Wetlands increased under bushco! But mostly golf course ponds

[havocmom]

Sure, this could go in the environment forum, but we want people to actually see examples of bushco flunkies lying, rationalizing and stretching truth to the point of ridiculous, so it is here. Hope the mods see the point of a wider audience for what is really a story offering further evidence of how all is illusion in this administration. It really isn't about an environmental issue but how policy is made, then facts manufactured to support it. It is sorta like metal tubes = WMD to sell a war; it's lies and PR to justify pro-business policy.

When I saw the short blurb on Huffington post news, I figured it HAD to be a parody site report. Nope, none other than Field and Stream magazine online, with links to the 116 page US Government Report Gail Norton used to back up her claim of wetlands conservation/creation.

Yep, Fish and Wildlife reported loss of 523,500 acres of real wetlands that wildlife counts on, and during the SAME PRESS CONFERENCE, Norton reported a gain of almost 3/4 of a million acres or wetlands. Huh? :crazy: Say that again?!?! Hey, bushco math strikes again!

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

Thursday (March 30), 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.

<snip>

Norton's announcement was likely an act of setting the table for more administration assaults on wetlands protections. It was probably no coincidence that three days earlier, the Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency proposed new regulations that encourage development of companies that build artificial wetlands used by industries that destroy the vital natural habitats. It's part of the wetlands mitigation banking concept--which gives companies permits to drain wetlands, as long as they produce “new” wetlands somewhere else.

Norton may think a water hazard is better than no wetlands but for fish, wildlife and sportsmen, but it may be even worse. That type of public policy provides an excuse for more permits to drain more natural and productive wetlands to be replaced by non-productive water hazards. Those might be good for real estate values along the 18th fairway, but for fish and wildlife that rely on wetlands ecosystems to survive, it's terrible.

Wonder if Norton commented on the fact that many golf courses test and employ all sorts of methods to discourage wildlife from actually using the wetlands they created. The pretty water is there for the amusement of the folks who can afford greens fees, fancy clubs, and pricey homes. Ducks and other critters are sometimes annoying and unfriendly. They poop without inhibition and they do not adhere to golf course etiquette about being quiet when an important person is lining up a shot. Those wetlands are not made for the birds and animals who are losing habitat.

But, by god, there are more wetlands! Or, at least more use of limited water resources for esthetic while we are also draining swamps and marshes so land developers can make big bucks building homes and strip malls.

:grr:

[AngryAmish]

1. What is wrong with golf courses?

[havocmom]

4. In moderation, not too much. But they do tend to use a lotta water

and they build a lot of them in places where water does not often fall from the sky.

They are also sorta elitist for my taste. Have seen too many kids playing on dead grass when cities can't afford to water parks. But, those golf courses always look green.

And as mentioned below, they use a LOT of chemicals to keep the grass and grounds up.

[underpants]

5. Let's be fair here-a lot of golf course recycle their water

their ponds are the source of their irrigation so it's not like they drain it off of the public water line. That would be cost prohibitive anyway.

Yes there are a lot of chemicals but they tend to be self sustained in the water department. That still doesn't mean that they should be classified as "wetlands" though.

[havocmom]

6. Right! They should not be classified as wetlands

But under bushco, they ARE. So they play with the numbers and let big money developer drain REAL wetlands and sell homes (swampland) to citizens.

[Buzz Clik]

9. Exactly

Golf courses are not evil places or sources of deadly pollution, but calling a basicly sterile, chemical laden pond a "wetland" is ridiculous.

[Buzz Clik]

2. Golf courses are drenched with chemicals

Fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides, pesticides.

The turf on golf courses is high management and is literally bathed in chemicals. And where do the excess chemicals go? If they are mobile or are carried on sediment, they head right for the ponds. Of course, high fertilizer concentrations in ponds causes eutrophication, so these ponds are treated with chemicals to keep the algae down.

Norton's single criterion for a wetland is land that is wet. Good riddance, Gale.

[Jim Warren]

3. 3-5 years and they can be certified

organic farmland. We'll have to take them over of course.

[Jed Dilligan]

7. Now you're talkin'!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

8. Slightly off topic, but I love the "manufactured" wetlands next to my new

apartment. :)

We have a large wetland behind the complex, and they have several ponds between the buildings, 30-40 feet wide. We have ducks and nutria and bullfrogs and birds... It's great, and it's right in the middle of downtown. I can walk to every store, and the bus mall is 3 blocks away.

We can live with nature, we don't have to mow it down for a strip mall. :)