Bush Admin. Classifies Golf Traps, Man-Made Ponds As "Wetlands"...

[riona]

WHAT??:wow:

Field And Stream | Bob Marshall | April 17, 2006 at 11:08 AM
READ MORE: George W. Bush

Interior Secretary Gale Norton called a press conference to claim our long nightmare of wetlands loss had finally come to an end due to unprecedented gains since 1997 (click hear to read the report she cites). However, she then admitted much of that gain has been in artificially created ponds, such as golf course water hazards and farm impoundments.

The sporting community--from Ducks Unlimited to the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership--reacted quickly, and not favorably. Researchers long ago established that natural wetlands such as marshes, swamps and prairie potholes are far more productive than even the best-designed artificial wetlands. And sharp-edged water bodies like water hazards, farm ponds, and even reservoirs offer very little for wildlife. Putting man-made ponds in the same class as natural wetlands is like ranking pen-raised quail with wild coveys.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/fieldstream/columnists/conservation/article/0,13199,1179434,00.html#

[opihimoimoi]

1. To FOOL is to RULE

[riona]

3. With all the pesticides & fertilizers

used on most golf courses, I can't imagine that these "wetlands" could be all that healthy for the wildlife.

[opihimoimoi]

12. Simply mind boggling

[Kutjara]

2. So, I guess that means that Bush's

'water on the brain' qualifies as a Great Lake.

[tomg]

4. What is most infuriating to me in

The Field and Stream article is this little gem:

"In fact, at the same press conference, the Fish and Wildlife Service reported a continued loss of 523,500 acres of natural wetlands during the same time period. So how could the nation have come out ahead if it lost more than half a million acres? Norton didn't try to hide the truth: The 715,300-acre “gain” was mainly artificial ponds."

As my wife says,( since we are discussing water) "Don't piss in my glass and tell me it's champagne."

[NYC]

5. I never knew that golf courses were a substitute for wetlands.

Let me know when they add swimming pools to the list.

[northofdenali]

6. Yeah, comes with its own rubber ducky, too.

And in the news today, the Interior Department announced the addition of several thousand acres of new wetlands............. but they are only wetlands during the summer months.

Idiots.

[NYC]

7. Rubber duckies = wildlife.

What a world.

[otohara]

8. Let's Go Fishing

at all the bestest golf courses and see how the country clubs like it.

[DUHandle]

9. She should count

bird baths and rain guages.

[northofdenali]

11. I wonder if the rain barrel in my back yard counts.

Hope not - I use the water in the greenhouse, which is about to kick in for the season! OMG - the greenhouse - when it's watered, does it count, too? It has a little wildlife when the kitties sneak in - :P

[DUHandle]

14. Sewerage treatment plants should count

since you could grow cattails in the muck.

Not flushing toilets should count too.

[tanyev]

10. From the administration that gave us manufacturing jobs...

assembling hamburgers.

:banghead:

[Lefty48197]

13. My neighbor has a bird-bath. Does that count too?

What about the puddle in my driveway?