Collaborative resource management on public lands: the future of conservation?

Transcription

1 Collaborative resource management on public lands: the future of conservation? Nancy Langston Dept. of Social Sciences and School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences, Michigan Technological University Photo of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by Don Baccus

2 Why Malheur??

3 MALHEUR WINTER 2016: constitutional claims Sovereign citizen movement Answerable only to common law

4 Malheur 2016: Federal Land Claims Federal lands unconstitutional MUST return all 640,000,000 acres of federal lands to states, counties, or private citizens Property clause in constitution & two 1911 Supreme Court decisions

5 Local Claims Ranchers were forced off their lands to create refuge Before that, locals lived in paradise Feds have impoverished locals Refuge retaliated against local ranchers Dwight and Steve Hammond to steal their land

6 OUTLINE Malheur s history Collaborative conservation Future of public lands? American avocet, Malheur, photo Barbara Wheeler, USFWS

7 187,757 acres 320 species birds Up to 25 million birds/yr Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

8 Critical habitat along Pacific Flyway MALHEUR

9 20 th C wetland loss along Pacific Flyway

10 Mountain snows, rivers, wetlands Ibis in Malheur wetland Steens snow Blitzen River

11 Wetlands

12 Blitzen River Valley

13 Changing Mosaics

14 Oasis in high desert Snow geese, Malheur. Photo Dan Mitchell

15 Paiute years 1868 war 1872 treaty 1,778,560 acre reservation Retained ceded territory rights Co-management

16 Paiute land loss California corporations on res Paiute uprising 1878 Trail of tears 350 miles to Yakima Reservation Sarah Winnemucca, Paiute writer and advocate

17 Cattle Barons on Paiute Lands Ranchers monopolized Paiute lands Extreme competition with homesteaders, sheepherders, farmers Murder of Peter French 1897 Scars of unregulated competition persist

18 CONSERVATIONISTS COME 1905 William Finley and Herman Bohlman, Lower Klamath Lake 1905

19 William Finley and Herman Bohlman, Malheur Lake Audubon Society Portland

20 White-faced Ibis (now 20% of world s population at Malheur) Audubon Society Portland

21 Black-capped night heron & American white pelican Audubon Society Portland

22 Caspian Terns 1908 Malheur So ecstatic I fell out of my boat Finley Audubon Society Portland

23 Audubon Society Portland

24 Great Egret Colony Slaughtered for. Audubon Society Portland

25 .Fashion Woman wearing a hat made of bird feathers, circa Library of Congress

26 Waterfowl hunters: unregulated

27 1908: Pres. Roosevelt established refuge on part of Malheur Indian Reservation (NOT on ranchers legally titled land) Photo courtesy Oregon Historical Society, Finley Collection, negative 2311

28 Meander line conflicts: Homesteaders squatting on lake bed USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photo

29 Reclamation Dreams: Engineering the Riparian Landscape Klamath Basin refuges drained for farming

30 State Plan in 1920s: Turn Refuge into Farmland Poorest settlers aligned with refuge to BLOCK the bill and save the refuge

31 1934 Sale of Blitzen Valley to Refuge: Protect the water sources

32 How do you restore a dessicated wetland? Refuge manager John Scharff USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photo #1410 by Ray C. Erickson

33 Experiments: Engineering a Duck Hotel

34 Experiments in wetland restoration 1930s CCC constructing manure dam USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photo Camp Buena Vista June 1937

35 Constructing canals USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photo Camp Buena Vista 1937

36 Flooding the meadows USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photo Camp Buena Vista March 1937 and May 1937

37 Initial successes: Restored habitat USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photo r1-981

38 Successes: Pelicans USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photos 1959

39 Successes: Long-billed curlew 1948 USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photo #1411 Ray C Erickson

40 Successes: Sandhill cranes 1957 USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photo #57-7bw-12 by David Marshall

41 Complexities: PREDATOR Trapping 1943 USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

42 Complexities: Phreatophyte Control: Spraying willows 1949 USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photo #1400 by Ray C. Erickson

43 Complexities: Carp control 1955 USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photo #55-68 David Marshall

44 Complexities: Carp control 1955 USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photos #55-71 and David Marshall

45 Complexities: GRAZING A source of revenue for years to come July 1937 USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Photo

46 Malheur Comprehensive Conservation Plan Process for collaborative conservation Paiute tribe Ranchers Conservation groups Federal managers

47 Rancher Fred Otley Oregon Cattlemen s Association descendent of squatter who led fight to save refuge

48 Rancher Stacey Davies Roaring Springs Ranch Former Peter French ranch

49 Rancher Georgia Marshall Descendent of Ed Oliver, homesteader who murdered French

50 Paiute Chairwoman Charlotte Rodrique Descendent of Sarah Winnemucca

51 Restoring community: High Desert Partnership

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53 Sage-Grouse Conservation Partnership Steve Fairbairn / USFWS Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell

54 Pragmatic Adaptive Management marsh harrier chicks, Malheur NWR photo Don Baccus