153 



Martin Muschinske 

 POB718 

 Jamul, CA 91935 



September 18, 1995 



Honerable Don Young 

 Chairman of the House 

 subcommittee on Fiseries, 

 Wildlife and Oceans 

 United States House of 

 Representatives 

 Washington, DC. 



Attn. Mr Harry Burroughs, Staff Director 



Dear Mr. Young: 



I appreciate the opportunity your committee is giving citizens to be heard on the issues 

 involving the Wild Bird Conservation Act (WBCA) regulations. My wife and I are 

 Environmental Specialists and work for the Department of Fish and Game as well as 

 aviculturists. As professionals in the field of Conservation Biology we are concerned with the 

 tendency for some, who purport to be, "environmentalists" to embrace old paradigms 

 because, like old jeans they are comfortable. 



On September 21 , 1 994, The National Academy of Sciences launched a three year, 

 multimillion-dollar project to explore environmental and development concerns. Among other 

 issues the project, called "Global Commons," will investigate the problems of species 

 extinction and tropical deforestation, population grov\/th and land use. The project will 

 reexamine these problems and may result is a new paradigm. 



We are all aware that the problems addressed by "Global Commons" are exacerbated by 

 population growth and wanton exploitation of natural resources. Environmental degradation 

 has been the hallmark of economic development and the destruction of natural habitats was 

 just assumed to be the by-product of civilization. 



To the pioneers, dwarfed by the expanse of the natural world, and its seemingly endless 

 bounty, nature was infinite and inexhaustible. To astronauts peering from spacecraft at the 

 "blue marble" earth engulfed by the expanse of the universe, the world seems small and they 

 can see that natural resources are finite and exhaustible. 



From each perspective the pioneer and the astronaut have an appropriate understanding of 

 the world. It is a contradiction or an enigma, c,r\\y tjecause each of us sees only a "snapshot 

 in time" of the natural wonder called earth. We act based on our perceptions unfortunately 

 humans make decisions often based on limited or distorted information, not tiecause we are 

 base or evil but because we tend to slip into a comfort zone that makes us feel good. 



