Editorial
Our wildlife refuges
should be sanctuaries
National wildlife; refuges are under the gun — literally.
Recreational hunting is on the rise on our nation's wildlife
refuges, which is a perverse use of these prime natural
habitats and gross exploitation of their inhabitants.
The national wildlife refuge system has grown to en
compass some 90 million acres since President Theodore
Roosevelt established the first one in 1903. The U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service maintains these reservations, which
were originally designed as sanctuaries for a host of wild
plants and animals.
Hut since the 1960s — and largely unknown to the
general public — the federal government has been quietly
opening more and more tracks of refuge land to recreational
hunters. In a very real sense, these sanctuaries are becoming
killing fields.
The federal government and the Fish and Wildlife Ser
vice now view hunting on wildlife refuges as virtually stan
dard operating procedure, and there has been a disturbing
increase in the number of refuges open to hunting as well as
the number of wildlife refuge hunters themselves.
Moreover, this hunting is not even justified by the thinning
ol herds or flocks — most of it is purely for sport.
()l the nation's 435 refuges, 256 are now open to hun
ting and trapping. If current trends continue, we can expect
to see even more habitat sanctuaries fall prey to tin; ques
tionable practice of refuge hunting.
Five percent of the refuges' annual 27 million visitors
come to hunt or trap. This percentage is up from recent years
and more than likely will continue to rise.
The sanctity of the refuges is victim to both politics and
wildlife management apathy. The federal government ac
quires refuge land, in part, through the sale of Duck Stamps
akin to hunting licenses -— and all duck hunters are re
quired by law to purchase them. Hunters of all types claim
because they help finance refuges through licenses and
Duck Stamp purchases, they are entitled to hunt on these
wildlife sanctuaries.
Hunters have increasingly used the National Rifle
Association, a strong congressional lobbying group and
political action committee, as a vehicle to get their demands
met. Sadly, the tactic has worked.
Ironically, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in many
ways the refuges’ worst enemy. Frank Dunkle, director of
the Fish and Wildlife Service, views animals and birds as
“renewable, exploitable resources” and places recreational
opportunity over wildlife preservation.
Similarly. Assistant Interior Secretary for Fish and
Wildlife, (I. Ray Arnett, deems our nation's refuges as
superior to any found in the world and believes the Fish and
Wildlife Service has done its best to keep them that way.
Obviously, their best is not good enough. More than
half of tin; nation's refuges fail to meet Theodore Roosevelt’s
conception of "inviolate sanctuaries.”
As hunters through NRA lobbying press for increased
refuge access, and complacency prevails in the ranks of the
Fish and Wildlife Service, sanctuary hunting will continue,
slowly defiling the lew remaining spots where wildlife may
tred unmolested by man’s predations.
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EVENING
Letters
Statistics
Patrick Olancey’s letter (OI)H.
Jan. 14) demonstrated a need to
learn some more about current
demographic trends, Darwin
and Christianity. Wow. too bad
there's a 250-word limit.
Well, I'll just encourage
Patrick to read Darwin's book
"The Descent of Man" and, you
guessed it. the Bible. I believe
what's written in the Bible con
cerning our origin, but there's a
lot Darwin writes regarding
human society and genetics
from which one could learn
some things.
As for demographics, the arti
cle "The Birth Dearth: The
Geopolitical Consequences”
(Public Opinion, Jan. 1986} is
quite informative. Ben Wat
tenberg and Karl Zinsmeister
deal with the problems that the
extremely low birthrates in
Western Europe and the United
States will cause for our
economy, social institutions
and our position in tin? world
(not to m e n I i o n o t h e r
devestal ing consequences).
And this article doesn’t even
deal with population loss from
AIDS
Hey, Patrick, if you want
other sources please check the
recent demographic statistics
listed by the World Bank. The
industrialized nations are way
below replacement birth levels.
Want more? Read George
Gilder's work ‘’The Sexual
Revolution At Home,” or some
of the Wall Street Journal's ar
ticles on U.S. satisfies publish
ed last September.
In conclusion, if we’re so
overpopulated, why are vast
food surpluses the number one
problem for U.S. farmers? Why
is France now paying people
generous bonuses for children?
Why is West Germany consider
ing similar proposals? And why
is the Soviet block paying huge
benefits to encourage large
families?
Michael Cross
Graduate, political science,
history
10 Heads
The world cannot hope for
peace until Reagan is out. But
he can’t do otherwise, for he’s
programmed by God as I am.
He’s the seventh head of the
beast in Rev. 17:7. The first was
Eisenhower and his 10 cabinet
positions (10 horns), which
were later increased to 13.
Jesus's first coming was the
period from Feb. 7. 1972 (a let
ter published in the Albany
paper) to the culmination of
Faster Sunday in 1977, which
was a photo of me in the Salem
paper as a protester on a
downtown Salem street with a
sign reading, “If all women
stayed at home, we’d see: l.
Full employment, 2. No crime,
3. Jesus.”
The period of time of the
heads reign is 34 years, from
November of 1952 to November
of 1986. or one generation. So
where the Bible refers to “this
generation,” that’s the present
one. which will soon end.
The “short space” for the
seventh head means an in
completed term of office. Nixon
was covered in Rev. 13:3, and
the beast was healed with
Gerald Ford. Revelation 17:16
relates to deficit spending. But
that and the rest of the Bible
must be understood in the con
text that all prophecy had to be
kept secret until the end. Even 1
didn’t know 1 was the false
prophet.
And when considering words
in the Bible, consider also their
opposite meaning. For exam
ple, the sign of my back in the
picture appearing in the Salem
newspaper read, “And ye shall
be hated of all women for my
name’s sake, Mark 13:13.’’ The
Bible says “men.’’ And so
believe it or not, the Bible gave
us hell and will give us heavan,
if you’ll hear me out.
Wayne L. Johnson
San Diego
Comfort
In response to Bert Tryba’s
letter (ODE, Jan. 23), the issues
he brings up seem somewhat in
finite compared to the true doc
trines and comfort received
from the simple faith in Christ,
or any other religion one
chooses to believe in.
More important is the ig
norance, or perhaps simple pre
judice that Tryba chooses to in
clude in justifying the
“decline” of the general state ot
the United States.
There comes a point in most
people’s lives at which one
must attempt to understand tlit*
surrounding world. Some of us
hide behind “facts” that are ac
tually estimates of what truly
happened, while others have
the social stability and con
fidence to believe in what we
cannot "scientifically” prove.
Faith is simply being sure ol
what we hope for, and certain ot
what we do not see (from
Hebrews 11). Tryba seems to
have never felt the exhilaration
of knowing what he feels is
right.
Most of all, I feel sorry for
Tryba in that he is missing a
most invaluable part of life; tin1
fulfillment of one's spiritual
needs.
Matt W. Burlingame
Biology