Editor’s note: By popular demand, we continue with the Jim Hines Chronicles, which reflects the emails by our premier lobbyist on the ins and outs of environmental activism and is chock-full of information. This covers the last two months and is shorter than usual because of the holidays. Jim is our chapter vice-chair and conservation director who belongs to many wildlife groups.
By Jim Hines
Jan 26: Nationwide campaign launched by the Sierra Club to save the 30X30 Conservation Plan, which is under attack by the new Republican majority in Congress.
Jan 25: Update on 30X30 conservation plan I’ve been working on. With the Angeles Chapter, we were able to get President Biden to sign legislation which directs the National Park Service to study lands in coastal Los Angeles County from Santa Monica to Seal Beach for possible inclusion into the National Park System. The study will take about 3 years.
I met with staff in the U.S. Secretary of the Interior's office to express my opposition to expanded hunting on National Wildlife Refuges. Staff says the expanded hunting opportunities fit into the president's 30X30 Conservation Plan which seeks to get more Americans outdoors and hunting allows more people to use public lands. Congressional attack on 30X30 has begun.
The new House Committee on Natural Resources has stated that it plans to stop (or try to) the implementation of the Administration's Conservation Plan, which one staffer called it “flawed”. It is requesting Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to appear before them to explain why 30X30 should be funded by congress.
Jan 17: CA Wildlife Team is taking on the challenge in 2023 to get the state of California to ban the hunting of Black Bears.
Jan 10: Folks, we are in for a rough two years when it comes to protecting our national natural resources and wildlife at the federal level. I spoke this morning with several staff members of the office of Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark), incoming Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, for bills and funding public lands, wildlife, climate change and energy.
Also on the committee is former Trump Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, now in Congress. They could impact legislation protecting the Los Padres National Forest, Central Coast Heritage Protection Act, Rim of the Valley, wildlife protections and more.
Dec 23: Finally happened today, the House and Senate passed legislation banning the use of longline driftnets in federal ocean waters, something we have been working on for years with Sen. Feinstein’s office. “HUUUUGE!!!!” replied David Gold.
Dec 12: Mountain lion of Hollywood (P-22) has been captured for a health checkup due to “erratic” behavior.
Dec 8: A sad situation…when a famous mountain lion must lose his life because he is acting like a mountain lion would in an urban world, there is no winner in this story. (Responding to National Park Service planning to capture the aging Cougar P-22 due to sightings close to home in the Griffith Park area, and supposedly killing a leashed pet.)