Canales News Briefs

January 18, 2010

To All,

Okay all you Central Valley Farmers and Ranchers, you can ease up a bit on the prayers for rain now. We're trolling 7 colors worth of leaded line at the intersection of Lassen and Wilbur in the San Fernando Valley, and some kid is "shooting the curl" on his surf board down at the bottom of my street. And this series of storms is not scheduled to end until next week. Kind of makes one wonder if they will let up on the water rationing due to the Delta smelt.

At least my scuba gear is in working order. I needed it to get to my truck this morning.

In other news:

Big Sky Baloney:

Hot off of the presses from the Legendary NRA-ILA Alert System, activists are hearing of a surreptitious attempt by some foolhardy soul in Montana to slip a de-facto lead ammunition ban on certain state-owned properties known as Wildlife Management Areas.

Currently, we are nearing the end of 43 day public comment period as to how folks would "feel" about a rule whose language has not officially been written, nor has truly been given the analysis that it so richly deserves. (Comments need to be in by January 22, 2010.).

In this case, the rule would pose a requirement that the only shot permitted in a Wildlife Management Area for hunting purposes is so-called "nontoxic" shot. This is the same "nontoxic" shot largely made with materials (tungsten) banned by the National Park Service for official use in ammunition, and banned by the Department of Defense for small arms uses after one of their firearms training facilities got closed down for groundwater contamination only after about 5 years of use.

But of interest to firearms activists in Left-Coast California is that scarcely 5 months after a lead shot ban was soundly defeated at a California Fish & Game Commission hearing, someone is trying to slip through a lead shot ban in one of the most pro-gun and pro-hunting states in the Union, Montana.

Add to that the yet-to-be fully studied potentials for fire hazard with a more widespread use of steel shot in upland conditions, and the hazards of this proposal may extend beyond the attrition of civil liberties into the incineration of critical habitat (and the listed critters and plants that may be located therein).

This is the kind of "tit for tat" that cannot go unchallenged, at least without an honest attempt at some old-fashioned "communication". And sort of like the movie, a failure to communicate here may just mean a bad ending ( In this case, yet another ill-found restriction on shooting opportunities being enacted in what is a nationwide battle against the Second Amendment.).

Folks are encouraged to write in opposition to the non-toxic shot requirement on Montana Wildlife Management Areas by writing polite but firm emails and faxes to the following:

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, No On Item 15 Requirement for Nontoxic Shot-

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N2CCH9R

and/or, to the following Officials at Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks

(just for that "extra-special" attempt at "inclusion")-

Rick Northrup, Upland Game Bird Coordinator, MT FWP:

rnorthrup@mt.gov

Quentin Kujala, Management Section Chief, Wildlife Bureau, MT-FWP:

qkujala@mt.gov Phone # - 406-444-5672 or 406-444-3940

Fax # 406-444-4952

Ken McDonald, Wildlife Bureau Chief, MT-FWP:

kmcdonald@mt.gov Phone # 406-444-5645

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission-