts and Waste of valuable resources due to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) have been discussed on this previous CAPR blog article: http://proprights.org/wordpress/corporate-environmentalists-break-promises/ The coming Tidal Wave will most likely have a tremendous negative consequence for water rights in Washington State, as most watershed planning is based on creating and providing water rights to rivers in order to protect endangered and potentially endangered species. Reason Magazine has provided an excellent overview of the serious and real consequences facing the United States with the stealth ESA listings caused by the actions discussed in the mentioned CAPR blog post. The cause of the tidal wave is a 2011 lawsuit settlement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a couple environmental pressure groups (Center for Biological Diversity and Wild Earth Guardians) that requires the Service to consider for listing under the Act 878 species by 2016. Final listing decisions must be made for 253 of these species by 2016, which means the remaining 625 species are in the pipeline for later consideration. - See more at: http://reason.org/blog/show/mapping-the-coming-endangered-speci#sthash.1w8PgQOV.dpuf Reason Magazine provides a clear example of how the Center for Biological Diversity has not only created this situation for out of control listings, but also how the corporate environmental groups stealth operation behind the scenes multiplies the impact far beyond the declared needs of land for a listed species: "One example is the Ichetucknee siltsnail, an obscure snail that lives in a single freshwater spring in north-central Florida that is ten square yards, or 0.02 of an acre, in size. So at first glance it would seem that if the snail were listed under the Endangered Species Act, as appears likely, any potential regulatory impacts would be limited to the tiny spring. Yet the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the two groups responsible for the 2011 lawsuit settlement that is resulting in the tidal wave of species, has made ominous references to water quality and quantity issues that purportedly are affecting the snail, such as groundwater withdrawal and water quality degradation from agriculture and residential landscaping, across the entire 256,000 acre watershed that feeds the 0.02 acre spring in which the snail lives. Talk about a multiplier effect." Watershed based expansions of habitat extend to enormous proportions land that will be regulated to limited uses. Just one example of how the Center for Biological Diversity and their cohorts have a negative impact locally can be seen here at this CAPR blog post: http://proprights.org/wordpress/corporate-environmentalists-litigate/ The office of the Comptroller of Texas commissioned a series of stunning and highly informative maps that depict the coming tidal wave - See more at: http://reason.org/blog/show/mapping-the-coming-endangered-speci#sthash.1w8PgQOV.dpuf The importance of the maps are First, they are the only publicly available maps that depict the coming tidal wave for the entire country. Second, they illustrate the tidal wave using two sets of maps—one set of states, the other of watersheds—and this allows for two different ways to grasp the issue. It is imperative that states and municipalities get a better handle on the tidal wave of species headed their way, both at the macro, state level, as well as the finer resolution watershed level. Third, the two sets of maps consist of three maps each (in addition to a separate set for the state of Texas), which depict the current and future distribution of species; the species listed under the Endangered Species Act as of July 2014, the tidal wave species, and a third map that combines the first two in order to provide a visual representation of what the Endangered Species Act is going to look like when all the tidal wave species are listed. Fourth, the set of maps based on watersheds is important because entire watersheds, or significant portions of them, are likely going to be subjected to the Endangered Species Act’s fearsome regulatory reach due to the large number of freshwater aquatic species. CAPR recommends all read and understand the maps provided by Texas and that the powers that be in Washington State take a page from the Texas playbook and prepare to KEEP WASHINGTON FIRST. http://www.keepingtexasfirst.org/map/
November 16, 2014