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Show In vasive Species Act: U.S. Congress Moves To Reduce The Threat Of 'Alien' Invasions By Toni Thayer Word is spreading about the possibility of more invasions on U.S. soil, not invasions from foreign armies or contemptuous countries as most would imagine, imag-ine, but from "invasive species". Two bills, introduced concurrently concur-rently in the U.S. House and Senate in January 2003, say they want to "reduce the threat of further fur-ther invasions" of "nonnative . . . related organisms capable of interbreeding". Ranchers, private property owners, businesses, and other groups are just learning about the proposed law, the National Invasive Species Council Act (Invasive Species Act). Still fighting battles over the Endangered Species Act, they see it as just one more Federal control that will replace Americans' rights and freedoms. The two bills, H.R.266 and S.536, mirror each other in language lan-guage and are driven by entirely eastern senators and representatives, representa-tives, with one exception, Rep. Jim Matheson (D) Utah District 2 for Garfield County. Michigan and Ohio are the predominant forces behind the bills, with a House sponsor of Vernon J Ehlers (R-MI) and a Senate sponsor of Michael DeWine (R-OH). The states also have co-sponsors on both bills, including two senators and a rep from Michigan and a rep from Ohio. Other eastern sponsors spon-sors are from Maine, Maryland, and Rhode Island. The Republican-sponsored bills actually got their roots from Democratic President Bill Clinton's Executive Order 13112, signed on Feb. 3, 1999. This order called for a "Council of Departments dealing with invasive species" and assigned duties to Federal agencies and the Council to implement it. Clinton's order defines "alien species" as any with "seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material capable of propagating that species, that is not native to that ecosystem" and ecosystem as "the complex of a community of organisms and its environment." environ-ment." According to Tom McDonnell, Director of Natural Resources of the American Sheep Industry Association, in his article Invasive Government, "Because the executive order fails to define domesticated species, most agricultural crop and animal species would clear--ly fall within the definition of alien. Domesticated pets, many houseplants, and Kentucky bluegrass used in most lawns and golf courses would also be defined as alien species under this executive order. With the administration's preoccupation with indigenous people, some races of man may also be considered con-sidered alien." McDonnell's hint of special treatment for indigenous people can be traced back to the United Nations' (UN) sustainable development plan, Agenda 21, that has directive after directive to protect and plan for the earth's indigenous tribes. Agenda 21 was a result of the UN's Convention of Biological Diversity from whence the Wildlands Project also sprung, a radical environmental plan to (See INVASIONS on page 4A) Threat of Invasions From Front Page restore America to pre-Columbus pre-Columbus day standards. The invasive species bills are steadily moving ahead through Congress. If passed, they will work simultaneously with their cousin, the Endangered Species Act, which implants species in areas and preserves their habitat. Add the Wildlands Project with its designations of core reserves where no humans are allowed and Agenda 2 1 , the plan for sustainable sus-tainable societies and economies, and America will be "rewilded" just as planned by the world's government, the United Nations. |