I would like to think so too, but to be honest, they don’t really seem to spend much time on it apart from hunting season.

Excellent summary of the case. Thank you.

IIRC, the claim that depressed economy is good for the ecology depends on the idea that people stop doing this sort of “improvements” as projects stall for lack of money — but not this time, as the “development at any cost” mindset has snagged public funding for projects that wouldn’t otherwise be practical. And the economy means that the landowners are far less able to resist — they’re struggling to support themselves and/or pay property taxes, and less able to afford lawsuits defending their territory and adjacent preserves. Not to mention when foreclosures displace caretakers in favor of cold-blooded banks and the like.

Yes, although the German guy who coined the word “ecology” (or the German equivalent thereof) was consciously going for the parallel, as I recall. Naive sap!

A big part of our vaunted intelligence seems to consist of erected elaborate superstructures of lies to protect us from painful realities.

I’m sure.

That’s always how a recent logging job looks to me.