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THE
IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY EO 13112, which Clinton quietly signed Feb. 3, deals with "Invasive Species." The title suggests a continuation of federal efforts in combating killer bees, fire ants, gypsy moths and similar pests. But the order in fact goes beyond such traditional government concerns as eradication of noxious plants and dangerous insects and animals -- for which there are already numerous laws on the books. It is being criticized as an order that could be used as a hammer for imposing federal controls over all land use, public and private. It could even be interpreted as outlawing ownership of domestic pets, according to some. And it goes far beyond a 1977 executive order by President Carter (EO 11987, Exotic Organisms) which Clinton revoked through EO 13112. Under that order, executive agencies were directed to restrict the introduction of exotic species into ecosystems on lands owned or controlled by the federal government, and to "encourage" states, local governments and private citizens from introducing exotic species into natural ecosystems of the United States. Agencies were also directed to restrict exporting our native species into ecosystems outside the United States. Clinton's executive order directs federal agencies not only "to prevent the introduction of invasive species" and to control their populations (through eradication if necessary), but "to provide for restoration of native species and habitat conditions in those ecosystems that have been invaded" -- a provision which would require massive governmental land use planning and controls if it's to be fully implemented. "This is one of the cleverest-worded executive orders I've seen," said Tom McDonnell, natural resources policy director of the Denver-based American Sheep Industry Association in a telephone interview. "It will have a major impact not only on our agriculture, but on the daily lives of every American." McDonnell urges close attention be paid to the definitions it contains. "Basically these definitions are so wide open, all alien species could be considered invasive species," he warns. According to EO 13112 an "invasive species" is any "alien species" whose introduction could cause harm to the economy, human health, or the environment; and an "alien species" is "with respect to a particular ecosystem any species that is not native to that ecosystem" -- including its seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material capable of propagating that species. "Control" means eradicating, suppressing, reducing, or managing invasive species populations -- plus "taking steps" to restore native species and habitats. As McDonnell sees it, "A big problem here is that it does not define domestic species, so therefore they are alien: dogs, cats, wheat, rice, domestic livestock -- all these could be considered alien species since they are not native to this hemisphere. Anything that is not native to an ecosystem is an 'alien' species, and if it causes harm to the environment, to that ecosystem, it's 'invasive.'" McDonnell also has problems with the definition of "ecosystem," which EO 13112 defines as "the complex of a community of organisms and its environment." "Under that definition an ecosystem can be as small as a puddle of water or as big as the entire earth," he said. "So environmental harm, harm to an ecosystem, can occur when a sheep drinks from a stream or eats grass." Michael Coffman agrees. Coffman is executive director of Environmental Perspectives, Inc., a consulting group in Bangor, Maine. "The Invasive Species executive order leaves the door wide open for even livestock to be declared an alien and invasive species," Coffman told WorldNetDaily. "Pets, too, have come from other parts of the world, and technically they would fit into this category. "I can't see them (pets) being allowed much longer in parks and the wildlife corridors they're building between cities. Whether the federal government would ever take any action against them in urban areas is another matter -- but the door is left wide open for abuse," he said. "It's not that the control of alien and invasive species isn't important. It is important. But there's nothing in the order to prevent all kinds of abuse. "Basically, this order is another mechanism to control the activities of the American people," he said. EO 13112 establishes an Invasive Species Council comprised of the secretaries of State, Treasury, Defense, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Transportation, and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and will be co-chaired by the secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture and Commerce. This council is charged with providing "national leadership" regarding invasive species, and is to prepare and issue an Invasive Species Management Plan which will "detail and recommend performance-oriented goals and objectives and specific measures of success for Federal agency efforts concerning invasive species." "If the recommended measures are not authorized by current law, the Council shall recommend to the President any legislative proposals for necessary changes in authority." The first edition of the Management Plan is to be completed in 18 months. To provide information and advice to the council, the secretary of the Interior will set up an advisory committee, and the council, too, will appoint members to the committee representing so-called stakeholders -- state, tribal, and local government agencies, nongovernmental entities including environmental groups, private land owners, commercial interests, and so on. This advisory committee is to recommend plans and actions at the various levels of government (local, state, federal) for achieving the goals and objectives of the management plan. McDonnell pointed out that the scope of the order could include private land and represents, in his view, "quite an expansion of federal authority." Unlike Carter's earlier executive order on Exotic Organisms, EO 13112 makes no reference to federal lands per se, and provides no indication as to what lands -- if any -- fall outside its authority. There's a reason for that, in McDonnell's view. "This executive order doesn't apply to just federal land," he said. "There's no distinguishing between state, federal or private land, and it doesn't exclude extending management plans across huge land areas, even if that includes private property, or state property for that matter. So including stakeholders in the planning process is basic to this -- they add validity." McDonnell doubts the value of participating as a stakeholder in such a planning effort, having served on a committee dealing with bighorn sheep. "There were 28 federal persons on that committee -- and me," he recalled, and laughed as he remembered how colleagues had dubbed him a "sacrificial lamb." "Any voice I had was nullified by the 28 federal government people. I'm afraid that will happen to the private landowner on this council. They'll be the token private party -- the sacrificial lambs. "Here's how it works," he continued, "The federal people will set up the parameters of the plan and expect the local and state people to implement it. That's what they did with the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act -- the states are supposed to have authority, but in reality they only have authority to implement the policies, goals and objectives already set by the federal government, whether they approve of them or not." Even without EO 13112 the process for eliminating politically defined "invasive species" is well underway in the National Park System, part of an overall policy of ecosystem restoration. Examples abound that show what achieving a goal like ecosystem restoration, in which undesirable alien species have been removed, means in practice, not just theory. For instance, the elimination of all non-native animals -- alien species -- is a goal of the National Park Service for the eight islands that make up Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of southern California. The Park Service began acquiring the various islands during the early 1980s. Santa Cruz Island, the largest in the chain, had long been home to thousands of feral sheep and feral pigs and a small herd of wild horses: descendants of the stock which had been introduced by ranchers during the last century. Like most of the islands it was privately owned by a several landowners, one of whom 90 percent of the island. Seeing the writing on the wall, that owner deeded his land to the Nature Conservancy -- which began its stewardship by bringing in hunters to gun down the sheep from helicopters or on foot. Some 32,000 sheep were slaughtered this way over a three or four year period, according to Mary Daily, president of the Santa Cruz Island Foundation, a private philanthropic group that supports research and education about all eight Channel Islands. The carcasses were left to rot, a feast for the ravens and foxes. "Quite a few organizations tried to stop the Nature Conservancy from carrying out this mass slaughter and at one point won a temporary restraining order and an injunction," Daily recalled, "but the injunction was eventually lifted." Daily said that once the sheep were gone there was nothing to hold back the wild fennel, a truly invasive, non-native plant which has taken over the western side of the island. Though "alien" to the island, the sheep -- by grazing -- had kept the equally alien fennel under control. With 90 percent of the island in the hands of the Nature Conservancy, the Park Service began acquisition proceedings of the island's remaining 10 percent, and by 1993 had acquired three of the last four parcels. From 1983 until 1997 Jaret Owens -- through a contract with property owner Francis Gherini -- ran a bow-and-arrow hunting business called Island Adventures. Visitors stayed in the historic buildings, which he maintained, and hunted the 1,200 or so sheep still roaming the 6,500 acres left in private hands. This allowed the numbers of feral sheep were kept under control. On Jan. 14, 1997, both of the lodges Owens operated were hit by SWAT teams in a surprise mid-morning raid orchestrated by the Park Service. A Customs Service helicopter brought in 20 heavily armed federal agents and local sheriff's deputies in full riot gear, armed with automatic rifles and handguns. A month later, the Park Service took full possession of the property, and began to look for ways to deal with the invasive species: the sheep, horses, and pigs. Owens says that before the raid he had met with Park Service representatives on numerous occasions, hoping that by cooperating he'd secure a job there when the land was became a park. But a sharp disagreement developed over how best to eradicate the sheep and horses; Owens describes the Park Service personnel as "sloppy" in their hunting methods. "They don't finish the animals off, they just shoot them and leave them to die and the lambs to starve," he said. Owens recalled: "The Park Service tried to talk me into wiping out the animals while we were still there. I said, 'I'll get rid of them and I'll pay you for them, but I'm not going to kill the babies. Any hunting has to be done at the right time of year. And I'm going to save the meat, not waste it by leaving it on the ground.' The Park Service wouldn't go for it. They wanted me to shoot everything, even the horses." "There were about a dozen wild horses," Owens continued, "and they (the Park Service) were going to shoot them, but I notified the press and the animal rights groups and there was a lot of public protest." Not wanting to do any greater damage to their reputation than had already been done, the Park Service captured the horses and airlifted them to the mainland. That took care of the horses, but there are still about a thousand sheep on the island, and the pig population is soaring in numbers. "They're supposed to remove all the sheep from the islands," said Owens. "But they'll probably wait until they figure no one is watching and go in and shoot them." Could what happened on Santa Cruz Island be a preview of the future? "We'll definitely be seeing more of that sort of thing," Coffman predicts. "The tragedy of it is that with it you can make a case against dogs, cats, horses -- any of those animals. Even people. It's really scary. They've left the door wide open to do anything they want."
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