Relax, Everything is Going to be Okay!

[406dn]

I dont even hunt bears not real my thing but they need managed and I know baiting is a effective way to manage mature bears.

Its just like anything else it is a target they think they can get once they have that what's next liberals only goal for hunting is to slowly take it away one thing at a time. If anyone thinks its any different they are a fool.

Really?, there are quite a few states that do not allow baiting for bears. Montana, which is hardly a liberal bastion does not allow baiting for bear hunting.

Just because someone sees things differently than you do, it does not make them a fool.

 

[Archer86]

Really?, there are quite a few states that do not allow baiting for bears. Montana, which is hardly a liberal bastion does not allow baiting for bear hunting.

Just because someone sees things differently than you do, it does not make them a fool.

I said your a fool if you dont see the liberal agenda is to eventually eliminate hunting all together.

Its no different then the cat hunting ban that was attempted in colorado last year I dont hunt cats but it doesn't mean sportman shouldn't manage them and how they do that effectively shouldn't be decided by bias politicians that have no idea what they are talking about That are just playing to the anti hunting crowd.

Colorado,Washington, Oregon, California are perfect examples of anti hunting liberal politics trying to force policy because they dont See things the way hunters do so they try to ban it. Thats the problem with politics on both sides if they dont like something they try and make a law so the others cant do it

 

[BrentD]

Well what do ya'll think of today's DOI withdrawals of protections for the BWCA? Sacred ground (and water) in Minnesota. And, yes, this hurts hunting. What do all of you FOX Followers know about it?

 

[Hem]

Well what do ya'll think of today's DOI withdrawals of protections for the BWCA? Sacred ground (and water) in Minnesota. And, yes, this hurts hunting. What do all of you FOX Followers know about it?

Pretty disappointing.
Bucket list for my wife and I.

 

[Archer86]

Well what do ya'll think of today's DOI withdrawals of protections for the BWCA? Sacred ground (and water) in Minnesota. And, yes, this hurts hunting. What do all of you FOX Followers know about it?

I suspect they would say fake news......And then the liberals would post what you did then everyone else will reasearch a little and find out that the Bwca protections are still in place and what was removed currently is a rule that was put in place for a mining restriction outside the boundary waters in 2022. Its unfortunate and hopefully people speak up and push back but the clickbait headlines you are using is misleading on purpose.

 

[bayoublaster7527]

Wait a second, I thought the consensus on HT was that states manage the wildlife, backed up by numerous court cases. Black bears aren’t endangered species, right? Then states should be able to dictate method of take, some allow for it now and others do not. Which would mean most folks would oppose a federal, nationwide ban on bear baiting, correct?

 

[Straight Arrow]

Which would mean most folks would oppose a federal, nationwide ban on bear baiting, correct?

No, not a logical conclusion. 'Not enough solid information to make that statement.

(Moreso smacks of personal opinion grasping for validation.)

 

[bayoublaster7527]

No, not a logical conclusion. 'Not enough solid information to make that statement.

(Moreso smacks of personal opinion grasping for validation.)

Looks like HOWL for Wildlife picked it up as an action alert. Based on the sponsors of this bill and the media I have seen thus far, it appears Wayne Pacelle, disgraced former Humane Society CEO and current head of Animal Wellness Action, are pushing this bill so they can fundraise off it. Without an R sponsor, it may not make it very far.

Act Now: Keep Science in Bear Management—Stop H.R. 4422

H.R. 4422 (“Don’t Feed the Bears Act”) in a Nutshell The bill would force every federal land-managing agency to ban “the intentional feeding of bears … to be hunted, a practice known as bear baiting.” Its findings claim bait stations pile “hundreds of pounds of human-scented foods,” make bears...

www.howlforwildlife.org

 

[Cornbread]

Many of you are worried about our public lands in the wake of the workforce downsizing. Like you, I treasure our National Forests, National Parks and BLM lands. My heart truly goes out to those who lost their jobs. It's never easy. It happens regularly in the private sector, but it's rare to see government get smaller, so I understand the worry.

My name is Paul Barnard (spell the screen name backwards.) I live in Metairie LA for now. I just retired after working for the CG for almost 40 years. 20 active-duty and nearly 20 as a civilian. During that time I have partnered with a myriad of government agencies and have had a glimpse into how many operate. Let's just say that they share many similarities with the Coast Guard. I have to do a little drift to set the stage for what follows.

Early in my active duty career, it was normal for 2 of us to hop on a small boat and patrol 20-30 miles offshore. Our small boats back then didn't even have radar or GPS. Service wide, there were no major mishaps operating under such conditions. Government agencies tend to become more risk adverse over time. Standards today will find the small boats restricted to 10 miles offshore. The'll have a comprehensive compliment of safety equipment and electronics, and they'll likely have 4 people on board. They'll run 1/3 the SAR cases we did, they write far fewer BUIs, they'll write almost no federal fisheries tickets and they'll make far fewer law enforcement stops. All of this is verifiable. It's not opinion. Twice the people on the boats, less than half the production. I say that to say that agencies can review their SOPs to identify ways to achieve greater efficiency.

Beginning in about 2018 the Coast Guard started falling behind on recruiting. At our operational units, we were down 40%. To this date, we remain down about 25% on qualified personnel even though recruiting is back up to speed. The Coast Guard cut back on patrols and law enforcement activities. Some stations were closed and others had their personnel allowance formally reduced. Toss out the Covid induced spike in recreational boating deaths, and we saw a steady fall in the number of recreational boating deaths. 2023 was the lowest in decades. FWIW my program was Recreational Boating Safety. So despite the fact, that we had fewer people, engaging the public less frequently, deaths on the water went down substantially.

You may be wondering what the hell this has to do with our public lands. Well, there will be some bumps initially, but ultimately any government agency I have ever worked with could easily absorb a 10-20% loss in personnel without a degradation in service to the public. Through smarter and perhaps harder work, the mission will be accomplished. Many agencies spend an inordinate amount of time serving internal rather than external (public) customers. Bureaucratic crap that can and should be done away with. BS mandatory training. Ask and 90% of government employees would happily tell you that there are worthless employees in their unit. The same 90% will be able to tell you the people who have cake jobs in their agencies and they'll tell you that there are units or teams that could be done away with completely. It would be nice if the workforce reduction could have targeted such personnel, but as many of you know, it can be hard to fire even poor performing .gov employees. Unfortunately in order to downsize quickly, it had to be probationary employees who are often some of the most motivated.

Fearing change and fearing the unknown is normal. I have seen several RIFS in my career and have been furloughed. Good people who are good employees will always land on their feet. Don't panic, don't worry. A year or two from now, you'll see that things are back to or better than normal. I don't expect the Refuges, National Forests or National Parks that I visit too be impacted to any significant degree at all.

I remember you on The Hull Truth, right?

 

[RG300]

Sorry, but NPR is about as unbiased as it comes...

https://app.adfontesmedia.com/chart/interactive[/UR

NPR is as looney leftist Liberal as it gets.....

 

[mtmiller]

“your a fool” always brings a smile to my face.

 

[SAJ-99]

Budget passed = rehiring gets approved.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/05/weather/nws-rehiring-doge-layoffs-climate

 

[Doublecluck]

Speaking of Kermit, any y’all’s instagram algorithm get crossed up with that frog recently? I was like oh chit it’s Kermit! then like oh Jesus Christ… I’ll never be the same.

 

[brymoore]

Budget passed = rehiring gets approved.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/05/weather/nws-rehiring-doge-layoffs-climate

450 positions that includes 126 new positions.

 

[Big Fin]

The state and counties of Wyoming get to pick up the difference to the tune of $50 million thanks to the reduction in coal royalties. Add in the 50% cut in O&G royalties and the resource extractions counties are getting a major screw over with this provision in the BBB.

Forecasters: Big Beautiful Bill will cost Wyoming $50M in coal royalties - WyoFile

Higher severance and ad valorem payments are not expected to offset federal mineral royalty reductions, according to state financial forecasters.

wyofile.com

These rural areas either get to pay more in taxes or accept less in services. All the while, the operations in these rural counties still have the same impact on the local infrastructure.

If Americans want these resources, they ought to be willing to pay for the full costs incurred to bring these resources to market. Cutting royalties that are split with local governments is a huge kick in the crotch to these rural areas. But, Americans pay a fraction of a penny less for a gallon of gas.

So to the title of this thread: NO, everything is not OK for the folks like those in rural Wyoming and other places the rely on royalty splits to help keep critical infrastructure in place. When Congress cuts royalty rates to pay their political debts, it's really these rural counties who are writing the checks.

 

[Treeshark]

Unless something happens soon (data centers?) increase demand soon, a lot of the coal production in WY is going the way of the dodo bird either way.

 

[WyoCoalMiner]

The state and counties of Wyoming get to pick up the difference to the tune of $50 million thanks to the reduction in coal royalties. Add in the 50% cut in O&G royalties and the resource extractions counties are getting a major screw over with this provision in the BBB.

Forecasters: Big Beautiful Bill will cost Wyoming $50M in coal royalties - WyoFile

Higher severance and ad valorem payments are not expected to offset federal mineral royalty reductions, according to state financial forecasters.

wyofile.com

These rural areas either get to pay more in taxes or accept less in services. All the while, the operations in these rural counties still have the same impact on the local infrastructure.

If Americans want these resources, they ought to be willing to pay for the full costs incurred to bring these resources to market. Cutting royalties that are split with local governments is a huge kick in the crotch to these rural areas. But, Americans pay a fraction of a penny less for a gallon of gas.

Not sure I am following you correctly, but are you saying that coal royalty payments are to cover the cost incurred by the Feds and State to manage these resources? If so, they are not. Lease payments, cost recovery payments to agencies and various taxes applied to each ton of coal mined largely do that.

So to the title of this thread: NO, everything is not OK for the folks like those in rural Wyoming and other places the rely on royalty splits to help keep critical infrastructure in place. When Congress cuts royalty rates to pay their political debts, it's really these rural counties who are writing the checks.

For sure the reduced royalty rate will lead to a reduction in some royalty streams. It will also lead to an increase in others. Take my mine for instance. This reduction will immediately put our operation back into a far more competitive position. At the moment my coal royalty payments are $0. This reduction puts me back in the game for contracts. If I am successful, then those royalty payments start back up again. The reduced royalty rate also allows operations to mine currently held reserves that may not have been profitable under the prior rate. This is exactly what it has done for me. A reduction in royalty rate has incredible benefits for high strip ratio operations.

The Feds have always had a program where lease holders could apply for a Royalty Rate Reduction (RRR) to help maximize the minable reserve, therefore maximizing the total revenue back to the Feds and State. To receive a RRR you had to demonstrate that under current economics it was not profitable to mine either entire pits or individual seams. You also had to demonstrate that your total royalty payments would increase. I have applied and received RRR's in the past. I applied in early 2021 for a RRR for two pits. The review of those applications by the BLM, never started until March of 2025. In the past it was a 4-6 month process. The prior Administration sat on its thumbs for 4 years while I had two layoffs and eventually moved to nothing but reclamation. This Admin has a different goal in mind. The folks that I have already been able to re-hire as sure pleased with the outcome.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Unless something happens soon (data centers?) increase demand soon, a lot of the coal production in WY is going the way of the dodo bird either way.

People in the know have told me that the gird expects to add 2 california's in terms of demand by 2030.

Coals not going anywhere.

 

[Treeshark]

People in the know have told me that the gird expects to add 2 california's in terms of demand by 2030.

Coals not going anywhere.

That’s the one thing I could see altering the trajectory of coal.

 

[SAJ-99]

People in the know have told me that the gird expects to add 2 california's in terms of demand by 2030.

Coals not going anywhere.

Better get started building now to hit that 2030 goal. And I hope they pre-purchased the building materials before tariffs, otherwise I would bet they will go over budget. This is why solar still leads the way in new capacity.