L Roebuck
Technical Support
Caving
^V^ Just a caver
Posts: 2,023
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Post by L Roebuck on Jun 18, 2008 6:07:01 GMT -5
Endangered animals found in Missouri backyard caveREPUBLIC, Mo. _ State wildlife officials have found endangered cavefish and crustaceans in a natural spring on land owned by a state legislator. State Rep. Jim Viebrock, a Republican who represents western Greene County, said he first discovered the albino animals two years ago when he ventured into the cave opening that leads to the spring 22 feet underground. Full Article
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tncave
Beginner
Cory Holliday
Posts: 14
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Post by tncave on Jun 19, 2008 20:23:09 GMT -5
Any public official having a personal connection to cave dependent orgs must be good...even if he does seem resistant to conservation.
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Post by Azurerana on Jun 19, 2008 23:38:58 GMT -5
What do you mean by orgs? organisms or organizations?
The state legislature in Missouri has very little to do (financially or otherwise) with Missouri Conservation Commission. The latter is a body composed of 4 people, selected by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate (This fellow is a representative, not a senator) and it functions independently of the legislature, funded by a direct 1/8 cent sales tax, hunting and fishing licenses, tags, camping and other incidental fees like the books it prints. Less than $1 million of its $175 million+ budget passes through the legislature. The legislature can act as an ombudsman between constituents and the Commission, and can make recommendations to the Commission, but it cannot compel them to do anything. The Commission and the Department of Conservation has its own lawyers, employees, healthcare, retirement system, property, scientists, law enforcement, and just about anything else you can think of that a state government does. It is answerable to the Governor, its enabling clauses in the constitution and the people, not the legislature. The 'appropriations subcommittee" he is a member of is fiscally responsible for bills in the House pertaining to the Depts. of Ag, Natural Resources and Conservation. To keep it short: he is vice chair of a committee which controls a 1x1' section of something the size of St. Peter's Basilica. It's election posturing, which will win him votes with "no gummint on my land" crowd, but will alienate actual conservationists down there. To be clear, "conservationists" includes hunters, fishers, trappers, farmers and all those folks who like to look at the dead animals in Bass Pro, with only a smattering of enviros.
Greene County is remarkably progressive when it comes to cavefish because the county is intensely karsted, and the fish had been promoted as canary in the drinking water for decades. Springfield is the 3rd largest city in Missouri, and it even has a sinkhole ordinance, not because it is liberal (it is NOT!, but is staunchly Republican-- the home of John Ashcroft and world HQ of the Assemblies of God--) but because they have no major river, (they would suck the James River dry in an afternoon) and are dependent upon reservoirs and groundwater for their drinking water.
It's scary, though, to realize this fellow doesn't "get" that a federally-listed as threatened species like the Ozark cavefish is legally under the control of the feds, not the local conservation dept., acting as 'in loco parentis" because the federal agency is pretty broke, but the state one is flush with income.
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