Some fun facts about the United States and its involvement in the major wars, historically. In 1812 with America’s conflict in The Spanish – American war, James Madison, a Democrat, was president. Preceding The Civil war in 1860, James Buchanan, a Democrat was president. In 1918, at the start of The U.S. entering World War 1, Woodrow Wilson, another Democrat, was president. At the onset of World War 2, guess what, Franklin Roosevelt, another Democrat, was the president. In 1964, once again, The U.S. went to war in Vietnam. You guessed it, John F. Kennedy, another Democrat, was president. In all those conflicts, a Republican president got the country out of those conflicts. Now, as there’s mutterings of World War 3, because of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine, how many guesses do we need to know what party is in The White House? The only exception being The Attack on America on September 11th 2001, when a Democrat, Joe Biden surrendered to The Taliban after our 20 year involvement in the region. Oh, by the way, that Taliban we surrendered to was armed and funded into existence with United States taxpayer dollars during, yes you guessed right again, a Democrat president Jimmy Carter in the late 70’s in an attempt to disrupt Russian influence in the region.
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TWRA Mismanagement Continues
Passing by the Bridgestone Centennial Wilderness Area on Eastland Road there laid a dead coyote in the middle of the road. The T.W.R.A. has recently attempted to introduce quail in the W.M.A., and is failing miserably to accomplish this.
The agency has recently tried to convince the Bridgestone Corporation and the local public that all that is needed is more open lands in the W.M.A. to be successful. The agency has proposed a massive “clear cutting” operation to do this that has been met with staunch opposition from T.D.O.C. and the local public. The fact is that The T.W.R.A. is simply either poorly educated about wildlife or just stubbornly ignorant. The agency is failing to introduce the Quail for one simple reason -the rampant coyote population in the area. Unless and until these predator numbers are either eradicated or severely checked, no terrestrial bird can be introduced successfully.
In fact the statistics show that the terrestrial bird populations are near extinction levels now in the Bridgestone Centennial Wilderness Area. Gone are the Ruffed Grouse and Ring Neck Pheasants. Wild Turkeys are disappearing rapidly, and very few of the 1200 Quail released only a couple years ago remain. The T.W.R.A. doesn’t need to clear or obtain lands as the agency would have everyone believe. They simply need to adequately manage the lands that they’ve been assigned to manage.
Just a couple weeks ago Tennessee Tech released a dozen Quail with identifying marks to track them, overnight nine birds were gone. It’s foolish to just keep feeding these Coyotes, and why T.W.R.A. is failing to rid us of this non-indigenous predator, or recognize the problem for what it is I simply can’t understand.
They had no problem eradicating the wild pigs in The W.M.A. with over a hundred killed and just bulldozed into a trench about four or five years ago, which, by the way is a felony crime in some states called ‘wanton waste’.
Bridgestone/Firestone Wildlife Management Area does not live in a bubble.
Open Letter to the TWRA:
Another topic we did not have enough time to discuss at the Oct 4th public meeting is herbicides. Which ones will be used to kill the trees you will cut down? What are the side effects of these herbicides on the residential population cattle wells, nearby Firestone Lake, the Caney Fork and other streams, ponds and the current animal, fish, insect and plant population in the woods as it is sprayed?
Residents close to Bridgestone/Firestone Eastland Road entrance have 100’s if not 1,000s of acres of land to raise cattle, bees, gardens and to harvest fish and animals from Bridgestone/Firestone Wildlife Area and surrounding areas to provide for their families.
In these uncertain times of the availability of food and the ability to pay for food, poisoning these residents’ private land to turn a forest into a savanna is callous if not criminal. To destroy current trees on Bridgestone WMA (and nearby private lands forests) that are in the prime of their production of acorns to feed wildlife; to kill bees who ARE ENDANGERED unlike quail, to potentially poison Firestone Lake that provide water to the surrounding Bon Air, Ravencroft, parts of Pleasant Hill, DeRossett and Eastland road residents with herbicide overspray, to poison the surrounding private land trees, soil, water, cattle, crops, Caney fork and other streams, need I go on… All this destruction and poisoning to create a savanna which already exists in the United States for a bird that already exists in the United States, based on someone’s BELIEF, but shows no scientific proof, that this is what Tennessee looked like. Savannas provide little sustenance in the winter months for wildlife. Even if Tennessee was a savanna, right now in the PRESENT time people are living in the area, caring for the land and animals, providing food and shelter for their families, so it makes no sense to destroy Bridgestone WMA and private property owners’ lands for something that no longer exists here.
Should we take down all the houses and dig up all the roads so the landscape looks like something from the past? Should we bring back the dinosaurs whose bones have been found in Tennessee – just because some believe they roamed Bridgestone/Firestone wildlife area a while back? https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-of-tennessee-1092101
According to the UT Institute of Agriculture https://utia.tennessee.edu/ and the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries https://fwf.tennessee.edu/, the herbicides often used in Tennessee are a “Mixture of Triclopyr and Imazapyr”, https://fwf.tennessee.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2021/02/Herbicide-mixture-for-FSI.pdf .
The manufacturer of Trilopyr reports about the adverse side effects of their product as the following:
Triclopyr and commercially available products containing this herbicide are of particular concern to human health and the environment, due to: 1) potential toxicity from acute and chronic exposures, including eye, skin, respiratory and gastrointestinal injury; 2) potential adverse effects to non-target plants and animals, due to over-spray, drift, leaching, and translocation to aquatic habitats from weather and erosion factors; and, 3) the potentially extreme hazard to both humans and animals from exposure to “inert” ingredients in triclopyr products, such as EDTA, triethylamine, and kerosene.…..and for specific details of the herbicide side effects there’s this from their website:
https://fwf.tennessee.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2021/02/Herbicide-mixture-for-FSI.pdf .
Human Health Risk Summary
Acute Effects: Brief exposure to triclopyr has been found to cause severe eye damage, skin sensitization, dizziness and/or drowsiness, respiratory irritation, and gastrointestinal irritation. Acute exposure has also been linked to blood, kidney, liver, and nervous system toxicity in animals
Chronic Effects: Carcinogenicity: Though not widely classified as a carcinogen, two unpublished studies on triclopyr ingestion by rats and mice have suggested increased frequency of mammary gland cancer at high doses.
Reproductive & Developmental Toxicity: In experimental animal studies, high doses of triclopyr have been shown to cause reproductive and developmental abnormalities, including: increased fetal death, skeletal malformations, as well as liver and kidney defects.
Ecological Hazard Summary
Environmental Fate: Triclopyr is moderately persistent in soil, with an estimated half-life from 30-90 days, though it has been shown to persist for over a year depending on conditions. In an aquatic setting, half-life ranges from several hours to 10 days depending on water-depth and sunlight conditions. Adsorption to soil particles varies based on formula and soil type. Butoxyethyl ester has a greater potential for surface-water runoff and waterway contamination than the triethylamine salt, due to its low soil adsorption capacity. Butoxyethyl ester and TCP (the most common breakdown product of triclopyr) may pose significant risks to groundwater and surface water sources.
Risk to Non-Target Flora & Fauna: Triclopyr has been shown to be moderately to highly toxic to freshwater plants and fish as well as some marine vertebrates and invertebrates when in butoxyethyl ester form, as well as in the degradate (TCP) form. Salmonid species of fish have been shown to be more sensitive to both the ester form and TCP than other species tested. , Both fish and amphibian species have exhibited behavioral defects, reduced oxygen uptake and loss of motor control when exposed to low doses of triclopyr. At least one study has indicated that mammal populations dwelling in forested areas treated with triclopyr have been significantly reduced. Because triclopyr is a potent plant growth disruptor, unintended target plants may be destroyed due to spray drift, leaching, erosion and storm-caused translocation. Additionally, triclopyr has been shown to disrupt the normal growth and nutrient cycling properties of microorganisms, fungi, mosses and algae; all of which perform critical functions to maintain a healthy ecosystem.
Toxicity of Inert Ingredients
Commercial triclopyr products are typically composed of 40-50% of the triclopyr acid or salt, and 50-60% of inert ingredients or surfactants. Many of these additives have shown to be significantly more toxic to both humans and animals than triclopyr itself. One of these compounds ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) has been shown to cause birth defects, cleft palate, and abnormal skeletons in test animals. EDTA has also been shown to be 10-fold more toxic to fish than the Garlon formulation alone. Another inert, triethylamine is extremely toxic to the eyes, skin and respiratory system. At least one commercially available triclopyr products contains kerosene, which has been linked to severe gastrointestinal, respiratory and nervous system toxicity.
PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU DESTROY.
TWRA Public Meeting on their Savanna Habitat Plan
I don’t think anyone at the Oct.4th meeting took notice that The Savanna Habitats that were shown in The T.W.R.A presentation were all during the green or warmer months. These “Savannas”, while may be ideal habitats for some wildlife during the spring and summer, are almost void of any nutritional needs for the animals in the late fall and winter.
The T.W.R.A. released 1200 quail in The Ranch portion only a few years ago, and admittedly the T.W.R.A. reports only 6 small coveys remain. I believe this is mostly caused by the rampant coyote population in The W.M.A., as quail roost on the ground at night, and are easily consumed by the aggressive predator. These pests added to the fox, the great horned owl, and common feral house cats, along with the quail hunters’ leaves little room for adequate propagation for the birds. In other words, the quail experiment is already a failure, so why on earth should it be expanded?
Contrary to the disingenuous T.W.R.A. presentation, even the quail that they hold so dear, will need to forage in and around the dense forest areas, during those lean months where Beech mast, Dogwood nuts, and partially eaten acorns, and hickory nuts will help them to survive. It is a well known fact that is known by true outdoorsmen, that deer eat only half the acorn as when they bite it, the other half falls to the ground where it is often left for other animals like the quail and turkey to consume. It is also a well known fact that squirrels are messy eaters, and leave hickory nut and acorn crumbles wherever they eat one. No hardwoods, no squirrels.
Nature is complex and intertwined, and it seems whenever man interferes, in this case The T.W.R.A., nature loses. Contrary to the falsehoods the T.W.R.A. is trying to get everyone to believe, the closed canopy hardwoods are both bountiful with sustenance, and essential for all wildlife survival.
As a bow hunter of over thirty years, I can tell you that it is nearly impossible to have a whitetail deer get close enough in those open Savannas to get a shot at one, especially after the leaves fall. Their keen sense of smell and sharp eye for movement are the reason why. I think a lot of bow hunters along with the rest of the furious residents would be quite unhappy if The W.M.A. only provided opportunities for rifle hunting. I believe that Mike O’Neal was spot on; this is nothing more than a gigantic experiment with gigantic consequences when it fails miserably.
As far as the timber profits are concerned, Neither Tennessee State or The T.W.R.A. are supposed to profit. The Timber Contractor profits, and pays what is known in the industry as “stumpage”. Usually this can be as much as 60% of the actual timber company price per foot that is paid to the logging company. The “stumpage” is paid to alleviate the logging company’s responsibility to remove the stumps left behind when the trees are removed. Tennessee State or The T.W.R.A. only profit if they avoid their responsibility to remove the stumps. This arrangement works to profit private landowners, because they have no obligation to public interest to have the stumps removed, however, both Tennessee State and The T.W.R.A. do. It is my opinion that if Tennessee State workers and equipment are used to deforest any area, 100% of the timber company’s price per foot that is paid out to Tennessee State should be considered “Stumpage”, and used to to finish the project by reforesting or removing all the stumps.
The information concerning the pricing of timber provided by the T.W.R.A. is misleading as timber is not sold by the ton. It’s sold by the board foot, and different prices per foot for different tree species. Interesting fact: A large, well equipped logging company can deforest approximately 40 acres a week. Just to deforest the proposed few hundred acres, will leave local residents dealing with heavy equipment traffic and logging trucks for at least half a year on Eastland road, which is already in desperate need of repaving.
Public Meeting October 4, 2021
A meeting is set for October 4, 2021, to determine what the public concerns are with regards to The T.W.R.A.’s plan to deforest part of The Bridgestone Centennial Wilderness Area for the purpose of creating a “Savanna” habitat for Bobwhite Quail. Representative Paul Sherrell is calling for the meeting. As a long time White County resident, Rep. Sherrell has many of the same concerns as everyone else around this area of the county.
The Bridgestone W.M.A. is the only W.M.A. in White County. The main concern is, with plummeting numbers of viable big game in The W.M.A., why is the T.W.R.A. focusing its efforts on this kind of project. The Main decree of the T.W.R.A. is to enhance wildlife. The T.W.R.A. claims that they want to create a “Savanna” in the Bridgestone W.M.A. However, a savanna, by definition, is a flat grassy plain. The Bridgestone W.M.A. is a hilly, rocky, and in some areas very steep and mountainous. Changing the terrain of the W.M.A. to do this would literally take an act of God. I know that The T.W.R.A. has a huge war chest of resources to bring to bear, but I doubt very seriously they have access to the kind of earth moving equipment to adequately satisfy the definition of “Savanna”.
This whole premise is obviously some pipe dream thought up by someone in management of The Bridgestone W.M.A. probably a lifelong bird hunter from either another state, or a different part of Tennessee, and is indifferent to the needs or wants of the White County hunting community as a whole. If so, that would explain away some of the crazy that is presented before us with this “Savanna” idea.
I am sure of one thing, a great number of residents, hunter or not, is absolutely livid about this including lifelong residents, especially, because they have watched as a great hunting area has been decimated through the direct mismanagement of The Bridgestone W.M.A. since they took over that responsibility several years ago.
My neighbor can recall counting fifty or more deer walk past his tree stand while bow hunting in a single day. Now, you can drive the whole three miles from the main road down to the river and never see a deer or turkey, no matter the time of day.
Resuscitation Plan for Bridgestone Centennial Wilderness Area
In the past few years I have written several blogs that criticize the T.W.R.A. for its ill management of The Bridgestone Centennial Wilderness Area. Consider the following outline a gift to the T.W.R.A. in order to resuscitate the wildlife in The W.M.A., and bring back the hunting public to the area.
These are some of my suggestions for steps that need to be done:
1. A moratorium on all “Prescribed Burning” for five years, and if resumed, to be done in fall or winter, not early spring as apparently is the current policy.
2. Reintroduction of at least fifty Whitetail Deer from healthy populations of properly managed hunting ranches in Texas or other states or even Tennessee, to insure genetic viability of the deer herds.
3. Reintroduce at least one hundred Wild Turkeys from other parts of the state or nearby states, and perhaps even introduce The Rio Grande strain from south Texas, (a larger variety of The Wild Turkey.)
4. Introduce Axis or Fallow Deer, as they don’t follow the same rutting schedule as Whitetail.
5. A moratorium on all Big game hunting for at least one year after any introduction.
6. Winter Wheat and other seasonal food plots to be sown into the recently cleared Bowater pine forests at regular intervals.
7. When Big Game Hunts resume, no does or antlerless deer are to be taken for two additional seasons, and current antler restrictions remain in place.
8. New regulations in The W.M.A. should be strictly enforced with harvest restrictions, along with random night patrols in The W.M.A. That means that an agent must be present and actively patrolling and checking hunter’s licenses every day during Big Game Hunts. Additionally, an agent must be parked at the entrance to The W.M.A. on the opening day of rifle season, or rent the currently unoccupied building across the street to be used as a substation.
9. Optional, but probably helpful, would be to have a special season for Coyote Hunts, after the regular season with a $25.00 bounty for every one surrendered. The T.W.R.A. could then sell the pelts to recover the financial burden from the bounty paid. Coyote Hunters would be responsible for removing the pelts prior to surrender.
10. Optional, but probably very beneficial, to request that the adjacent property allow the Virgin Falls parking area to be relocated much closer to the actual falls location. There’s a good road to get there, and it probably would avoid the several injuries and extractions of people that occur during the year because of the redundant arduous trek people are now undertaking to get there. This move would also put valuable space between the hunting public and the general public.
11. Allow A.T.V. access to only licensed and insured vehicles and a strictly enforced speed limit of no more than 20 miles per hour. All vehicles are to be logged in at the agent’s station for identification purposes, and drivers must agree to minimize road wear wherever possible, in a written agreement with The T.W.R.A.
12. Ladder stands and other temporary stands are permitted as long as they don’t cause permanent harm to the tree, and a name tag can be placed at the stand to identify the owner. Severe penalties are enforced for stand thefts.
13. Optional, all Big Game hunters check in prior to the season for a pass (free of charge) to access The W.M.A. for the season.
TWRA clear cutting Bridgestone/Firestone WMA
Once again, The T.W.R.A. plans to embark on what probably will turn out to be their biggest blunder ever. The agency has plans to deforest thousands of acres of perfectly viable wooded habitat; all for the presumption to re-introduce more Bobwhite Quail into The Bridgestone Centennial Wilderness Area in White County Tennessee. There’s already about 3 square miles of land that was burned to create habitat for these birds. I believe it was somewhere around 1200 birds that were released, but very few remain. The T.W.R.A. did nothing to reduce the Coyote population first, as quail are ground roosting birds and become easy prey for the night time predator. Also, rather than allowing these domestically raised Quail to become acclimated to their new environment, at least for the first year of introduction, The T.W.R.A. decided to allow them to be hunted just a few months after being released.
This is a direct violation of The T.W.R.A.’s mission parameters set forth by legislation when the agency was formed. Those mission parameters are as described on the T.W.R.A.’s website as follows: “The Mission of The Tennessee Wildlife Management Agency is to preserve, conserve, manage, protect, and enhance the wildlife of the state and their habitats for the use, benefit, and enjoyment of the citizens of Tennessee, and its visitors”. This mission does not include destruction of perfectly viable wildlife habitat, all for the prospect of creating some sort of quail sanctuary.
The T.W.R.A. has already failed miserably in The Bridgestone W.M.A. with regards to the big game populations there. A quick look at the agency’s own Game Harvest Statistics reveals abysmal findings. Rather than “Enhancing” the wildlife there, you would think they are deliberately exterminating it. Not only have the harvest numbers stagnated over the past ten years, they’ve declined steadily. The Wild Turkey Harvests show that only one bird for almost every two square miles was harvested. Whitetail deer Harvest numbers are pitiful also at one deer per about every two hundred acres.
There is only one barely justifiable reason to do what The T.W.R.A. has recently proposed; if the project was to save a federally endangered species. Last time I checked, the Bobwhite Quail was not on that list. The problem here is the agency itself. The designation “Agency” gives The T.W.R.A. certain protection from public scrutiny, because the agency has no obligation to report anything to the paying public that funds it. It’s kind of like a subcontractor. The T.W.R.A. only needs to file an annual report to the office of The Governor that it is adequately managing the state’s wildlife. The agency hangs on a thin thread that leads directly to The Governor. With the stroke of a pen through Executive Order, The T.W.R.A. can be dismantled, and the duties and responsibilities could easily be assigned to The Department of Environmental Conservation. It is my opinion that that would be the best course of action to both reign in the slaphappy misguided agency’s failed track record and insure accountability to those that pay for its services. As a department of The Government of The State it would be constitutionally bound to serve “We The People” rather than fulfill its own selfish aspirations.
Time Warp
With the 20th anniversary of the attack of 9/11/2001 approaching, we can be sure of one thing. We are witnessing a “Time Warp”. With the fumbling blunderings of the Biden administration, we have now returned to pre- 9/11 security risks to The United States. The Taliban is now at or above pre- 9/11 military capability. Our liberal friends in Congress have brought us to pre- 9/11 immigration standards, making great strides to bring as many foreign nationals from The Islamic countries into our country than ever before.
The common denominator is The Democratic Party. During the latter half of Bush’s 1st term, the Democrats controlled Congress, just as they do now.
All I can recommend at this point is, that if you work in a tall building, you may want to seek another career and if you plan to fly and you see anyone dressed like those guys in Afghanistan, you may want to consider a different flight.
There’s an old, but wise saying: ‘When people don’t learn from history, it tends to repeat itself.’
Blundering Biden
Another blunder, in Biden’s dysfunctional Afghanistan withdrawal, as it is with every other action conceived by the Liberal Democrats. All the brilliant ideas that they come up with fail for one simple reason. These geniuses always forget to foresee outcomes before they hatch their schemes. Let’s look at The Affordable Care Act for instance. This was supposedly the greatest feat ever conceived by The Democrats of The Democrats and for The Democrats. Unfortunately, however, it was never understood why doctors and hospitals wouldn’t want to participate, leaving millions stranded without any health care at all. Darn. If they had only thought that through a little more.
Now there’s a so-called vaccine for the virus that I, at this point have no doubt, was conceived, created, and spread by Democrats in some sinister alliance and plot with the help of their allies, The Chinese. The vaccine conceived by Bill Gates and his insane notion that mankind is ready to manipulate D.N.A. with the help of some computer program and skip the testing and trials normally associated with vaccine development. OOPS ! Darn it, if they had only not listened to the crazy bastard that has stated publicly that world populations need to be reduced. Now, instead of controlled trials we have word populations acting as guinea pigs for a Bill Gates experiment gone horribly wrong.
Then there’s the big push by The Liberal left to get everyone driving electric vehicles in an attempt to save the planet. Nothing can go wrong with this plan, it’s foolproof. Except for a few little tiny giant looming details. The entire plan hinges on the dependency on our extremely vulnerable electric grid, admittedly by these brilliant Liberal proponents themselves. This wondrous electric grid that at this point needs Hydro electric dams, Nuclear power plants, we all know how safe they are, Fossil fuel, or Coal, to produce it, and the kicker, mostly all of it runs above ground strung on wooden poles, we’ll never run out of those, will we? The explosive and non renewable batteries that are needed for these miracle planet savers are mostly produced in China. We all know how much they love The United States. The copper windings for the electric motors is found in huge strip mines, is in limited supply, expensive, and relies heavily on the recycling plant to sustain viability.
Darn, there I go thinking things through again. If only it weren’t for those pesky perceived outcomes, all these things would be the greatest ideas ever.
Biden’s F/Up
Since the 1960’s The U.S. has been interfering in the affairs of the countries in The Middle East. We were instrumental in the establishment of Israel. We aided and provided arms to The Taliban in the 1970’s, simply to try to stop Russian interference in Afghanistan. We invaded Kuwait in the 90’s, and in 2001 sent troops to Iraq, and shortly thereafter, we sent more troops to Afghanistan, again. The U.S.’s recent two decades of involvement have left many cities in ruin there. Let’s get back to the benevolent part, regarding our involvement in those Middle Eastern countries.
The military budget is the largest portion of our taxpayer funded government. It’s so large that we can, and have for decades supplied these rogue states with our own military’s supplies like K -rations (M.R.E), ammunition, arms, jeeps and other personnel vehicles, heavy artillery, armored vehicles, and even tanks.. Literally, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the stuff paid for by the American taxpayer. Each time we have sent troops to the region, we’ve sent tons and tons of logistics with them. It’s all well and good because our soldiers need those things to be effective in their mission.
Here’s the point, though-Do we need to leave all the above mentioned things behind when we leave those places? President Trump is the first and only president that made this point when he suggested a slow and methodical withdrawal from the region. He suggested that with a withdrawal, we should bring the logistics home as well. We should not have left so much as a gas can when we pulled out.
Unfortunately, in the usual leadership methods of Democratic Administrations, both Biden and Obama have been the most benevolent with our taxpayer dollars. First during The Obama Administration, with the hasty pullout of Iraq, and now as history repeats itself, Biden’s hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In both instances, a power vacuum was left, and with America’s gracious gifts of tanks, munitions, and weapons, I.S.I.S and The Taliban have everything they need to rule again.