Red Lodge Clearinghouse

The change comes as Congress moves from Republican to Democratic control and as wilderness advocates have pursued more pragmatic approaches. "It may not seem like it on most issues, but this is one arena Congress is getting things across the goal line," said Mike Matz, executive director of the Campaign for America's Wilderness. "Nobody gets everything they want, but by coming together, talking with age-old adversaries and seeking common ground, wilderness protection is finding Main Street support and becoming motherhood and apple pie."

The push for conservation comes as the Bush administration is opening huge swaths of land -- 40 million acres in the Rockies and 70 million in the Alaskan Arctic -- to oil and gas drilling and other "extractive uses," according to conservation group the Wilderness Society.

But the administration has only been supportive of congressional efforts for conservation, especially as President Bush contemplates his legacy as he nears the end of his second term.

Not everyone is equally enthused, with some legislators wanting to see better management on the land the government already controls. "If you're not preserving and taking care of what you've got, why are you adding to it?" asked Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who is blocking action on several conservation bills.

But since former House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), a fierce opponent of adding new wilderness areas, lost his seat and was replaced by Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), the committee has been renamed and its mandate has changed.

"When I changed the name from Resources to Natural Resources, it wasn't just for cosmetic reasons -- it's for what I view as the real guts of the responsibility of this committee," Rahall said. "To those critics who say, 'Why do we need new wilderness?' I say these areas already are wilderness. We simply want to preserve them as they are, as they have been for generations, and preserve them for future generations" (Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, June 16). -- PR

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment