Blue Crab Boulevard

Descent Into Madness

In what can only be described as a complete descent into madness, a Federal judge has stopped construction of a $320 million irrigation project because of concerns about an imaginary bird. The Ivory Billed Woodpecker has not been credibly sighted since 1948 and has been believed to be extinct. Suddenly a kayaker reports seeing one just exactly in the spot that will block a project. Nobody has been able to find any sign whatsoever that the reported bird actually exists.

Scientists had thought the ivory-billed woodpecker was extinct until a kayaker reported spotting one in 2004 near the White River in eastern Arkansas. Ornithologists flocked to the area but were unable to prove conclusively that the woodpecker exists.

U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson said that, for purposes of the lawsuit, he had to presume the woodpecker exists in that area. He said federal agencies may have violated the Endangered Species Act by not studying the habitat fully.

"When an endangered species is allegedly jeopardized, the balance of hardships and public interest tips in favor of the protected species," Wilson wrote. "Here there is evidence the IBW may be jeopardized."

At the same time, aquifers beneath eastern Arkansas soybean, cotton and rice fields have become less reliable water sources. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last year began construction on the Grand Prairie Irrigation Project, 14 miles from where the bird was spotted.

I wish to go on record as stating unequivocally that I have seen a dodo bird in my back yard. I demand lots of Federal dollars to study the habitat immediately (small bills, no consecutive serial numbers, please). Then I can make my neighbor take down that big new shed he built that blocks my view!

Legal | Gaius Thursday, 20 July , 2006

By achalle, Thursday, 20 July , 2006 @ 10:59 am

…..Are you sure this is taking place in Arkansas? Not the land of fruits and nutz (mexifornia)?
Just wondering……but not for long.
By Santay, Thursday, 20 July , 2006 @ 11:47 am

It’s all part of the animal uprising. It was actually a duck who disquised himself as the woodpecker becaused he didn’t want his water messed with.
By Gaius, Thursday, 20 July , 2006 @ 11:49 am

Heh, could be!
By Scott W. Somerville, Thursday, 20 July , 2006 @ 12:01 pm

Dodo? Small potatoes! There’s an apatosaurus nesting on the south side of my lawn–which is going to be a real problem for the developer who was PLANNING to build some townhouses in the soybean field just beyond it.
By Gaius, Thursday, 20 July , 2006 @ 12:17 pm

Oh, man. You got me beat. By sveral million years!

Thanks for the nice plug on your blog, by the way.
By K, Thursday, 20 July , 2006 @ 3:29 pm

The judge would be correct about the law provided the IBW exists. That is the true question.

But for the purposes of the suit he DOES NOT have to assume it exists. Unless there is precedent, which I doubt, he can examine that question on merit.

When he states “here there is evidence” as sufficient he errs. I can provide experts who will say there is life on the sun. There are certainly observable changes there which may indicate whales are swimming beneath the surface.

Couts should assess evidence and not merely cite its presence.
By Gaius, Thursday, 20 July , 2006 @ 3:35 pm

Yeah, the “evidence” is not sufficient to stand up in court, that’s really my point. If Cornell says there has not been a clearly provable case since 1948, all the “sightings” in the world won’t bring them back for real.
By J, Saturday, 22 July , 2006 @ 10:05 am

The last clearly provable record of from the North American continent is actually from 1944, in the Singer Tract of Louisiana, just prior to complete destruction of this forest by Nazi POWs.
By Gaius, Saturday, 22 July , 2006 @ 10:12 am

I think the 1948 sighting was from Cuba, wasn’t it?