Core Area - no human intrusion or interference tolerated. This area is intended to be hundreds of square miles.
Buffer Zone/ - limited human intrusion
Zones of cooperation's - the remaining area reserved for mankind.
These maps may be viewed on Dr. Coffman's web site: http://www.epi.freedom.org/mapwild.htm. This program is being packaged for our consumption under the umbrella term "smart growth".
Maryland passed statewide "smart growth" legislation in 1997. Under this "smart growth" umbrella Maryland has begun a five year program that will cost the state $145 million for "greenprint". "Greenprint" includes 17 associated programs. The monies appropriated for the "greenprint" programs will enable the State to identify ".... a statewide network of large ecologically significant 'hubs' bound together by greenway corridors or 'links'. These hubs support native wildlife and allow diverse species to flourish amid vast stretches of protected lands. The links permit safe passage of wildlife through their own natural domain...." [quoted from page 9 of Smart Growth in Maryland.]
"Smart growth" is not limited to state governments. The wording may be different but the concept remains the same. In the Birmingham area, influential organizations such as the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce, Birmingham Regional Planning Commission, and Region 2020 just to name a few have used their political muscle to push for "smart growth" in the twelve counties around the Birmingham metropolitan area. At the State level Alabama's first major effort began with "Alabama Forever Wild" working to establish "core areas" or protected zones. The Forever Wild amendment (number 543) allows the State of Alabama to purchase public or private land with state funds and officially establishes a relationship with organizations that are actively working to implement the Wildlands Project or concept in Alabama.
The path to every objective, including the Wildlands Project is riddled with potholes and plateaus of accomplishment. The web address - - marks a plateau of accomplishment. The site is a joint effort of the EPA and the University of Florida. It contains maps of the Southeast Ecological Framework. This Framework is, of course, the Wildlands Project in the making. The mapping project was conducted in 1999-2000 by the University of Florida GeoPlan Center and sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4. The Framework map below shows roughly 40% of the land area of eight states, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky being designated as core or boundary areas. You will note that state boundaries are essentially ignored in these designations. The updated version of this map will likely include an additional 20%, bringing the project into alignment with the Wildlands Project.
A large area of eastern Tennessee (colored orange) is the beginnings of a core area or "protected zone" that will include land from "Alabama to northern parts of Virginia". The "protected zone" is one of several projects proposed at a two-day conference (May 17-18, 2002) sponsored by Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition and held at Virginia Tech. This was reported in a Birmingham News article on page 3B of the May 20th edition. The article stated that a ".... 112 page proposal has been endorsed by such diverse parties as environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former President Carter and Martha Marks, president of Republicans for the Environmental Protection." The article also stated that the protected zone would include "a region about 700 miles long and 100 miles wide."
The Coalition will need considerable resources to carry out this plan. The Coalition's newsletter reported in September 2001 that the organizations involved had received financial backing from the Pew Charitable Trust ($800,000.00); Lyndhurst Foundation ($500,000.00); Town Creek Foundation ($60,000.00); and that: "Numerous other funders have also made significant contribution to the forest conservation efforts through the Coalition." The maps and description of the Coalition's program dovetail with the efforts of other government agencies at all levels and associated NGOs (non-governmental organizations).
The EPA, state and local governments, University of Florida, prominent members of society, including past Presidents and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with very deep pockets have gone beyond endorsement. Their efforts prove they are actively working to change the entire structure of society. Assessing their actions as that of a few misguided environmental crackpots is comparable to English Prime Minister Neville Chambers' assessment of Hitler's Germany when he proclaimed upon returning from Germany prior to W.W.II that there would be "peace in our time".
For you who have read diligently looking for the answer to the bear question, slow down, you have arrived.
The Wildlands project stipulates that all indigenous animals (generally meaning animals that lived in a specific area prior to Columbus discovering America), including predators, must be reintroduced into the core areas. The core areas on the first map are depicted by the orange color. The green is presumed to be the interconnecting corridors and buffer zones which is labeled "ecological framework". Remember, the interconnecting corridors allow free movement of the resident animals to prevent inbreeding. The EPA has published a map (left), which depicts the area of reintroduction of the black bear. The web address is http://www.goeplan.ufl.edu/epa/results/bear.html. By determining the area on the map for the bear's reintroduction the core areas can be identified. Observing the pale gray dots that connect one cluster of black marks with another will reveal the proposed "interconnecting corridors". The maps, while not complete, may render an excellent indication of where the government and NGOs will initially exert polite persuasion but will likely end (as examples have shown) in litigation. The Klamath River Basin in Northern California is one example not yet resolved. A fish on the "endangered species" list was declared threatened in the reservoir that supplied water for a large agricultural area of southern Oregon and northern California and the court ordered the government to cut off the resident's water supply. The residents hold both a customary and a legal right to the water. The government actions have declared the rights of the fish more important than those of the residents. Governmental actions have devastated the once peaceful lives of the residents. Organizations with the same agenda as those that brought legal action in the Klamath River Basin are at work in the southeastern States. Such organizations are well funded and in some cases receive grants from various levels of governments. This is not a situation that the average landowner can look forward to nor one which he has the resources to fight. Remember, the government has your money to fight you with and the large tax-exempt foundations are supporting the NGOs.
Several months ago the Greensboro Watchman, a weekly newspaper in south central Alabama, announced that a survey was being conducted in the Greensboro area regarding the reintroduction of the black bear. The attitude of those surveyed is not known, but a quick glance of the map may bring some to the conclusion that a bear rifle may be in order. To those so inclined let the following be a warning:
"United States Attorney Eddie J. Jordan has announced the sentencing of Bradford B. Hernandez, age 37, of Pearl River for shooting a Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus). Hernandez pled guilty to the illegal take of a federally listed threatened species on February 13, before New Orleans U. S. Magistrate Judge Lance Africk."Hernandez was sentenced to pay a $2,500 fine and to make restitution to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in the amount of $9,000 for the value of the wildlife. He also was placed on probation for a period of three years during which time he may not hunt and was ordered to make a $500 donation to the Louisiana Black Bear Conservation Committee, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the Louisiana black bear."
Notice that Mr. Hernandez, the victim of a justice system run amuck, did not shoot an endangered species - he shot a THREATENED SPECIES. The value to the ecosystem for the life of one bear is placed, by the United States Government at $9,000. If the bear was designated "endangered" - who knows what the penalty would have been. The valuation of all life, plants and animals, by governments, local, state, federal, and global, in the ecosystem will play an increasingly significant role in the sentencing of violators, a topic we may address in future articles.
Now we know what a bear is worth. Wonder what kind of value they will put on Homo Sapiens? Less than the fish in Klamath Basin!