Some History about the Refuge, why the Feds had to protect it

[Nictuku]

This is from a wonderful Facebook site called 'The Earth Story', which covers all types of interesting facets of our beautiful planet. I found this history very interesting:

https://www.facebook.com/TheEarthStory/photos/a.352867368107647.80532.352857924775258/987373964656981/?type=3&theater

This refuge is also a story of a threatened environment with some recovery thanks to the refuge. In the 1920s, humans introduced carp into these lakes to become a new food source. That introduction has been a disaster. Carp feed by sifting through the mud at the bottom of the lakes for insects and plants. In the process, they uproot the native plants and toss the loose loess sediment up into the water that blocks sunlight from deeper layers in the lakes. As a consequence, the fish supplies and food supplies for birds in the lake are at an estimated 2-7% of what they were a century ago.

The refuge was originally established by President Roosevelt in 1908. At the time, the refuge was smaller and focused on the lake basins. However, ranchers in the surrounding community controlled the water supply and overused it, dramatically reducing water flows to the lakes. The lake levels dropped, exposing the sediment to the wind and causing dust storms. The only reason ranching and agriculture are possible in this basin today is that in 1935 the Federal Government was able to purchase the rights to the major water supply to the lake, preventing it from turning into a complete environmental disaster.

During the 3 decades following the government’s purchase of the water supply and restoration of the lake, cattle ranching expanded in the basin. Starting in the 1960s, the government began limiting cattle ranching in the area to maintain a balance between the needs of the ranchers and the needs of other species, such as birds and trout, that also are used in the area. Although the memory of it is lost to everything other than textbooks, it was less than a century ago that the entire ranching landscape around this site was nearly destroyed because of overuse.

Protecting a location like the Malheur Refuge from development protects not only the birds that travel through it, but it also protects the surrounding ecosystems. Those birds support ecosystems around the entire ocean basin. The introduction of one new species has made it nearly impossible for other fish to live in this basin, impacting the lives of anyone else who could have made use of this landscape. Changes to the water supply in this one site impact the landscape of the entire basin.

Had it not been for this wildlife refuge, there’s a good chance the desert would have completely claimed this landscape, leaving no rancher anywhere wanting the land.

[Dont call me Shirley]

1. Right wingers, they just don't know anything and refuse to learn.

[pangaia]

4. And they have no instinctive feeling.

The have emotions, blind raw emotion, but not feelings.

[world wide wally]

2. The freedom of Idiocracy on display

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. If you told them this they would claim it's gay tree hugger crap.

[Herman4747]

5. Cattle Ranching = Environmental Disaster

It simply ain't green, and will not be in the future. Go vegan.

[niyad]

6. thank you for this excellent information. what idiot thought CARP would be a good idea?

recipe for carp:

place carp on oiled cedar plank and place over campfire. when carp is done, remove from fire, throw the carp away and eat the plank.

[yellowcanine]

7. Common carp has been used as a food source for centuries.

Yes, carp have been an ecological disaster in many places but the idea of carp as a food source is not so outrageous. Smoked carp in particular has many fans. Domesticated carp have been farm raised for a long time and is still the number one aquacultural enterprise worldwide. The problem has been illegal and legal introduction into waterways with little regard for the damage they would do to ecosystems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_carp

[niyad]

8. thank you for that excellent information. no more jokes about carp!