00:00:09 Speaker 1: From Mediator's World News headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Kel's we Can review with Ryan kel Kellan now Here's kel. Eleven thousand birds were killed during a hail storm in and around Montana's Big Lake Wildlife Management Area. Big Lake is located in Stillwater County, Montana, and is a seasonal home to thousands of waterfowl and wetland birds. Seventy mile per hour winds and baseball sized hail hit the area last week, killing and maiming and estimated thirteen thousand waterfowl and wetland birds by blunt forest trauma. Fish and wildlife parks officials inspected birds with internal damage smashed skulls, broken wings, and feathers. Among the types of birds injured are cormorants, pelicans, ducks, geese, and goals. It seems the bigger birds took the brunt of the hail. Of cormorants and pelicans left on the lake were injured, while only five percent of ducks left on the lake showed signs of injury. I'd like to point out that this is just a freak weather occurrence, strong enough to break windows, destroy crops, and generally cause all sorts of damage. Hail is formed when up drafts and thunderstorms carry water droplets high enough to freeze. Big hail stones are caused by lots of water droplets freezing together, and they eventually dropped when they are too heavy for the updraft in the storm. I just want to point that out, as some of the headlines I read in regards to this story seemed to want to somehow vilify or demonize the weather. Hail or the hailstone or hail storm does not have any nefarious sort of ability or intention. This is just nature being nature, not as one outlet put it, hail slaughtering eleven thousand birds. Again, hail doesn't slaughter, just falls, just frozen water the size of a baseball fallen from the sky. Not fun to be hit by, but not evil either. On a positive note, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Park says the lake is still full of birds and life will go on. This week, I'm going to talk about access more old fish, the es A, and so much more. But first I'm gonna tell you about my week. This is a bit of a cliffhanger, if you will. By the time this podcast is aired, I will have been hunting elk for a week out on a chunk of Nature Conservancy ground in eastern Oregon called the zoom Walt Prairie Preserve. The words hunting and preserve may not go hand in hand for many of you, but this nearly thirty three thousand acre preserve is private ground. In fact, it is the largest private preserve and Oregon. The aim of the zoom Walt Prairie Preserve is to protect and maintain the intact native bunch grass prairie through grazing management prescribed burns, improving the health of native plant species while trying to diminish the number of invasive plant species moving in. You'll notice that it did not say grow big bull elk or big buck mule deer, although they're there. I'm told I'm really excited to go out and check this place out. I know several folks from this part of the eastern Oregon. I've spent some time in the area and it is absolutely beautiful country. Additionally, what the Nature Conservancy is doing with the zoom Walt Prairie Preserve is a really important example of private ground. With the public access component, the public can go to the zoom Want Prairie to check out what's going on just about any time of the year. Or if you are a hunter and want to be a part of active management, you can apply for a cow tag and help push critters around the prairie, which mitigates overgrazing while putting meat in the freezer. There's roughly two point three billion acres of land in the United States, only sixty million acres of which are public, and some of those acres we the public can't even access. But get to an example of that in a minute. What this means is a whole heck of a lot of public wildlife resides on private ground. That's why access programs on private ground and through private ground are important. Anyway, I'm really excited to go out and see all this firsthand, talk conservation with the Nature Conservancy and the role of hunting in the management of the prairie ecosystem. One last fun fact for you, as a nonresident hunter in the state of Oregon, I paid about a hundred and sixty bucks for a hunting license and the elk tag was another five hundred and seventy. When you purchase these items online through the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, your receipt says the following, thank you for your purchase through the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's licensing system. It is purchases from customers like you that ensure the thriving bounty of fish, wildlife, and habitats that Oregonians love. We appreciate your contribution to the fishing, hunting, and wildlife viewing community in Oregon. I'm just gonna let that linger for a little bit, all right, Moving on, We've got a lot to cover, and we're gonna start out with a quick hitter I failed to deliver on. In last week's episode. I previously talked about the big mouth buffalo cart being the oldest known freshwater fish species in the world. A female big mouth buffalo from Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, was aged through bomb radio carbon dating at a hundred and twelve years old. I also mentioned the oldest known saltwater fish species being the greenland shark. I failed to go into detail on this amazing shark species, so I'll do that now. The greenland shark is our oldest living vertebrate individual. Greenland sharks have been aged through radio carbon dating beyond three hundred ninety years old, with an estimated age range up to five hundred and twelve years old. It is also believed that the female greenland shark does not hit sexual maturity until the age of a hundred and fifty. That's a long long time to think about reproducing. The greenland shark can grow up to pounds and twenty four ft in length. Stomach contents have varied from crustaceans to polar bears, eels to reindeer and horses. Don't worry, these sharks aren't raiding any horse stalls at night. They just take advantage of what falls into the icy fiords. As far as we know anyway, the average cruising speed of a greenland shark is less than a mile per hour, so it's safe to assume they aren't chasing down polar bears or reindeer, but rather feeding on them when they dropped at the bottom of the ocean. The greenland shark can also be on the menu. The national dish of Iceland is greenland shark that has been allowed to ferment for several months. The meat is apparently toxic when fresh due to high concentrations of trimethylamine oxide or t m a O, which helps stabilize the proteins and enzymes of the shark's body from breaking down in the severely cold water and high pressure zones. This shark hangs out in the greenland shark will dive as deep as seven thousand, two eighteen feet. The deepest a human has ever made at without a submersible is one thousand, seven fifty two ft. If you make it to Iceland, keep in mind the slow to grow and slow to reproduce greenland shark is a species of concern. But if you're presented with the national dish, I'm gonna butcher this word. Ha carl a shark that's been headed, gutted, and left in the sand for four to six months. Don't be rude. Try it. Bourdain said. It was quote ever put in my mouth. Supposedly, the ammonious smell is hard to get past. All I can think about is that old saying about fish and family stinking after three days. Of course, it depends on the fish and family, but four to six months is a long time. Moving on, but sticking with species of concern. Just recently, and has promised, the Trump administration has altered the rules regarding application and enforcement of the Endangered species at or the e s A. Whether you're a Trump lover or a Trump hater, guess what this is nothing new. Almost every single administration has messed with the e s A rules to some degree. What we folks with the big brains who assumed the role of biodiversity manipulators on this planet need to be concerned with is how the words in the es A changed or not, are interpreted and implemented by an administration. One recent change and particularly concerned about, is the shifting definition of critical habitat. Previously, when looking at a species, the historic range of that species was taken into context when evaluating recovery or protection options. With the current change of critical habitat to only include habitat that is currently occupied, it is possible that we will not provide enough room for the species of concern continued survival animals humans included, need shelter, water forage, and enough space to mix and spread our d NA. By only looking at the habitat currently occupied by a species as opposed to the species historic or potential future range, we create a lose lose scenario. Take for example, the disconnected habitat of the mountain goat imagine that goats are now relegated to a single mountaintop. We know they once lived on a numerous mountaintops but got booted out or moved around for various reasons. Now, under the new es A language, we only consider that singular mountaintop where the goats are currently living as goat habitat. Even if that island population was incredibly healthy, it would still be at risk due to the species limited space. You can imagine an island with a fire or a disease situation, there's nowhere to run. Such a scenario would severely limit the long term viability of the mountain goat. To clarify, I'm using goats as an illustrative example. They're not a current species of concer earned. My point is that we voters who care about species and habitat need to stay on top of issues like this one and not get bated into a bunch of partisan bs. We need to be informed, active participants. Call your elected officials. Make sure they know that you are paying attention. If you see something amiss with our collective wildlife management, you would better call in the same way that if you don't weigh in, you don't wrassle. If you don't hold our elected officials accountable, you don't get to bitch. Moving on to good news out of the state of California, the largest wildlife overpass of the world, is set to begin construction over the one oh one sometime in the next two years, with a completion date of roughly three If you can recall past episodes of Col's Weekend Review where we've covered the issue of l A's island population of mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains and Griffith Park. These populations of mount lions are technically healthy, but due to their genetic isolation from other mountain lion populations, the risk of these isolated cats eventually dying from symptoms that limit their ability to hunt or reproduce caused by inbreeding are very high. The major cause of isolation is the indiscriminate killer of cat, dog, and even human the one on one and the three hundred thousand plus daily commuters that travel on the one on one. Beth Pratt, the California director of the National Wildlife Federation, puts it in modern dating terms, quote for those of us in l A having a romance prospect quashed by traffic is something we can all relate to. With the two d foot long, hundred sixty five foot wide Liberty Wildlife Overpass that spans ten lanes of motorized human mayhem, the cats and a whole host of other critters, including birds, lizards, and bugs will be able to get over the traffic instead of trying to get through it. Well done, California and l A. As I've said in the past, you folks could use a little more connectivity with the natural world. Looks like you'll soon get it. One last side note on this one, just an irksome point that I cannot sidestep. L as most famous Lion p. Twenty two, the male lion that lives near the just as famous Hollywood sign the face of l As Mountain Lions. His image is what you will more than likely find if you start digging around on this issue. He's on billboards and T shirts, he's got his own Instagram and Facebook page. But that catwenty two, the Lion of Griffith Park, the mascot of the Liberty Wildlife Overpass, will still be a lonely kitty upon completion of the overpass, because the overpass will not connect to Griffith Park. Sounds like P. Twenty two could use a better agent. Moving on to the Charismatic canad desk. Despite the fearsome reputation of wolves, wolves are rarely documented getting tangled up with humans. The headlines we usually see involved grizzly bears and mountain lions. Hack Bison are putting up some serious numbers this year, which makes these next couple of stories a little more votable. Earlier this month, family of four was attacked by a rogue wolf at a campground in Canada's Bamp National Park. The New Jersey Natives were fast asleep when the terror unraveled and the wolf started to bite its way into their tent. Once the wolf got through, it grabbed onto the father's arm and proceeded to drag him away. Woken by the family screams, and neighboring tenter ran over and gave the canine a kick. The neighboring camper and good Samaritan in this case said quote, I arrived on their site and their tent had been mostly collapsed and there was just a back half of a wolf sticking out from the entrance. The Good Samaritan's punt to this particular puppy startled the wolf enough to make it loosen its bite and run out of the tent as it stood in their campsite. The father and neighbor threw rocks at the wolf to get it to leave. Shortly thereafter, officials closed the campground. They found the wolf lurking not too far away and killed it and the crops. He determined the wolf wasn't healthy, likely because of old age, and a DNA test determined this was in fact the same wolf. Biologists believe the old age and malnutrition was the main factor in this unprovoked attack. The father and off duty policeman wasn't terribly injured. Things could have been worse, in part because the wolf was old enough that his teeth were worn down. The New Jersey native actually poked a bit of fun at being gummed by the wolf, while admitting that there will be some psychological after effects. On a Facebook post, he actually wrote, the wolf didn't have rabies, just a taste for fine meats. I know that sounds odd. Not the victims shrugging off his injuries on what was a very scary encounter, or having the ability to bring in a bit of humor to the ordeal. What's odd to me is I wouldn't expect this type of behavior from a wolf in Canada. Canadians, after all, are kind of known for their general politeness. Don't listen to him man. Russian wolves, however, have a history of challenging humans, even heavily armed ones. This next story is one I have admittedly doubted, criticized, and debated with my friend Joe, who loves this story. So before I began, Joe, you were right, I was wrong, and moving on. During World War One, Whiskey Whiskey One, as Old Steve likes to call it, large packs of wolves became displaced by the war. Some of these wolves moved into more populated areas. In rural villages, the wolves attack calves, sheep, goats, and in two cases children. Wolves also showed up on the front lines, feeding on the fallen and sometimes taking advantage of incapacitated fighters. According to a nineteen seventeen Oklahoma City Times article, parties of Russian and German scouts met recently and were hotly engaged in a skirmish when a large pack of wolves dashed on the scene and attacked the wounded. Hostilities at once suspended in Germans and Russians instinctively attacked the pack, killing about fifty wolves. With a common foe, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire. Whenever the wolves interrupted a battle. The gloves were off as soldiers use poison, machine guns and hand grenades to fend off the wolves. For a brief moment, a kind of peace spread across the battlefield, even though gun shots and grenade explosions continue to ring out. Historians estimate that hundreds of wolves were killed by soldiers during the war, and eventually the surviving wolves fled the war zone to escape the carnage. For more on the Canadian wolf attack and Whiskey Whiskey one soldiers hunting wolves, head over to the Meat eater dot com and check out recent articles by meat eaters Joe Ferronado and Spencer new Hearth. All right, if you haven't learned enough just yet, I'm gonna leave you with one more. This one is coming to you from the Land and Access Desk, a newly published joint report from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and on x Maps. T r c P is a sportsman's based conservation group that does a phenomenal job, working from Capitol Hill in d C all the way down to the grassroots levels of hunting and fishing access issues. On X maps developed what is now a mobile mapping app that is basically indispensable for knowing where you're at, not just what property you're on, but who owns the property next to where you are, and who owns the property after that, and where those property lines are. Like I said, it's indispensable and you can go on your phone. A few years ago, t r C P and on X produced a Landlocked Federal Land Report that is an absolute must see. The Federal Land Report shows all the millions of acres of federally managed lands that are inaccessible to the public, broken down state by state. It is i opening, to say the least. This year the Landlocked Report focuses on state owned lands that are inaccessible. This incredible resource lets you check out how much state land you could be using to hunt, fish, bird watch, or read a book. However, right now you can't access that for whatever reason, so go to www dot TRCP dot org and take a look. They also explain how these lands became inaccessible. This is important stuff you and I and every other citizen or co owners, and a heck a lot of public land. Download the report at www dot trc P and read up. All Right, that's all I got for you this week. Do me a big favor, and if you found something interesting, share it with a friend, Share it with two friends. You know I'm not picky. Go to wherever podcasts are streamable and downloadable, leave me a review. As per usual, you can always get ahold of me at a s k C A L at the meat eater dot com. That's asked Cal at the meat eater dot com