A Birthday Thank You and How to Catch My Michigan Tech Speech
Here's the latest dispatch.
Good afternoon,
For you newbies out there, welcome to Outsider on the Inside. I hope this dispatch from in and around the nation’s capital on underreported topics finds you well.
If you’re just discovering my musings, here’s a backgrounder.
Here’s what I have for you today.
Thanks for the Birthday Wishes!
My birthday fell on Wednesday. And for the occasion, I was gifted some very nice weather. What a lucky girl I was!
As I mentioned on social media, I love the 30s. So far, they’ve been good to me. I look forward to what lies ahead in this decade.
I’m grateful to each and everyone of you for engaging here and following me across social media.
Thank you!
Michigan Tech Speech on 3/24
Next week, I’ll be resuming my campus speaking tour at Michigan Tech University in Houghton, MI. I’ll discuss how ‘Conservation is Conservative’ with students and community members there.
Interested to attend in person? Here are details:
March 24, 2022 at 7PM
Michigan Technological University
Seminar Room: U115 (Minerals & Materials Engr Bldg)
The event is being put on by Michigan Tech Young Americans for Freedom and Huskies for America.
Unable to make it? Catch the broadcast on YouTube below at 7pm ET on March 24, 2022.
I look forward to visiting Michigan again and exploring its Upper Peninsula for the first time.
Townhall Article: Biden Administration Shouldn’t Negotiate Away Public Lands Access for Hunters and Anglers
Is the Biden administration about to betray America’s sportsmen and women?
Despite lauding $1.5 billion generated in new conservation funding by America’s anglers and hunters, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) could soon settle with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), a preservationist environmental group, to negotiate away public lands access.
I warned in a recent Townhall column about the adverse effects of closing off 2.3 million public land acres to new fishing and hunting opportunities.
CBD is also urging USFWS to ban lead bullets and fishing tackle on National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) lands. A senior attorney for the agency recently hinted this option isn’t off the table. Should CBD vs USFWS proceed, it’ll be a wholesale attack on public lands.
Much to CBD’s dismay, hunting is permitted—and welcomed— on NWR lands.
“Hunting is a healthy, traditional recreational use of renewable natural resources deeply rooted in America’s heritage, and it can be an important wildlife management tool,” notes the USFWS website. “The National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966, the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, other laws, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s policy permit hunting on a national wildlife refuge when it is compatible with the purposes for which the refuge was established and acquired.”
The website adds, “National wildlife refuges exist primarily to safeguard wildlife populations through habitat preservation. The word “refuge” includes the idea of providing a haven of safety for wildlife, and, as such, hunting might seem an inconsistent use of the National Wildlife Refuge System. However, habitat that normally supports healthy wildlife populations produces harvestable surpluses that are a renewable resource.”
In response, a coalition of 40 conservation groups drafted a letter to USFWS Director Martha Williams urging her to not settle.
ICYMI: Conservation is a ‘Bear’ - ‘Conservation Nation EP 8
This Week’s Podcast Episodes
Catch up on District of Conservation episodes below.
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—Gabriella