Audubon of Colorado works diligently to protect habitats for birds and other wildlife and a healthy sustainable world in which we live. These activities include lobbying the state legislation and ensuring that Audubon members throughout Colorado become well-informed advocates for the environment. Grand Valley Audubon Society maintains its own alert list. If you wish to be notified and are willing to take action regarding conservation issues and legislation specific to Western Colorado, please send an email to Nick Korte.

A Problem of World Views

E.O. Wilson's book, The Future of Life, contains brief descriptions of what environmentalists think motivates their opponents. I admit, his description, centered on money and a perceived sense of entitlement, jived much with my own. However, when he described what those opponents thought about environmentalists, elitists disdainful of others, I was shocked. None of that description applied to me or people I know who care about the environment. Could the mutual lack of understanding of the two groups be that bad? I was
reminded of this after reading two guest editorials in the Daily Sentinel regarding snowmobile use in Yellowstone. The anti-snowmobile editorial was about noise, air pollution, crowds and their effect on wildlife. The pro-snowmobile editorial ended with a plea that readers not be misled by the environmental "snow job," that those against snowmobiles did not care about wildlife. They only wanted the park for themselves. I was amazed. It was exactly as Wilson had described it. I believe that if the conservationists had the park for themselves (whatever that means), they would be working as hard for cleaning up the air and noise if there was an outside source such as a nearby industrial plant or a mine. My most personal example is my love for backpacking in the Grand Canyon. Many, many others have the same love. Hiking permits are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Permits are relatively expensive, numbers are very limited in the more pristine locations, and there are time issues with regard to applications. But, when you obtain a permit for the pristine areas of the park, you know the area will be largely unsullied. This has led to my taking trips in January and early February, braving the cold in order to obtain a permit more easily. I accept the inconvenience of having permits denied and of taking trips in the off-season to have the pristine experience I crave. But our anti-conservation opponents would say that I only want the park for myself. No, I wanted the opportunity for the view my daughter and I had of a full-curl bighorn ram silhouetted against a January sunset. If we could all go whenever we wanted by whatever conveyance we wanted, such a view would not be possible.

Some would call the mutual lack of understanding between those who wish to conserve nature and those who see it as something to be used as a problem of "world-views." I concur. Changing someone's world-view is very difficult, but we need to try. Those of us with a love for wild nature have a lot of educating to do. We all have friends and family members who do not understand our defense of conservation. When the opportunity presents itself, show them a bird's nest, or a new flower, or the damage from an ORV track. Be
informed. Be able to discuss how forests in Alaska should not be included in thinning projects ostensibly performed to fight forest fires. Describe how long-line fishing for swordfish is causing enormous declines in populations of sea turtles and several species of albatross. They do not understand our world-view, and until they do, conservation battles will become ever more difficult.

Off Road Vehicles and Public Lands

It was reported September 1, 2003 that in Utah's Kane County, the county sheriff and a county commissioner removed 31 BLM signs prohibiting ORV use on roads in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. They justified their actions by claiming these were "county" roads based on a recent Bush Administration decision to "settle" a court case with the State of Utah regarding Reserved Statute (RS) 2477-a Civil War era law which granted rights-of-way for the construction of "highways" across public lands. The opposing
view is that 1976 legislation specifically focusing on public lands management superceded RS 2477. The Clinton Administration wanted the issue addressed in Congress, but the Bush Administration eliminated the opportunity for public involvement and settled out of court by essentially abdicating federal responsibility. Here in Colorado, Moffat County has already put in a long list of claims including (as reported in the Daily Sentinel) an old Indian trail across the Flat Tops. This trail was considered a "highway" for Ute
Indians and early American settlers, said Moffat County officials. Critics of this policy have reported that Moffat County and many Utah counties have claimed washes, cow paths and recent illegal ORV tracks as county roads under RS 2477. Both Garfield County and Club 20 have supported formally Moffat County's approach to the RS 2477 court settlement. Without action in Congress, these actions essentially eliminate the possibility of new wilderness in the West and put in jeopardy much that is already declared. It is imperative that we contact Senators Allard, and Campbell and Rep. McInnis and request Congressional action to overturn this Bush Administration Policy.

League of Conservation Voters

 The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), http://www.lcv.org, is a non-partisan organization that records votes when a large group of environmental organizations has a unanimous opinion regarding a specific piece of legislation. During the 107th Congress, Rep. McInnis received a score of 14 based on voting twice with the conservation position. The two positive votes were for fuel economy standards and against drilling for oil underneath the Great Lakes. For the other 12 votes, the congressman either voted no (6 times) or was absent (6 times), which is counted as a negative. The negative votes included his support of drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. He was absent when votes were recorded regarding stricter standards preventing pollution from mining on public lands and regarding reinstatement of severe cuts in the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement budget. The average score in the House was 48. Representatives DeGette and Udall both received a score of 100.

In the Senate, Senator Campbell's score was zero. Senator Allard scored a 13, voting with the conservation position once for seven monitored votes. Allard voted against drilling in the new National Monuments proclaimed by President Clinton. Negative votes by Colorado's senators included support of regulatory waivers for agriculture, increasing drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and for rolling back endangered species protection for the Klamath basin. The average senate score was 46.

Please make a phone call or send a letter and give these officials your views on their voting record. The federal representatives for Western Colorado are:

• Senator Wayne Allard
  U.S. Senate
  716 Hart Building
  Washington D.C. 20510
  (202) 224-5941, fax (202) 224-0471


 

• Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell
  U.S. Senate
  380 Russell Senate Building
  Washington D.C. 20510
  (202) 224-5852, fax (202) 224-1933


 

• Rep. Scott McInnis
  U.S. House of Representatives
  215 Cannon House Building
  Washington, D.C. 20510
  (202) 225-4761, fax (202) 226-0622

Contact information for these and other elected officials is available at the U.S. Senate site (http://www.senate.gov) and the U.S. House of Representatives site (http://www.house.gov).

The Future of Life

E.O. Wilson's most recent book, The Future of Life, notes that the "average amount of productive land and shallow sea appropriated by each person in bits and pieces from around the world for food, water, housing, transportation, commerce and waste absorption" is approximately 2.5 acres for the five billion inhabitants of developing nations but is 24 acres for the average U.S citizen. Wilson noted that if every person in the world is to attain the status of the average citizen of the U.S, four more planet earths would be required -- all this with the population expected to climb from the present six billion to more than eight billion by mid-century. Wilson further notes, "The great dilemma of environmental reasoning stems from conflict between short-term and long-term values. To select values for the near future of one's own...country is...easy. To select values for the distant future of the whole planet is...easy -- in theory.... To combine the two visions to create a universal environmental ethic is...very difficult. But combine them we must, because a universal environmental ethic is the only guide by which humanity and the rest of life can be safely conducted through the bottleneck into which our species has foolishly blundered." Present U.S. policies and the voting records of our representatives encourage resource consumption and immigration while discouraging family planning efforts in the developing world. It is critical that we understand these issues and support candidates and policies that will result in a safe, sound, and productive world for succeeding generations.