Identity Begone

I just realized I’ve never made an about me post! I’m definitely going to miss something, but I’ll update as I think of them. Whenever I get an ask and it covers something that is not covered here, I’ll definitely update the post. 

I currently work for my state’s department of environmental management, formerly in Forestry now in Agriculture, and my education is also heavily based in wildlife biology and conservation and emergency management/homeland security. 

Anyway, the more contacts I make and the more people I encounter, the more I go “What the fuck” every time someone spills some tea somewhere. There are activist groups I didn’t even know existed in my state. There are fights going on between agencies and groups I had no clue were happening. I don’t mean this as anything serious, I laugh mostly cause there’s nothing I can do about it but laugh.

The most common gossip being: The town of Cumberland vs a Save the Beavers organization - Beavers are creating dams as they do but they’re flooding peoples’ basements in suburban areas so they get relocated. I get it, because beavers are important to the ecosystem but they do cause damage and not everyone can afford to undo water damage. At least they’re not being killed in the process!

A woman vs the town of Cumberland (And several states) - Tried suing the town because the police dept has 0 handicap parking spaces. They do have 8 or so handicap parking spaces. She has also made similar claims in other states and has a youtube channel dedicated to it. I mean, go her for standing up for handicap folk but... idk. My stepmom is the paralegal and I can picture her looking like the image while on the phone with the lady for the 3rd time that week A self proclaimed old growth forest expert vs the RI Department of Environmental Management (Mostly w Forestry and Agriculture divisions) - A man with no formal education in forestry (He’s a college student in accounting) has been attempting to get a bill passed that prevents the Forestry division from maintaining our state’s forests unless it’s by his demands. Meaning: No removal of invasive plants, no controlled burns, no removal of decaying tree stands (fire prevention), no selling of land (DEM doesn’t totally control this, if the land has something that is incredibly important i.e wetlands, then they are able to terminate the sale), etc. He also believes that wildfires are 100% unnatural. they can be both natural causes or unnatural causes, but can burn out of control if there is poor forest management practices. In RI, there was a massive 700+ acre brushfire that was likely caused by an unattended campfire. Thankfully, the fire did not destroy any homes or businesses (it is sad we lost some forest, but in emergency management it’s people first). Now a month later, life is returning. Anyway, he wants to pass a bill that could have severe consequences. I doubt it will pass. The problem is he hardcore believes in his ‘knowledge’. Like... he knows everything but the things he knows is probably 95% incorrect. He claims a huge portion of the state is Old Growth Forest. Old Growth Forests are forests with trees over 120 yrs old. Rhode Island by the 1900s was mostly cut down to grasslands for farming. We have one old growth forest. It’s in Portsmouth. it’s a small tree stand mostly made up of beeches... which are dying anyway as a result of Beech Leaf Disease and there’s no definite cure. He also won’t listen to anyone with an opinion against his or whoever brings facts. He wrote a research paper about the old growth forests in RI and how he cored the trees to prove their ages. Except coring can cause significant damage to trees and apparently he has gotten the tools to do it actually stuck in trees. His research paper is also hilariously flawed. No citations and it’s all his own work which is funny because he’s likely causing more damage. The state considered his work so the DEM reviewed his work and he hates us because we’re opposing him. We actually ended up revising his papers and pointed out he used 0 citations. We suggested hiring him as an intern to show him the works and such or that he should swap his degree major for environmental sciences except he won’t. He hates anything that could oppose him. It’s hard because he 100% believes he is in the right and that whatever information he’s finding is right.