Oregon Strategist

Reinventing the Oregon Dream

The Bureau of Land Mismanagement

February 8, 2014 by Tim Crawley

Sage GrouseDuring the 1870s, the federal government adopted policies encouraging the killing of the North American buffalo in order to deplete the food source of the Native Americans, a tactic used to expand the government’s authority across the West.
Today, in a continued effort to promote and secure its relevance, the federal government, in breach of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, has authorized the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife to spend $3.5 million massacring 3600 barred owls in Oregon under the auspices of spotted owl protection – an animal listed under the Endangered Species Act.
The news of this federal action and the government’s “above the law” response to control natural fluctuations does not come as a surprise to many of us Oregonians who everyday perform the balancing act of providing for our families, sustaining our businesses and ranches, and acting as stewards for sustainable future use of our land. Over the years and centuries, federal responses to local issues have resulted in wasteful spending, irresponsible action, and the decimation of people and animals alike. Yet a concentrated majority in this state has decided that Washington D.C. is best suited to handling our business, ranching and local environmental affairs.
Oregon’s counties and communities face a new federal intervention: an effort to protect the sage grouse. An environmental impact statement is currently being pushed through federal court to determine whether the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) should cordon off hundreds of thousands of acres of land usually reserved for ranching activities.
There is clear consensus among the experts and the BLM that sage grouse numbers are not a problem in Oregon. The disappearance of the bird has predominantly occurred in Idaho and Utah. Many ranchers in Oregon are aware of the bird’s habitat and steer their herds clear of areas where their dwelling is probable.
Yet the federal government has advertised that it is the most effective source for balancing interests – that somehow the sage grouse’s viability must be protected at the federal level from cattle-ranching activities (which actually have a positive impact on sage grouse habitat as well through soil regeneration that aids habitat growth, much like the buffalo herds’ contribution to the fertility of the Great Plains).
Eastern Oregon, prior to the pioneers, was a large swathe of grassland. With the covered wagons clung the sage seeds that spread their roots across the land. Our ever-changing ecosystem has seen the rise and fall of species across the span of earth’s history. Yet our government is attempting to play God and legislate control over a single element to an incomprehensible equation – a futile and wasteful task that does more harm than good, as we saw from the carcasses of buffalo, and see from the slaughter of an owl.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Economy, Environment, National Tagged With: Baker County, Barred Owl, Bend, BLM, Buffalo, Bureau, Bureau of Land Management, Burns, deficit, Deschutes, Eastern Oregon, Endangered Species, Environmental Affairs, ESA, Federal, Grouse, Habitat, Idaho, Lake County, Lakeridge, Land, Local, Management, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, North America, Oregon, Oregonians, Owls, Pioneers, Ranching, Sage, Sage Grouse, Soil, Species, Spending, Spotted Owl, State, Union, Union County, Utah, Vale, Washington D.C.

Youth and the Republican Party: An American Recovery

November 4, 2013 by Tim Crawley

Republican Elephant and Democratic DonkeyParty warfare and polarization of ideologies may be significantly to blame for the finger-pointing and squabbling in Washington D.C. Open primaries, term limits, and policies that suspend Congressional pay if shutdowns occur are just some of the answers to questions of how we must reform the internal mechanisms of our government in order to get back on track for being a proud and confident nation.

Yet, these policies may be some time away from now until young leaders are put in power that are willing to limit their own power for long-term objectives. Until that time, we must ask serious questions about how all of us – Republicans, Democrats and Independents – can come together to help shape the new Republican Party and bring back a balance of power to the system to check the unprecedented spending and waste in our federal government.

Every dollar our government spends today is a dollar that young people will have to pay back in their future. This is inherently unfair and unjust. Entrenched leaders in Washington D.C. continue to waste the money of future generations for their own political short-term gain. Our interests, the interests of those in their thirties, twenties and younger – are not being represented.

Young people have an opportunity to take over the Republican Party here in Oregon – be you Democrat, Republican or Independent. We have the opportunity to shape the party for ourselves and take back what is our future to spend – not theirs.

And conservative and progressive values, the real kind that is (as opposed to the kind promoted by the media), may be the kind we younger generations can embrace. We know what it is like to be under the weight of massive educational debt, not to have the employment opportunities we were told would be waiting for us on the other side, and to find ourselves unable to fulfill our American Dreams.

Our current leaders have failed us. We must now take up the torch and lead with real principles. That is, with self-sacrifice, courage, and pride in a future America we can own and love.

Entitlements are wasting our money. Military ventures are wasting our money. Centralized corporate-sponsored federal programs are wasting our money. Congress is wasting our money. This is our future. We want this future to be green, healthy, productive, and local.

To get back in the game we must go to work. We must find work in any sector. If it means working in an area we perceive to be below our educational level, we must work. We must reject anything handed to us. Only then can we hold our heads high. And we must hold our heads high in order to lead.

We will bring jobs back from overseas. We will go to the ports, find out what China is shipping to us, and make those products here. We will make them better and less expensive. We will encourage entrepreneurs. We will educate. We will stockpile. Our future will be one of great influence.

We will put our money into credit unions and keep our organizations nimble, flexible and local – like Privateers. We will execute a trade surplus and pay down our deficit. And we will not be reckless with the future of our next wave of youth.

We will reform Congress. We will take only one term in any given political office and will condemn political entrenchment and the establishment. We will limit our salaries because what we do is a service to our Great Nation, not a pillage of our Great Nation. We will give back, we will pay the way forward, we will unite, we will overcome and we will live mightily on our principles, work and love.

Timothy Crawley, a native son of Oregon, is a candidate for the 2014 United States Senate seat for Oregon.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Economy, Education, Environment, International, National, Portland Tagged With: Albany, Ashland, Astoria, Baker City, Balance of Power, Bandon, Banks, Beaverton, Bend, Black Butte Ranch, Brookings, Cannon Beach, Clatskanie, Conservative, Coos Bay, corporation salaries, corporations, Corvallis, Cottage Grove, Crawley, credit unions, debt, Democrat, Democratic Party, domestic, economic reform, Economy, Education, employment, entitlements, entrepreneurs, Eugene, Florence, Forest Grove, Fossil, Gold Beach, Grants Pass, Great Recession, Gresham, Hillsboro, Hood River, Independent, Independent Party, Inequality, international, jobs, Klamath Falls, La Grande, Labor, Lake Oswego, Lincoln City, Manzanita, McMinnville, Medford, media, military, Milwaukie, money, Newberg, Newport, Oregon, Oregon City, Party, Pendleton, political reform, poor, Portland, ports, Prineville, Progressive, Recovery, Redmond, reform, Republican, Republican Party, Rockaway Beach, Roseburg, Salem, Seaside, Sherwood, Sisters, Springfield, student loans, term limits, The Dalles, Tigard, Tillamook, Tim, Tim Crawley, Timothy, Timothy Crawley, trade deficit, trade surplus, Troutdale, Tualatin, unemployment, value, values, Washington D.C., Wealth, wealth inequality, wealth stratification, West Linn, Wilsonville, Youth

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