Crown Land

[cougar]

I wrote a couple of articles to a local newspaper two months ago.  One got published.  One was going to get published but never did.  Instead, the journalist I was in touch with switched jobs.  Not sure if the article below had anything to do with this.  Hopefully not.  

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CROWN LAND

We all have our interpretations of land definitions  - private land, crown land, city land, public land and they all conjure up images in our minds.  The vision that comes up in my mind, when crown land is mention, is that of forests , mountains and streams teaming with wildlife and fish; undisturbed by any human activity.  The secondary image is that of the golden crown on the head of Queen Elizabeth II; not that it really matters whose head the crown is on.

We supposedly have unimpeded access to crown land and can use it for recreation; this is where the remaining wildlife is trying to survive.  Wildlife are other forms of life very similar to us by having typically two eyes, two ears, a nose, a mouth, four limbs and a tail, something that we lost along the evolutionary curve.  They have blood, warm as ours and of the same color; they have the same emotions and can express themselves well within their environment.  We can understand them too, if we chose to, but that wasn't to the benefit of the crown so the Queen turned a blind eye on them and called them property.  The poor souls did not speak the Queen's language and could not defend themselves in court, so there went all their rights.  Hardly a surprise, considering slavery was originally abolished in 1833 but can be argued, still exists today and that racism and discrimination are alive and well around the world (no matter what some might tell us).

Land occupied by wildlife became up for grabs.  Humans rushed into it with excavators, chopped it  to pieces,  pushed wildlife away and killed (or humanely euthanized) the rest.  With the land cleared  they could start building their homes and businesses, thus obliterating the habitat forever and making it useless for any life sustaining functions.  There were no trees to absorb and hold up moisture or to produce oxygen and biological material that sustains the cycle of life.    However those humans taking residence had their own biological needs , demanding food to be provided to them from the remaining healthy ecosystems that still functioned properly.  Demands of course grew. Under the right system which treats people as a commodity, the human population exploded and the disposition of crown land continued in full force.  They called it "development", "growing the economy" or "creating jobs".

Some of us noticed animals were being wiped out and getting close to extinction, but we would still not recognize and rectify the problem.  Foundations were created; non-for profit organizations were started and funds were raised to save species - tigers, lions, salmon, whales, bears, elephants; well of course every species could go on the list for the very basic reasons that they were dispossessed of land, their food was stolen or their waters and air were polluted with toxins.  In addition, their environment was filled up with objects posing new threats - ropes, fishing lines, plastic bags and bottles, glass, lead, fast moving vessels, vehicles, trains and airplanes. Wildlife continued to serve as food for us.  Their peace and quiet was forever gone.  But we would still not rectify the problem. We camouflaged the mayhem behind the sophisticated terminology of "sustainable practices", "environmentally  friendly methods", "green" and the "millions of dollars raised" for this or that cause.   The uncomfortable truth is that anything raised originated from the pillage and plunder of the land.

The even more uncomfortable truth is that crown land does not belong to the crown or to humans only.  It is common land that is there to be shared and the only thing that needs to be managed is our numbers, as nature has so far taken care of managing the numbers of anything else.  But keep in mind that the government does not collect property taxes from wildlife; neither income taxes, nor GST or PST or carbon tax, or licenses and registration fees.  To the government the wilderness is of zero value unless developed and exploited; and here we are in an economy of constantly growing population chasing our tails on the "forest service" roads, servicing the forests and promoting the new destructive project which will turn a healthy forest into a wasteland.

Isn't our world run like a giant Ponzi scheme, where new players are needed to sustain the future gains of a few up the pyramid? Those schemes that inevitably fail bringing everyone involved down with them.

Poor wildlife and poor us, at least those of us who can realize where we are headed.

 

 

[dialamah]

11 minutes ago, cougar said:

To the government the wilderness is of zero value unless developed and exploited; and here we are in an economy of constantly growing population chasing our tails on the "forest service" roads, servicing the forests and promoting the new destructive project which will turn a healthy forest into a wasteland.

As a person who is involved in Crown Land dispositions, this is not accurate.  Crown Land tenures are applied for; we don"t go chasing after developers, recreational or residential users.  Part of the decision making when considering an application is the environmental effects of whatever activity is proposed and the people who make the decisions take that pretty seriously.  They also have to balance that against economic benefit, not just to the Crown, but also to the public who may gain jobs through the use of Crown land.  It's a balancing act, and often someone isn't happy about whatever decision is made. 

Other than that, I agree with you that it's important to take care of our wilderness areas, and that wildlife have "rights" as well.  It may interest you to know that in BC, users of Crown land for adventure tourism, recreational actvities or filming are required to include plans on how they'll mitigate impact to animals.  There are also times and places where no activity is permitted in order to safeguard wildlife in that area.  Not trying to say that government always gets it right, or that they couldn't do better, but it's not a free-for-all either. 

[cougar]

11 minutes ago, dialamah said:

 It's a balancing act

Excuse my short-sightedness but I see no balancing when all that happens is taking over new lands and selling them to the higher bidder. 

Did you ever take over a parking lot and turned it into a forest and returned it to wildlife to "balance" the situation? I guess not.

From a selfish perspective (thinking only about myself and not including wildlife) I am also convinced that the disposition of crown land is infringing on my previous rights to be on that land.  I am also dispossessed of this land and not compensated for the lost recreational habitat.  It is theft by the Crown.

[dialamah]

9 minutes ago, cougar said:

thinking only about myself

Yes. 

[cougar]

15 minutes ago, dialamah said:

Yes. 

relevance to points made?

[OftenWrong]

I agree, the future for Canada should be to protect its still-vast boreal forests and natural places. I dislike the term "resources", as though they are there only for the market. Same as I dislike using the term "Human Resources".

It needs to be protected all the more so now, both land and water, because of the huge industrial demand by the tech industry, and Canada doing trade with huge countries, and Canada has no real industry of its own. In Canada, the industry is the Boreal forest. That threatens to consume all this nature, the technological society desires to turn the forest and all the richness that it has, all the life and beauty, into a cell phone.

[OftenWrong]

You may have heard there is a major extinction event happening in the world now. Headlines like this can be found, but you must google for it specifically.

World Leaders, Media Ignore Biodiversity Report Detailing Mass Extinction Event Now Underway (May 24, 2019)

We don't give a crap about species extinction, it means gone forever. No more re-spawns. We don't talk about it because the solution does not appeal to us. It means less wonderful technological conveniences. So carry on raping the environment and playing video games, and bitching about your politics, all we fucking stupid apes.

[PIK]

How much has been given to the natives in the last few yrs, and they are no longer the stewards of the land as they like to think.

[Rue]

15 minutes ago, PIK said:

How much has been given to the natives in the last few yrs, and they are no longer the stewards of the land as they like to think.

? Why are you stating the above?  The issues raised regard the intersection and coexistence of all homo sapiens with wildlife not just some homo sapiens. You want to start a thread blaming natives for failed government policies or being stinkers, start one. Also start one dividing who pollutes the earth based on their religious, ethnic, political, and sex preference.  Knock yourself out. Crown land was not a concept created by natives, it was created in spite of natives. You miss that irony. 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Rue

[PIK]

On 4/29/2020 at 11:42 AM, Rue said:

? Why are you stating the above?  The issues raised regard the intersection and coexistence of all homo sapiens with wildlife not just some homo sapiens. You want to start a thread blaming natives for failed government policies or being stinkers, start one. Also start one dividing who pollutes the earth based on their religious, ethnic, political, and sex preference.  Knock yourself out. Crown land was not a concept created by natives, it was created in spite of natives. You miss that irony. 

We are giving up to much land with no oversite. And the natives in my part of the country are the biggest poachers out there.  They do as they please with no care if they ruin it, because they are native and it is thier land. Ever watch the natives at walleye spawning grounds, loading up 1/2 tons full of walleye full of spawn, and why, because they are natrine and they can do whatever they want. And that falls under ethnic political whatever you want to call it. If I had a card, showing me as native or metis, I can today ,right now shoot a deer in front of a game warden and they will look the other way. Natives were given a opportunity to show us evil white man how it is done, well they are worse than anybody.

[Rue]

I defend no one but with due respect singling natives as the cause of this issue is illogical.  I defer to Cougar's words.