Undaunted by either his impeachment or trial by the U.S. Senate,
President Clinton continues to govern through decrees and executive
orders -- his latest being one which critics say is so broad in scope it
threatens cattle grazing, farming and other food-producing industries.
EO 13112, which Clinton quietly signed Feb. 3, deals with "Invasive
Species." The title suggests a continuation of federal efforts in
combating killer bees, fire ants, gypsy moths and similar pests. But the
order in fact goes beyond such traditional government concerns as
eradication of noxious plants and dangerous insects and animals -- for
which there are already numerous laws on the books.
It is being criticized as an order that could be used as a hammer for
imposing federal controls over all land use, public and private. It
could even be interpreted as outlawing ownership of domestic pets.
And it goes far beyond a 1977 executive order by President Carter (EO
11987, Exotic Organisms) which Clinton revoked through EO 13112. Under
that order, executive agencies were directed to restrict the
introduction of exotic species into ecosystems on lands owned or
controlled by the federal government, and to "encourage" states, local
governments and private citizens from introducing exotic species into
natural ecosystems of the United States. Agencies were also directed to
restrict exporting our native species into ecosystems outside the United
States.
Clinton's executive order directs federal agencies not only "to
prevent the introduction of invasive species" and to control their
populations (through eradication if necessary), but "to provide
for restoration of native species and habitat conditions in those
ecosystems that have been invaded" -- a provision which would require
massive governmental land use planning and controls if it's to be fully
implemented.
"This is one of the cleverest-worded executive orders I've seen,"
said
Tom McDonnell, natural resources policy director of the Denver-based
American Sheep Industry Association in a telephone interview. "It will
have a major impact not only on our agriculture, but on the daily lives
of every American."
McDonnell urges close attention be paid to the definitions it
contains.
"Basically these definitions are so wide open, all alien species
could
be considered invasive species," he warns.
According to EO 13112 an "invasive species" is any "alien species"
whose introduction could cause harm to the economy, human health, or the
environment; and an "alien species" is "with respect to a particular
ecosystem any species that is not native to that ecosystem" -- including
its seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material capable of
propagating that species. "Control" means eradicating, suppressing,
reducing, or managing invasive species populations -- plus "taking
steps" to restore native species and habitats.
As McDonnell sees it, "A big problem here is that it does not define
domestic species, so therefore they are alien: dogs, cats, wheat, rice,
domestic livestock -- all these could be considered alien species since
they are not native to this hemisphere. Anything that is not native to
an ecosystem is an 'alien' species, and if it causes harm to the
environment, to that ecosystem, it's 'invasive.'"
McDonnell also has problems with the definition of "ecosystem," which
EO 13112 defines as "the complex of a community of organisms and its
environment."
"Under that definition an ecosystem can be as small as a puddle of
water
or as big as the entire earth," he said. "So environmental harm, harm
to an ecosystem, can occur when a sheep drinks from a stream or eats
grass."
Michael Coffman agrees. Coffman is executive director of
Environmental Perspectives, Inc., a consulting group in Bangor, Maine.
"The Invasive Species executive order leaves the door wide open for
even livestock to be declared an alien and invasive species," Coffman
told WorldNetDaily. "Pets, too, have come from other parts of the world,
and technically they would fit into this category.
"I can't see them (pets) being allowed much longer in parks and the
wildlife corridors they're building between cities. Whether the federal
government would ever take any action against them in urban areas is
another matter -- but the door is left wide open for abuse," he said.
"It's not that the control of alien and invasive species isn't
important. It is important. But there's nothing in the order to prevent
all kinds of abuse.
"Basically, this order is another mechanism to control the activities
of
the American people," he said.
EO 13112 establishes an Invasive Species Council comprised of
the secretaries of State, Treasury, Defense, Interior, Agriculture,
Commerce, Transportation, and the administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency; and will be co-chaired by the secretaries of the
Interior, Agriculture and Commerce.
This council is charged with providing "national leadership"
regarding
invasive species, and is to prepare and issue an Invasive Species
Management Plan which will "detail and recommend performance-oriented
goals and objectives and specific measures of success for Federal agency
efforts concerning invasive species."
"If the recommended measures are not authorized by current law, the
Council shall recommend to the President any legislative proposals for
necessary changes in authority."
The first edition of the Management Plan is to be completed in 18
months.
To provide information and advice to the council, the secretary of
the
Interior will set up an advisory committee, and the council, too, will
appoint members to the committee representing so-called stakeholders --
state, tribal, and local government agencies, nongovernmental entities
including environmental groups, private land owners, commercial
interests, and so on. This advisory committee is to recommend plans and
actions at the various levels of government (local, state, federal) for
achieving the goals and objectives of the management plan.
McDonnell pointed out that the scope of the order could include
private
land and represents, in his view, "quite an expansion of federal
authority."
Unlike Carter's earlier executive order on Exotic Organisms, EO 13112
makes no reference to federal lands per se, and provides no indication
as to what lands -- if any -- fall outside its authority. There's a
reason for that, in McDonnell's view.
"This executive order doesn't apply to just federal land," he said.
"There's no distinguishing between state, federal or private land, and
it doesn't exclude extending management plans across huge land areas,
even if that includes private property, or state property for that
matter. So including stakeholders in the planning process is basic to
this -- they add validity."
McDonnell doubts the value of participating as a stakeholder in such
a
planning effort, having served on a committee dealing with bighorn
sheep.
"There were 28 federal persons on that committee -- and me," he
recalled, and laughed as he remembered how colleagues had dubbed him a
"sacrificial lamb." "Any voice I had was nullified by the 28 federal
government people. I'm afraid that will happen to the private landowner
on this council. They'll be the token private party -- the sacrificial
lambs.
"Here's how it works," he continued, "The federal people will set up
the
parameters of the plan and expect the local and state people to
implement it. That's what they did with the Clean Water Act and the
Clean Air Act -- the states are supposed to have authority, but in
reality they only have authority to implement the policies, goals and
objectives already set by the federal government, whether they approve
of them or not."
Even without EO 13112 the process for eliminating politically defined
"invasive species" is well under way in the National Park System, part of
an overall policy of ecosystem restoration. Examples abound that show
what achieving a goal like ecosystem restoration, in which undesirable
alien species have been removed, means in practice, not just theory.
For instance, the elimination of all non-native animals -- alien
species
-- is a goal of the National Park Service for the eight islands that
make up Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of southern
California. The Park Service began acquiring the various islands during
the early 1980s.
Santa Cruz Island, the largest in the chain, had long been home to
thousands of feral sheep and feral pigs and a small herd of wild horses:
descendants of the stock which had been introduced by ranchers during
the last century. Like most of the islands it was privately owned by a
several landowners, one of whom 90 percent of the island.
Seeing the writing on the wall, that owner deeded his land to the
Nature
Conservancy -- which began its stewardship by bringing in hunters to gun
down the sheep from helicopters or on foot.
Some 32,000 sheep were slaughtered this way over a three or four year
period, according to Mary Daily, president of the Santa Cruz Island
Foundation, a private philanthropic group that supports research and
education about all eight Channel Islands.
The carcasses were left to rot, a feast for the ravens and foxes.
"Quite a few organizations tried to stop the Nature Conservancy from
carrying out this mass slaughter and at one point won a temporary
restraining order and an injunction," Daily recalled, "but the
injunction was eventually lifted."
Daily said that once the sheep were gone there was nothing to hold
back the wild fennel, a truly invasive, non-native plant which has
taken over the western side of the island. Though "alien" to
the island, the sheep -- by grazing -- had kept the equally alien fennel
under control.
With 90 percent of the island in the hands of the Nature Conservancy,
the Park Service began acquisition proceedings of the island's remaining
10 percent, and by 1993 had acquired three of the last four parcels.
From 1983 until 1997 Jaret Owens -- through a contract with property
owner Francis Gherini -- ran a bow-and-arrow hunting business called
Island Adventures. Visitors stayed in the historic buildings, which he
maintained, and hunted the 1,200 or so sheep still roaming the 6,500
acres left in private hands. This allowed the numbers of feral sheep
were kept under control.
On Jan. 14, 1997, both of the lodges Owens operated were hit by
SWAT teams
in a surprise mid-morning raid orchestrated by the Park Service. A
Customs Service helicopter brought in 20 heavily armed federal agents
and local sheriff's deputies in full riot gear, armed with automatic
rifles and handguns.
A month later, the Park Service took full possession of the property,
and began to look for ways to deal with the invasive species: the sheep,
horses, and pigs.
Owens says that before the raid he had met with Park Service
representatives on numerous occasions, hoping that by cooperating he'd
secure a job there when the land was became a park. But a sharp
disagreement developed over how best to eradicate the sheep and horses;
Owens describes the Park Service personnel as "sloppy" in their hunting
methods.
"They don't finish the animals off, they just shoot them and leave
them
to die and the lambs to starve," he said.
Owens recalled: "The Park Service tried to talk me into wiping out
the animals while we were still there. I said, 'I'll get rid of them and
I'll pay you for them, but I'm not going to kill the babies. Any hunting
has to be done at the right time of year. And I'm going to save the
meat, not waste it by leaving it on the ground.' The Park Service
wouldn't go for it. They wanted me to shoot everything, even the
horses."
"There were about a dozen wild horses," Owens continued, "and they
(the Park Service) were going to shoot them, but I notified the press
and the animal rights groups and there was a lot of public protest."
Not wanting to do any greater damage to their reputation than had
already been done, the Park Service captured the horses and airlifted
them to the mainland.
That took care of the horses, but there are still about a thousand
sheep
on the island, and the pig population is soaring in numbers.
"They're supposed to remove all the sheep from the islands," said
Owens. "But they'll probably wait until they figure no one is watching
and go in and shoot them."
Could what happened on Santa Cruz Island be a preview of the future?
"We'll definitely be seeing more of that sort of thing," Coffman
predicts. "The tragedy of it is that with it you can make a case against
dogs, cats, horses -- any of those animals. Even people. It's really
scary. They've left the door wide open to do anything they want."