Like many others, I had been sick
for weeks. Thankfully, a friend in CA whose company made clothing,
retooled to make masks for medical care workers. She sent me 5 yards of a
medical grade thermal bonded nonwoven polypropylene filter material
that I've been doubling in the masks I've been making, to help protect
some of our older populations. I know from other conservation
conversations with friends, there are others sewing masks across the
state to aid efforts to protect the public and our medical care workers.
This is how we step up to help our communities.
To those medical care and essential workers, thank you.
To those making masks - thank you.
To those wearing masks - thank you.
To those not wearing masks - wear a @#%* mask!!!
As with all things, I don't rely on
MSM for news, I've been researching academic papers. I came across an
academic paper addressing need for increased social distancing,
staggering or side-by-side while exercising outdoors, for example on
populated trails and parks. Towards aerodynamically equivalent COVID-19 1.5 m social distancing for walking and running.
Weather and humidity can affect
droplet concentration. "They found that deep exhalation (exercise)
yielded a four to sixfold increase in concentration and rapid inhalation
a further two- to threefold increase in concentration."
15 ft for walking
33 ft for jogging/slow cycling
65 ft for running/fast cycling
While Montanans love our public lands and public access, please be safe outdoors.
You can check this link for FWP coronavirus COVID-19 related closure and suspension news/updates.
"The secretary of the interior,
David Bernhardt, has sped efforts to drill, mine and cut timber on
fragile western landscapes. Meanwhile, the EPA, headed by the former
coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, has weakened critical environmental laws
and announced in March that it would cease oversight of the nation’s
polluters during the Covid-19 crisis."
Rules Change
Mike Korn (retired FWP) and I
attended the FWP hearing, in Feb., to address a number of concerns about
this program's rules. I took my copy of Gov. Bullock's letter with me,
in response to my comments during SB 341 and the lack of protection for
our public lands access, especially historical prescriptive easements,
RS 2477 & RR grants deeds with easement in the public language.
"Accordingly, as my
administration implements this bill, I am directing the Montana
Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to adopt rules that will require
the Department to determine if the public already has access to a
property before finalizing any agreement under SB 341."
While the language is better,
including language we recommended about FWP exercising "due diligence"
to research any pre-existing public access,
"The department may not enter a
PALA where there is an existing right of public access over the proposed
access route. If the department is uncertain whether the proposed
access route is public or private, or if a controversy exists over
whether the proposed access route is public or private, the department
shall present its findings to the PL/PW for its consideration in its
recommendation."
FWP elaborates in RESPONSE #7:
"In response to this comment, the department has amended the proposed
language to better explicitly state the department will exercise due
diligence so as not to enter into any agreements for which a right to
public access already exists. In its exercise of due diligence, the
department intends to use a checklist of questions and criteria to
ensure that there is no existing public access. The department's
checklist would include things such as checking county records to make
sure the proposed route is not a county or public road and that the
county does not do maintenance on it, checking with FWP field staff
along with staff of the agency that manages the public land to be
accessed to see if they are aware of any asserted claims or
controversies related to public access, checking newspaper articles and
press, and checking with local or area leaders."
Yet, FWP does not mention
unperfected historical prescriptive easements directly, which would not
be recorded in county records, or possibly some of the RS 2477
roads/trails. While Railroad Grant Deeds, which may include "easement in
the public" language, these also may not show up in county maps of
easements. The railroad grant deeds are also not directly addressed.
Without the specifics, the public
will not know if "due diligence" is actually being exercised. So my
recommendation is for the public to routinely request applications to
watchdog and research any existing public access, including unperfected
historical prescriptive easements, RS 2477 and Railroad Grant Deed
easements. Without individual or group sponsorship to pay for public
access research, I unfortunately cannot continue to pour myself out
doing this public access research freely, as needed as it may be.
"Montana Fish, Wildlife &
Parks has solicited site-specific proposals for bison restoration and
conservation in our state... Therefore, we have produced a draft
proposal to develop a herd entirely within the UL Bend area of the
Refuge, north of Fort Peck Reservoir. The herd would be allowed to grow
up to 400 animals, contained within about 150 square miles of diverse
habitat...
Most Montanans have little or no
awareness of this situation. It is urgent to develop public recognition
of the precarious status of bison conservation in our state. The Montana
Wild Bison Restoration Coalition will do all it can in this regard. But
there are many distractions in the public media this year. We implore
readers to post bison information on personal websites and to promote
forthright public discussion, especially by national and state
organizations dedicated to wildlife conservation."
"The study from the
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform On Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Services (IPBES), expected to run to over 8,000 pages, is being compiled
by more than 500 experts in 50 countries. It is the greatest attempt
yet to assess the state of life on Earth and will show how tens of
thousands of species are at high risk of extinction, how countries are
using nature at a rate that far exceeds its ability to renew itself, and
how nature’s ability to contribute food and fresh water to a growing
human population is being compromised in every region on earth."
A Peek at the Party Platforms: A quick look at both political party platforms will indicate their intentions towards our Public Lands by Harold Johns
"Privatizing
of our public lands is being promoted by politicians. A two-minute
computer search of Montana’s Republican Platform, Page 12, and a
two-minute computer search of Montana’s Democratic Platform, Page 8,
will clearly reveal the parties' public-lands philosophies. The purpose
of this article is to explain to Montanans who use public lands,
ranchers in this instance, what could happen if the public land they run
cows on were privatized."
Thank you,
Kathryn QannaYahu
406-579-7748
www.EMWH.org
Helena, MT
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