The Most Important Conservationist You’ve Never Heard Of

April 19, 2024

When I first moved to Washington, D.C., fresh out of college in 1979, a Capitol Hill friend offered a temporary room in a great old townhouse. Another room was occupied by a somewhat quirky, funny, and absolutely brilliant writer named R.J. Smith. He became the most important and influential conservation leader you’ve never heard of. […]

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Do Public Land Managers Even Need Congress?

March 29, 2024

When I was nominated for Congress some years ago, the management of public lands was a significant campaign issue. The federal government owns most of the land and resources in Colorado’s 3rd district, which encompasses most of the Western Slope and Southern Colorado. All the major candidates had ideas about how to improve public land […]

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Crying Crocodile Tears Over “Sue-and-Settle”

March 26, 2024

House Republicans were so upset that they held two committee hearings during 2023, and in November the Committee on Oversight and Accountability announced that it will investigate EPA’s “use of secretive ‘sue-and-settle’ practices.” The Chairman says EPA uses the tactic “to avoid congressional oversight” and implement policies that special interests want. Letting outside groups sue the […]

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Alopecic Aquila Just Doesn’t Sound As Patriotic

March 22, 2024

When the Continental Congress designated the bald eagle for America’s official seal, they were drawing on centuries of the bird’s symbolism, especially in Christian cultures. Although eagles were seen as symbols of strength and power earlier, even in ancient Rome, its adoption by early Christian churches made it emblematic of a perfect leader, its keen […]

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Flapdoodling With Forest Management

March 8, 2024

For decades we have debated the destruction of our national forests caused by a lack of management. We have watched catastrophic fires incinerate 200 million acres over the last 30 years. Yet we still cannot escape the conceited, supercilious popinjays in the environmental industry who insist on dictating forestry policy to professional foresters. The latest […]

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Using a Different Tool to Control Water

March 1, 2024

There are at least 25 different types of wrenches commonly found in toolboxes. There are box-end, open-end, combination, and crescent wrenches. For particular jobs, one might reach for a lug wrench, basin wrench, oil filter wrench, or an impact, flare-nut, strap, chain, or torque wrench. Like most people, I also have socket wrenches, Allen wrenches, […]

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Do Fish Understand Environmental Justice?

February 23, 2024

Southerners have enjoyed shrimp and grits for generations, New Englanders have their clam chowder, Marylanders their crab cakes, and Cajuns their crawfish etouffee. Oysters Rockefeller is a century-old tradition, while calamari, sushi, and ceviche are more of an acquired taste, but growing in popularity. Thankfully, all those fish no longer need worry about social justice, […]

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None of the Government’s Business?

February 13, 2024

There is a line in The Music Man, just after Harold Hill steps off the train, when he asks a local man on the street, “What do you folks do around here for excitement?” The stranger responds curtly, “Mind our business.” Getting elected to the legislature changes some people in a subtle way, because if […]

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On Pygmy Rabbits and Bumble Bees

February 9, 2024

If I say the sky is purple and you say it’s blue, so I challenge you to prove it, what would you do? How do you prove something nobody has spent money studying because it’s never been questioned before? Are there any scholarly, peer-reviewed journal studies proving conclusively, in a “settled science” sort-of way, what […]

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It’s the Wave of the Past

January 30, 2024

The Dutch electronic band Quadrophonia had a minor hit in the 1980s called “Wave of the Future,” hardly an original title. It was the name of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s 1940 book calling for appeasement with Hitler. Various magazines predicted that the “wave of the future” would be nuclear powered vacuum cleaners, flying cars, shopping malls, […]

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