What do the renegade militia members in Oregon have in common with carp? They both have a habit of invading. Ever since the Bundy boys and their crew came into the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on January 2, well-armed and calling for the takedown of public lands, refuge staff have been forced to abandon a critical invasive carp removal program, reports High Country News.
The disturbers of the peace have become the enablers of a carp rebound. The fish were introduced in the 1920s as a food source, but good intentions turned sour when the carp quickly took over the refuge’s waterways, silting streams and rivers as they rooted for food in the mud. When sunlight couldn’t get through the water, the aquatic plants started to die off and then insect populations dwindled. Without bugs to eat, migratory geese and ducks all but stopped coming to the area, falling to a tenth of their usual number.
For several years, the government had limited success poisoning the carp with chemicals, but the fish always repopulated. Then a few years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service devised a surprisingly effective solution: hire fishermen to net the carp and truck them to town, where they were turned into fertilizer for organic hayfields nearby. But now the militiamen have literally taken over the desk of the carp-removal program director, Linda Beck, who they call “carp lady.” Ryan Bundy described the carp program as “part of what’s destroying America.” No matter that Beck is the wife and daughter-in-law of Oregon ranchers, and the carp program meant jobs for locals. “The longer the standoff goes on, the more behind we get in carp control,” Beck says. “This is going to set us back three years in our conservation goals.”