Vice President Cheney quail hunting in 2002. AP Photo/David Bohrer, White House
by Frank James
I’m not among those who see the invisible hand of Vice President Cheney behind everything that happens at the White House.
But I have to admit, as soon as I learned about this executive order President Bush recently signed, ordering federal agencies to enhance hunting opportunities on federally managed lands, my suspicions did run in the direction of one of our nation’s most famous hunters.
Here part of the executive order:
Section 1. Purpose. The purpose of this order is to direct Federal agencies that have programs and activities that have a measurable effect on public land management, outdoor recreation, and wildlife management, including the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat.
Sec. 2. Federal Activities. Federal agencies shall, consistent with agency missions:
(a) Evaluate the effect of agency actions on trends in hunting participation and, where appropriate to address declining trends, implement actions that expand and enhance hunting opportunities for the public;
(b) Consider the economic and recreational values of hunting in agency actions, as appropriate;
The new executive order brought a critical response from an organization called Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility or PEER.
Or the vice president.
The PEER press release continues:
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Issued this Friday, August 17, 2007, the order mandates that federal land managers –
“Manage wildlife and wildlife habitats on public lands in a manner that expands and enhances hunting opportunities, including through the use of hunting in wildlife management”;
Defer to “private property rights and State management authority over wildlife resources”; and
Foster “productive populations of game species and appropriate opportunities for the public to hunt those species.”
“The President seems to be saying you can never have too many deer and that public lands should be run as a salad bar for trophy animals,” Ruch added. “It would have made more sense to have Dick Cheney sign this executive order instead.”
Bingo. So I’m not alone in seeing the connection.
The PEER press release continues: