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Conservation Activities
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:
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Senator Wayne Allard
U.S. Senate
716 Hart Building
Washington D.C. 20510
(202) 224-5941, fax (202) 224-0471
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Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell
U.S. Senate
380 Russell Senate Building
Washington D.C. 20510
(202) 224-5852, fax (202) 224-1933
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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.
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