Just a heads up if you're in teh Santa Monica Mountains...

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Porter
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Joined: March 19th, 2011, 7:43 pm

Re: Just a heads up if you're in teh Santa Monica Mountains.

Post by Porter »

klawnskale wrote:Well, I decided to conduct a search and found this Blog posted by a former SMNRA Wildlife Intern who worked on their pitfall/funnel trap arrays just about two years ago. They use plastic buckets so hopefully they close the lids on them when not in use. There are some good photos of the arrays on her Blog Page. I think it would be rather amusing if the boards they use in their own arrays were nicked from illegal board lines found in the RA ;)

http://www.lindseylgordon.com/adventure ... amphibians

What's pretty silly about that is everything they found in their buckets could be found and picked up with no stress to the animal if they took the time to understand the animals and flipped the boards and the right time/temperature/weather conditions of day.

Why bother when you can trap an animal in a plastic bucket so it can't get away to a needed cool down temperature during the hot absorbing heat of the day, huh? ...how humane and frickn brilliant :thumb:


Brian Hubbs wrote:Jimi: I'm a bird photographer now.

Image
I gotta admit, I'm with ya there Hubbs... not making a big deal about it but... lids off... this may be my last year of herp photography.

Great shot btw :thumb:
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lateralis
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Re: Just a heads up if you're in teh Santa Monica Mountains.

Post by lateralis »

I wrote that about withholding data. I'm fed up with the mentality that suspects the worst right away. I called the Park Service and never even got a call back. I'm serious about telling them to go take a flying jump the next time they ask for data. Why should we help these ignorant morons? You won't teach them anything by giving them facts. Fundad tried and he was looked at like a poacher. I say screw 'em...give out data to CA F&W instead. Let the parks remain ignorant. It's been that way for years. I'm done with them. This is such a joke. If I thought we could educate them I would advocate that, but these are not high IQ people...they belong in the movie "Idiocracy"!
Hey Brian, long time. So yes I agree with you on several points, and you know something of my experience with some aspects of the "game" but I guess I see this as a chance to reveal their "idiocracy". Showing them up at their own game with regards to data you might say, perhaps even documenting any by-catch mortality that occurs in their "abandoned" pit trap array. If it is true they just left them in the field they ought to get spanked real hard - its lazy and sloppy...

I think part of the problem today is due to a lack of dedication and the dismal earnings of young park staff and researchers; there may be a short term supply of dedicated young minds but it soon gives way to the financial reality that most people choose to accept as they grow older, buy homes and/or start families. I would be pleasantly surprised if more than one out of ten 20 something biologists stays at that $15.95 an hour but has park job past their 30's; they move on to private industry as consultants, or go to work in the public sector where there are better state pension plans.
As far as their LE goes, I have heard from my friends that while a few are true WM's in the sense of the word (biology degrees, active management etc...) there are many more who supposedly see it as an easy law enforcement career that carries low risk with good pay and an excellent retirement plan. Plus they still get to harass the GP, bust illegal pot grows and fast rope out of a Hugh's M500 pretending they are in the SOC ;)
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