Concerns/Questions with the new draft wolf plan. Yes, you can CORA school materials (including teacher trainings). And yet another nail in the coffin for oil and gas in CO.
Concerns around the draft wolf reintroduction plan.
The wolf reintroduction plan in Colorado is closing in on its final stages and, while I think some of the concerns are getting ironed out, I think this plan is still a long long ways from done. I also think that (on both sides) people are a long ways from being content--hell a long ways from even being at the "frustrated but I'll take it" stage.
I put a couple articles below which give you some perspective on the issue. The first is a Fence Post article detailing the concerns that the Gunnison Stockgrower's Association had about the implementation of the wolf reintroduction plan.
By my reading of the article the totality of their comment is pretty long, but Mrs. Gabel in her article excerpted a few which I included in the attached screenshot.
I recently spoke with Mrs. Gabel and got some help in understanding the terms in the screenshot. The Sun article linked second below goes into more detail on the topic, but I can excerpt it for you a little here (at least by my limited understanding, if you know more or see a mistake, please speak up in the comments!).
--I have seen the projected costs for introducing wolves and have seen a different take on it produced by a couple of advisory group members. The original estimates on the costs associated with introducing wolves has ballooned significantly over the original numbers. Additionally, there are a whole host of costs not included in the estimates.
**My comment here: color me not at all surprised. If you like cumbersome and expensive, you'll love government control of things.
--The state is insisting that by releasing wolves on state land they are able to ignore any federal complications that would arise. There are some that disagree and think that the Feds need to be involved the process
--If you read up on the "Section 10(j) Rule" mentioned in the FencePost or the Sun, you will likely wonder what exactly that means (I did anyway). By my (again likely simplistic) understanding having a 10(j) rule in place means that according to the Feds the wolf population is considered "experimental" and thus not as strongly protected by the Endangered Species Act.
Said more simply, there needs to be more clarity on whether or not ranchers can kill a wolf if it's threatening their livestock, horses, or even dogs (!). As things stand right now there are many pushing to say no killing whatsoever while ranchers, as you might expect, want to be able to protect their property, animals, and livelihood.
One last comment: I don't know about you but I found myself rankled by the tone of the comments made by the animal rights activists and wolf proponents in the Sun article. Nothing new of course, but their lack of recognition as to what wolves will do to the folks trying to make a living in the areas that had this imposed on them is startling.
https://www.thefencepost.com/news/gunnison-stockgrowers-raise-issues-with-cpw-draft-wolf-plan-call-out-absence-of-required-federal-authorizations-and-federal-coordination/
https://coloradosun.com/2023/02/23/colorado-parks-wildlife-wolf-reintroduction-challenges/
You can use CORA requests to learn what is going on in your schools. This includes teacher training materials.
The blog post below is by a group called Parents Defending Education. I am not familiar with the group. I am also not a taxpayer in the Poudre School District, nor a parent of a child who goes there.
I have to be honest too that I am not too terribly interested in covering a whole lot of culture war issues here on this page. There are some things, yes, but by and large, that topic is more extensively covered elsewhere.
What I do have an interest in, however, is making sure you're aware of ways that you can get the information you want about your schools and what they're up to.
That's why I posted this. I want it to serve as an example. Do you see the materials shared in the link below? They are the result of an open records request (CORA request).
In particular, to quote the header at the top: "Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request to the Poudre School District requesting documents and materials for professional development training classes for teachers and staff labeled."
If you are concerned about what your children are being taught, if you're concerned about what the school district is telling its teachers, I'd recommend first going and asking. Chances are, you'll get all you want.
If not, your next step would be an open records request. All kinds of things related to education are public record and, as you can see, professional development materials are a good example.
If you want to do your own requests and aren't sure where or how to start, message me or ask in the comments. If I can help get you started or point you to resources, I am happy to.
https://defendinged.org/incidents/poudre-school-district-provides-training-to-teachers-on-the-abcs-of-lgbtqia-provides-training-to-teachers-that-promotes-the-idea-of-redistribution-and-pushes-discomfort/
Another stab at the oil and gas industry ...
The article below details a forthcoming bill by Rep Bacon to, quoting the article, " ... require the state to estimate the impact of every proposed drilling plan — and only approve projects that won't exacerbate local air pollution problems."
If you're thinking that this is yet another nail in the coffin for any oil and gas exploration or retrieval in this state, you and I think alike.
SB 181 wasn't enough apparently and so, if this bill passes, we can now add yet another layer to the regulatory onion. Yet another bureaucratic uncertainty that companies could face before deciding to invest in the years long process of drilling for oil or gas.
I made a reminder to watch for this when it actually becomes a bill so I'll update as soon as I see it. If you see it and don't hear about it from me for a bit, please let me know.
One last thing. Call me a stickler, but I took exception to the way the reporter characterized what happened in 2019 with SB-181 (see what he wrote in the screenshot). Among other things, he completely left out the defeat of proposition 112, followed by the Democrats passing a law that created the very setback voters said they didn't want. Just sayin'
https://www.cpr.org/2023/02/22/colorado-oil-and-gas-air-quality-legislation/