Snail Darter Back in the News

[Onomea]

A blast from the past:

...In the late-1970s, a small freshwater fish known as the snail darter made history when its newly acquired status as an endangered species helped to temporarily block construction of the Tellico Dam in Tennessee — a David versus Goliath victory in what was the first legal test of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).

A new study by Yale researchers shows that the tiny fish, discovered in a lower stretch of the Little Tennessee River in 1973, is not a distinct species at all, meaning it was never endangered....

Fish at center of key conservation fight not a distinct species after all | Yale News

 

[Telecaster]

Typical government scam.

 

[Onomea]

Actually, the government (which owns the TVA) wanted to build the dam. When the Supreme Court supported the environmentalist lawsuit against the build, Congress passed a bill with a rider on it exempting the dam from the Endangered Species Act. Jimmy Carter signed the bill, and the dam was built. (Per linked article above.)

 

[LVSteve]

I'm not terribly surprised. There are continual debates over how many species of Spiny Lizard live here in the desert.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

I'm not terribly surprised. There are continual debates over how many species of Spiny Lizard live here in the desert.

I see another variant or subspecies every time I go to WalMart here in Pueblo, Colorado, and we are at the extreme edge of the southwestern desert region. Some of those newly identified types have adopted Spandex, varying shades of hair dye, and look like walking billboards for a tattoo parlor.

As a species the Spiny Lizard has evolved in multiple directions.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Too many people pay attention to junk science!

One large volcanic eruption spews more CFCs (Cloral Floral Carbons- think r-12) into the atmosphere than humans ever manufactured! Yet nobody ever was allowed to mention this fact in my EPA Refrigeration certification classes!

There are so many agendas in the modern world!

Ivan

 

[oldbrownhat]

I see another variant or subspecies every time I go to WalMart here in Pueblo, Colorado, and we are at the extreme edge of the southwestern desert region. Some of those newly identified types have adopted Spandex, varying shades of hair dye, and look like walking billboards for a tattoo parlor.

As a species the Spiny Lizard has evolved in multiple directions.

As long as they don't interbreed with Spiny Norman

 

[Rudi]

Dinsdale? Dinsdale? IIRC, 90% of species go extinct. I'm a bit more worried about Homo Sapiens.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

As long as they don't interbreed with Spiny Norman

Too late. The couple and offspring were waddling down aisle 16 last time I saw them.

 

[vt_shooter]

Gee, the scientists / experts were wrong. Such a surprise. Too often all the "experts" get their information from a single source, then the media sells whatever narrative the experts are pushing as being true because "all the experts" agree.

 

[oldbrownhat]

Too late. The couple and offspring were waddling down aisle 16 last time I saw them.

Oh dear The thought of Spiny Norman clones in Spandex and tattoos has put me off my dinner.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

If the original plan was for the snail darter to persevere, why was the Army Corps of Engineers created?

 

[twodog max]

In my 36 years with a state conservation agency I had the misfortune to encounter several eco zealots. They are true wonders of self importance and are experts in their own minds. They invariably lock onto the latest cause or hot topic yet are at a loss to provide proof for their beliefs. They never do anything but are very quick to try to force someone else to do something.
Dealing with those types was a big reason I retired early.

 

[Tom S.]

Dinsdale? Dinsdale? IIRC, 90% of species go extinct. I'm a bit more worried about Homo Sapiens.

No need to worry about it, we will go extinct, one way or the other.

 

[Retired W4]

This turned into a funny thread. What's not funny is the presence or invasive species like the Snakehead, knifewfish, peacock bass, Mayan cichlid, etc. in our waterways. They not only compete with native fish for food shelter and space, they may carry non-native diseases and parasites. Once again our government, pushed by eco-nut cases, focuses on the wrong issues.

 

[biku324]

Does this mean the chupacabera will also lise its protection?

 

[dockmurgw]

Let's not forget the Spotted Owls in K-Mart signs.

 

[biku324]

Let's not forget the Spotted Owls in K-Mart signs.

You said, "...owls." In the '90s, the BNSF imploded the coal loading tower on the main E/W line in Deming, BM. As the long abandoned, locked tower went down, a group of whitr barn owls flew away. No one had seen these kinds of owls in that flat desert area in decades, maybe since the late 19th century. Local news photographers there for the tower implosion caught them unexpectedly on film for posterity.

 

[BC38]

Typical government scam.

Or more precisely, typical environmental scams.

For those of us who are old enough to remember, the snail darter, and the great spotted owl were both poster-children of the environmental "movements" of the 1970's and 1980's.

Preserving the snail darter (which we now know isn't even a distinct species per the article) was the pretext for opposing the hydro-electric dam in Tennessee. Fortunately, the opposition to this project was beaten in court - but it created delays and added to the cost.

Preserving the habitat of the spotted owl was used as a rallying cry to effectively end logging of old growth timber in the Pacific North West. Supposedly old growth forests are the only place they can survive. Thousands of loggers and lumber workers lost their livelyhood. Whole towns withered and died.

The owls were supposedly on the verge of extinction at the time. Thirty years later there are enough of them that they are only considered a "threatened" species - and they have been found living in people's barns.

Their recovery isn't bringing back the lumber industry though. It's gone for good.

 

[Rule3]

SNAIL DARTER LIVES MATTER!