Woodpecker More Important Than People

Dr. Michael L. Ford
1 August 2006

	For over a week now I have been thinking about the
ramifications of the story about a woodpecker in
Arkansas. It has halted a 320 million dollar
irrigation project. Over the years I have repeatedly
said I believe many of the animal rights people
illustrate the truth of the devolution of man as
outlined in the Bible, Romans chapter 1. The story of
the ivory billed woodpecker is one more strong
evidence that I am right as The National Wildlife
Federation and Arkansas Wildlife Federation
demonstrates they worship the creature more than the
Creator by promoting harm to men who are made in God’s
image in preference to a creature that might very well
already be extinct.
	The Corps of Engineers project to build a pumping
station on the White River is designed to bring
irrigation water to farmers who grow cotton, soybeans,
and rice for America and the world. It is needed
because the main aquifer below eastern Arkansas will
likely be depleted by 2015. Without delay, the project
only has about four years of grace between when it
would come on line and the failure of the aquifer as a
source. The problem is presented as one of economic
loss to a few, but the truth is we all will be
affected. The issue is not really about protecting a
woodpecker. It is about harming mankind.
	You see, the woodpecker has not been seen since 1944,
though a kayaker claimed to have seen one in 2004,
fourteen miles from the Grand Prairie Irrigation
Project. A hundred volunteers and researchers spent
weeks trying to validate his story without result, so
now a federal judge has ordered that ivory bill nests
and forage sites within 2 ½ miles of the project be
evaluated. How do you evaluate nests you cannot find,
for a bird likely to be extinct for the past 60 years?
Even if the bird is proven to be alive it would have a
wide ranging habitat that is not likely to be impacted
by a pumping station 80 million dollars has already
been spent on. You see, how disingenuous the whole
thing is?
	Animal rights people worry about causing woodpeckers
stress. Not concerned with the stress loss of the
faming lands cause people, the they prove the bird is
more to them than mankind