Piping Mad
Tue, 09/07/2010 - 21:56
Documentary about the plover lovers impact to Hatteras locals.
part 1 :
Wed, 09/08/2010 - 06:52
#1
I definitely buy the bad
I definitely buy the bad science argument. Same thing happened with fisheries management. It's the fox guarding the chicken coop. Reminds me of last Saturday's shenanigans when the man in uniform tried to prevent me from kiting in some of the best conditions we'll get all year, arguing that it was unsafe. This country grants too much power to the courts and the police.
Thu, 09/09/2010 - 12:41
#2
Power Grabs and Government Earmark Jobs
What if the flip side of the coin this is nothing more than a grab for power and need to preserve a division of the government. I mean after all who ever is in charge of the park services for that area would want to secure his/her pension plan and that means imposing what ever it takes to preserve his his/her job so that there is an excuse to do so no matter how insignificant. This is a notorious fact with government jobs and earmarks...the creation of beaucracy. I beleive that there is little science used in these types of decisions almost all of the time. The government and those in it will always try to make some activity or people a threat in order to preserve its own power or take something from someone. That is a fact of our society and will be its undoing eventually.
Fri, 09/10/2010 - 19:57
#3
Depressing conspiracy
Depressing conspiracy theory...
Wed, 09/08/2010 - 07:24
#4
A lot of heat and not much light
It seems clear from the video that the local community has suffered because of beach closures, particularly to vehicles. I feel bad for the folks being impacted by the regulation of access. Unfortunately, the video does not provide any examination of the regulations nor does it discuss any of the research used to support them.
Wed, 09/08/2010 - 07:53
#5
The fact they will shoot
The fact they will shoot other predatory animals to preserve is ridiculous. If thats there solution, Everyone grab a gun, and blow your own brains out. Im sure the autobahn will appreciate it.
Wed, 09/08/2010 - 08:32
#6
Agreed, there should be more
Agreed, there should be more supporting argument for what constitutes bad science. In our case the bad science stems from a study published in the early 90's stating that plovers MAY look at kites in the sky as a possible predator. This is bad science in my opinion because animals are smarter than that. They habituate, meaning once they've seen that kites don't eat their young, they are no longer afraid of it. This scientist did not stick around long enough to observe that, and now the bird people use this study as a reason to claim the beach for themselves. When I spoke to a bird scientist regarding this issue, the reply was that shore bird species are so stressed as it is, we should simply not take the risk of bothering them in any way, whether or not the science supports it. So that explains the ORV ban in Hatteras. This is missing from this doc.
Wed, 09/08/2010 - 19:30
#8
Similar rationale as to why
Similar rationale as to why we invaded Iraq - just coz we can.
Jean, I'm not sure they really care about the bad science vs good science at this point. This has now become a government expansion which sort of obscures the underlying issue. These park service employees now depend on this access enforcement as their source of income and future pension. It seems to me that they have a good thing going , drive around the beach watch the birds and exercise their authority- better than working at mcdonalds for sure. There is no incentive to scale back and reduce any of this effort, that is actually a threat to them and their lifestyle. Expansion is the only thing that makes sense.
What possible motivation do they have to ever say that the plovers are doing well, no longer endangered, that people and bird can coexist and thrive?