Environmentalists verses Agriculture

DVT has pointed out a Rapid City Journal report regarding a lawsuit filed by environmental groups regarding prairie dogs in western South Dakota:

Eight conservation groups asked a federal judge Wednesday to stop a state-federal plan to poison and shoot prairie dogs on federal land in western South Dakota's Conata Basin.

The groups said the state-federal prairie dog control plan, announced by Gov. Mike Rounds on Aug. 13, would violate federal environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act.

Lauck says, “These are the same groups that support Daschle and the Democrats in Congress. Believe me, the ranchers understand the connection.” He is right. One of those Daschle supporters is Tom Yseth, who is used by Daschle on his negative hunting ad. Here are the details.

One of the groups mentioned in the RCJ report is the Prairie Hills Audubon Society, whose President is Nancy Hilding. She played a big role in the environmentalists' feud with the west river ranchers regarding aerial hunting of coyotes. This is from Tony Dean’s web site:

I am finally getting a decent coalition going. Nancy Hilding, president of the SD chapter (Black Hills region) Audubon Society, started checking on some things for me, and she has ripped into it like a pit-bull! AGRO and Sinapu and Fund for Animals are also involved. AGRO is the coalition Against Aerial Hunting, based out of Colorado, so is Sinapu.

I have 2 articulate Action Alerts, and several letters for you, ~ (your web site, if you are still willing to post them).

Here is Tony Dean’s response to the request to post the animal rights activists' propaganda:

You bet we'll post your information so that sportsmen can see it.

So what kind of sportsmen would be interested in siding with animal rights activists? When I pointed this out in the very first issue of The Bird, I found out.

I received an email from a Tom Yseth, who copied Tony Dean. Tony Dean posted the email on his web site. Yseth said this about the Audubon Society:

I did belong to the Audubon Society for years (I quit out of cheapness). It is true that their (SIC) are anti-hunters that are members, but the organization is hunting neutral.

As I mentioned above, Tom Yseth just happens to be on the negative Daschle hunting ad. He is the one that says:

"Tom loves to hunt. One time we got all done and we looked around, 'Where's Tom?' Well Tom and a couple guys realized we hadn't got our limit and they went back out walking the fields."

Jon Lauck is right, Daschle is on the side of the environmental and animal rights extremists…and so is Tony dean and Tom Yseth. The policies of these groups are not in the best interests of South Dakota agriculture.

The Federal government taking control of predators, such as coyotes and prairie dogs, away from the South Dakota landowners, is a property rights issue that is covered by the Constitution of the United States. Not only is Daschle in bed with those who are against gun owners’ rights, he is also in bed with those who are against property rights of landowners.

Many west river ranchers understand this and have challenged the Game, Fish and Parks (Yseth was a former commissioner of GFP) with a hunting lockout of nearly 2 million acres of land. The South Dakota farmers should also understand that the subsidies they receive from the federal government may not be free…they may cost them their property rights and their land.

We all should understand Daschle's efforts to make us more dependent on Big Government means we have less control and therefore the cost ends up being our freedoms. One example of this is the use of highway funding to control our lives. By the federal governemnt using bribery...18, 19, and 20 year old South Dakota soldiers, who fight for freedom, can not come back from Iraq and enjoy a beer (such as at the Ram Pub in Brookings which is owned by Yseth) without violating America's law.

Yes, those in the military can fight for freedom. But those of us not in the military can also fight for freedom. John Thune has fought for our freedoms while serving as Congressman in Washington DC. Thune’s fight for property rights of South Dakota farmers and ranchers, has put him out of favor with environmental extremists on the left, including the League of Conservation Voters, Tony Dean, and Tom Yseth.