Critical hunting and fishing habitat?

Critical hunting and fishing habitat?

We’ve seen some bizarre polls in our day, but this one wins the prize for combining apples and oranges to create ramen-flavored Oreo cookies.

The poll was commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation to build support to determine if “hunters and anglers” supported the EPA’s deranged plan to regulate ditches and ponds as U.S. waterways.

Hunters and anglers, PeakNation™ will recall, is the new Orwellian term for radical environmentalists parading as people we actually like.

We’re pretty sure that actual hunters and anglers in Colorado have no stake in the federal regulation of ditches or ponds on private ranches.

But that’s now what the poll asked. This, was the main question:

“Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said that smaller streams and wetlands that flow into larger rivers, lakes and eventually the ocean are protected under the Clean Water Act – a point that had been unclear after a number of recent court decisions. Do you support or oppose applying the same rules and standards from the Clean Water Act to these smaller, headwater streams and wetlands?”

To that, 66 percent “indicated support for this application of the Clean Water Act,” the poll memo said.

We suspect support would have been less “indicated” if the question had accurately addressed the issue. For instance, “do you think the federal government needs to come into your front yard and regulate ditches that run through your property every time it rains to ensure a prosperous future for hunting and fishing?”

We’re not the only ones who are questioning the question:

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, who has strongly opposed implementation of the rule, suggested that the poll should have included questions pointing to local environmental protections.Q “This sin of omission is misleading, and skews the survey to the desired outcome of those asking the questions,” Tipton spokesman Josh Green said. “To imply that there is wide support for the EPA’s Waters of the U.S. rule – with this survey as the evidence – is deeply misleading and insulting.”

Also deeply misleading and insulting, is that the National Wildlife Federation represents the best interests of the hunting community, but we digress …

The survey was conducted nationwide, here’s the breakdown of respondents in Colorado: A total of 260 people statewide “who also identify as hunters, anglers,” or furries were questioned, half by telephone and the other half “via Internet panels.”

We’re going to go out on a limb here, and guess that Internet panel was made up of members of the environmental group hosting the poll. So, if all of their members side with the Mother Ship, that means there are 42 other people in Colorado who agree with the National Wildlife Federation.

Actually, that sounds about right.