THE BIG BAD WOLF

AND RELATED THINGS:  Years ago, when I was young and growing up and decades prior to that, things went kinda like this.  The ranchers ran cattle on the Forest, and were governed by a permit from the forest on how many cattle they could run on a certain number of acres. And the lumber businesses cut timber and hauled it to the mills and made lumber. And the trees they cut were specially market by Forest Service personnel. And, of course, miners dug holes in the ground to remove minerals.  And the Forests were healthy and the grazing land was healthy as the hooves of the cattle cultivated the ground and they fertilized the land and the rain watered it. When the loggers left an area they had to block skid trails to prevent erosion and re-seed the land that they had torn up and the forest continued to be healthy and new trees would grow. And the Ranchers and the loggers took care of the land because they depended on it to sustain them.  The mining industry is different, as they extract the ore from the ground and they have to remove huge amounts of earth to recover a small amount of mineral. And it is not renewable. I am not knocking the business, just stating a fact.  Then, in the um, 1970's or so, there sprang up some groups that felt that the earth needed environmental protection. The ranchers and the loggers, who depended on the land, agreed, not realizing just what these groups were about.  Group like the Sierra Club, Forest Guardians, and Earth First.  They didn't want the earth environmentally protected, they wanted people off the land. And they started with the loggers and the ranchers and the miners. And for the most part, they succeeded.  But that was just the start. And did I mention this was the Western States they were targeting. And then they began to get an uninformed and uneducated congress to pass laws that forced the Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife departments to enforce the laws that were passed in the halls of congress. And so it began. the Mexican Spotted Owl was put on an endangered list and farmers and ranchers and loggers couldn't work if an owl was spotted, (pun intended) and the owl had to have 1500 acres or more to mate in. So highway projects were put on hold during mating season, jokes abounded, and congress was cursed, but not quite as much as the above named groups. Then they had little fish listed as endangered and messed with farmers irrigation water. And on and on. And then they released the wolf in Yellow Stone Park. As soon as that was accomplished, they released a Mexican Grey Wolf in Southeastern Arizona and Southwest New Mexico.  Now, this is the crux of this message. The Big Bad Wolf.  These are not really a pure wolf.  And it is not really a wild wolf. It is a wolf that has been in captivity and fed and handled by humans. So when they were released into the Wild's of the above mentioned States, humans, this was in rural areas. And the people of these rural areas were threatened by the wolf. Literally. So some were shot. And the city people, even in the two states where the wolf resides, got upset when the country people complained. And then the Wildlife department, put collars on these wolf's so they could be tracked. And if one was caught killing a ranchers cattle, an investigation was launched to try to prove that the wolf was not to blame. But, the wolf packs are not growing in numbers like they envisioned. So, now, they have initiated a new plan. 
Now, the Wildlife Department is proposing to let the wolf expand it's territory. To include all of Southern New Mexico. Clear up to Interstate 40. Well, now, this is interesting.  I-40 cuts across the middle of the City of Albuquerque, and Grants, and Gallup, and Santa Rosa, and there are a lot of cities and farms and people within this area.  This goes from the area in Southeastern Arizona to the New Mexico/Texas State line and up to I-40.  Makes a person wonder what will happen when these wolves invade Belen, or Albuquerque.  And if they can't read the sign when they get to I-40 so are not aware of the boundary and cross it, and invade the art community and halls of government in Santa Fe'. The environmental groups are wishy washy on this plan.  The like the idea of an expanded territory for the wolf.  But there is a part of the plan they don't like. Oh! I haven't mentioned that part yet.  Heh Heh. That part allows the public permission to kill a wolf if they feel threatened. Effectively removing many of the current laws and restrictions regarding the killing of wolves.  Just when you think some things have leveled out and a plan is being accepted, ( not that the wolves in the rural areas have really been accepted ) here comes the government and stirs things up again.  Yep,  look out folks in the metropolitan areas, cause here comes the BIG BAD WOLF.  Better not talk about how big his eyes and teeth are. Just shoot him.
AND THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK