Cheyenne's Howl

Printed in Mountain Messenger on Friday - November 21, 1997

Killing the ESA

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At last the tape is available with my song on it. The tape, recorded by local Georgetown artist Mark Raley, is called "Learn to Love Again". My picture is even on the cover and I must admit even though the whole tape is fantastic, my favorite song on it is "Cheyenne". You can purchase a tape at the Visions West Galleries in Georgetown and in Silver Plume and well as other local locations. You can hear Mark play at the Raven Hill and at the New Place in Georgetown on the weekends. Check him out, he is great.

As I mentioned last week, Congress came close to gutting the Endangered Species Act (ESA) this past session. Unfortunately, there will be an expected renewed attack by anti-conservation extremists when Congress reconvenes in January. Speaking of Congress, I am reminded of a saying that I heard when just a pup. It goes like this. "If the opposite of pro is con, then the opposite of progress is Congress". I didn't really understand what it meant at the time, but I do now. It is too bad that quote has so much truth behind it. Congress took a giant leap forward in 1973 when it passed the ESA and now it seems that it is running as fast as it can backwards.

Now just who is trying to kill the ESA? Representative Don Young, Chair of the House Resources Committee, is a key player in this. He said, "What I should have done is repealed the whole act. I (sh)ould have repealed the whole thing. Right quick. Before anybody realized what had happened." I wonder whose best interest he has in mind? Don Young, as well as other extremist members of Congress, for the past three years have continually attacked the ESA. The are hiding behind the so-called "wise-use" movement. What most people don't realize is that this movement is made up of radical timber companies, mining interests, large scale ranchers, oil companies, industrial lobbyists, irresponsible hunters, and other anti-conservationists. Opposing any law that limits the exploitation of natural resources, these zealots put their own short-term financial interests ahead of the survival of imperilled wildlife. Remember it was this "wise-use" movement that convinced Congress to exempt the government and the timber industry from environmental laws for eighteen months and at the same time barred the citizens from enforcing those laws in court.

Although the "Logging without Laws" Rider, as it was known, has expired, the damage it created will last long past my lifetime. Chainsaws wrecked havoc on forests in the Northwest that were full-grown prior to the Declaration of Independence. Grizzly bears in Montana, drinking water in Oregon, and salmon in Idaho were also jeopardized. Healthy trees were clearcut from Alaska to Alabama even though the Rider supposedly only allowed logging of dead and diseased trees.

Average Citizen, wake up. Let your government know that you are not going to allow callous corporate exploiters and self-serving government bureaucrats to ruin America's natural heritage by bypassing the laws you fought so hard to get.

Cheyenne