An Open Letter to the King and His Game Keeper

By [post_author] –

Summary:
As land around the country becomes swallowed up by the government and its partners through “habitat protection plans” the silence behind the science is deafening. The red-legged frog is another species used on the central coast in steal land and limit human action.

Full text:

To the Field Supervisor of US Fish and Wildlife Service:

A Red-legged frog habitat designation plan has been announced which includes the watersheds near the Diablo Range, the Pajaro river, Salinas river, and the Pinnacles National Monument encompassing parts or all of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito, Monterey, Fresno, Kings Counties, etc.

I became aware of your proposal from a brief radio announcement (A rather disrespectful way to notify “We, the People”) therefore I do not know the exact details and geographical area of the plan. Nevertheless, I have endeavored to prepare a few comments for the federal decision makers:

  1. What is the exact number and date of the appropriation bill passed by Congress which authorizes funds to be spent for this plan? If this information cannot be provided, the process must be stopped now to avoid possible charges of misappropriation of funds being brought against those federal employees proposing the plan.
  2. Prior to 22 January 2004, a Biological Assessment prepared by an agency of Monterey County indicated that there were no Red-legged frogs in the Pajaro River nor was there proof that there ever were.
  3. According to the National Audubon Society, the range of the Red-legged frog (Rana aurora) includes, “Vancouver Island, B.C., south along the Pacific cast west of the Cascade and Sierra Mts. to n. Baja California. From sea level to 8,000′ (2,400 m). Introduced populations in Nye County, Nevada.” (Emphasis added.) The Northern subspecies (Rana aurora) range is “British Columbia to n. California.” The California subspecies (Rana aurora draytoni) range is “California to Baja California.”
  4. A representative of the California Department of Fish and Game stated on 30 June 2004, that there are “thousands of Red-legged frogs” found along the north coast of Santa Cruz County.
  5. Inasmuch as Rana aurora draytoni (Just to properly pronounce the name is like asking a frog for a serious date.) are listed as threatened, how many more must there be before they are not threatened? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Must we wait until our world becomes one great big slippery green “banana peel”? Vis-à-vis baseline, who actually counted all those frogs anyway? Who counted all those frogs a hundred years ago? Was it free thinking independent scientists or government toadies? Did no one ever really physically count the croakers? Was it; wave your magic wand and proclaim? Will the emperor ever have any clothes?
  6. Whereas the desire to provide in situ protection to California red-legged frogs is understandable and is presumably being provided in the Los Padres, Klamath, Six Rivers, Trinity, Mendocino, Angeles, San Bernardino, and Cleveland National Forests, plus other federal lands, to attempt to control areas where there is no proof that they have ever been is madness. To attempt to protect nonexistent frogs is more madness.
  7. Furthermore, to deprive or attempt to deprive citizens of their rights to the free use of their property using the pretext that a Red-legged frog might like to live there or until government agents succeed in introducing them such as in Nye County, Nevada is tyranny, tyranny of a kind that inspired the Declaration of Independence. The Red-legged plan has all the appearance of the beginning of another government land grab in the State of California where the Federal Government already owns 47% of the total land area. Enough is enough!

Signed:

Thomas Paine

(There has been no response from the federal government to these inquiries which were made in July 2004)

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