Conservation successes & setbacks

To the editor, 

Protecting the places we hunt and fish is nothing new for sportsmen and women, because hunters and anglers know that good habitat means strong herds and healthy fish. But they also know that protecting such habitat takes hard work – oftentimes spanning decades. The idea that hunters and anglers are responsible for protecting habitat for the game they hunt and fish is one of the oldest forms of environmental advocacy in North America, owing its existence to sportsmen like Theodore Roosevelt. 

TR, a Republican, would likely be proud of recent public lands conservation successes in Colorado (and elsewhere), but also dismayed at some of the misguided actions taken by ideologically driven, anti-public lands scofflaws and politicians. Historically (and still today, in some cases), public lands conservation has been a bipartisan undertaking. Here in Colorado, Browns Canyon (near Salida) is a textbook example.

On Feb. 19, 2015, President Obama designated 21,586 acres of wild canyons and low-elevation big game habitat along the Arkansas River as the Browns Canyon National Monument. Former U.S. Representative Joel Hefley, a Republican who represented the district from 1987-2007, was the original champion of the project. 

Colorado’s U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, also a Republican, called Browns Canyon a “national treasure with a long history of bipartisan support in Colorado.” Not to be outdone, Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett was a co-sponsor of The Browns Canyon National Monument and Wilderness Act of 2013, originally introduced by Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo.

Another bipartisan success in Colorado (Dec. 2014) was the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act,sponsored by Sen. Bennet and Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo. This bill provided protection (including 37,000 wilderness acres) for more than 100,000 acres of the Hermosa Creek watershed, encompassing some of the finest elk and deer habitat in the state along with the site for CPW’s largest native cutthroat trout reintroduction program.

During 2015, there was also plenty said and written (both in Colorado and throughout the West) about efforts by state legislatures to transfer federal public lands to the states. Although current public lands management can be improved, there’s no defendable reason to allow public lands to be seized and given to states with a history of selling them or leasing them to private interests and, ultimately, limiting sportsmen access. 

Here in Colorado, thanks in great part to a deciding “No” vote on SB232 (aka, the “federal land-grab bill”) by state Sen. Larry Crowder, R-Alamosa, no such bill made it out of the state legislature. Crowder surely took some heat from members of his own party as a result, but Theodore Roosevelt had plenty of critics in his day, too, and they only steeled his resolve. Thank goodness for that. America’s great traditions of hunting, fishing and public lands recreation would be in tatters if it wasn’t for the visionary and steadfast will of TR and those like him.

– David Lien, chairman, Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers

Firing up on whiny liberals

To the editor,

Starting with Columbine, I can hardly wait to see the list of “mass” shootings that Obama’s latest executive order would have prevented. Again, I wonder how many gun-control advocates have actually applied for a background check. Too, I wonder how many of those whiny liberals are aware that the Colorado Bureau of Investigations does the required gun-purchase background checks instead of the FBI. And the reason for that is the fact that the FBI checks did not look at restraining orders issued by county authorities.  

I expect that there will be selective enforcement on the new requirement that even a single gun sale will require a costly Federal Firearms License. Again, I looked into an FFL several years ago and the requirements and costs are mind boggling.

What’s the difference between my proposal to tax ammunition to fund mental health services and Obama’s request for $500 million of tax money to do the same thing?

To sum up, Obama’s executive order is nothing more than resume filler that does absolutely nothing.

– Dennis Pierce, Durango 

Oblivious apocalyptic horsemen

To the editor,

President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, former Secretary of State Clinton, and Senator Bernie Sanders are oblivious to the danger posed by ISIS.

Sanders keeps harping on our economy, and hardly talks about ISIS. He is way out in left field.

President Obama referred to ISIS as the JV team and dithered when moderate Syrians asked for air strikes. Over the past year Obama’s air campaign against ISIS averaged 20 sorties per day compared to 1,100 sorties per day in Operation Desert Storm and 800 per day during the second Gulf War.

Obama continues to refuse to call them radical Islamic terrorists.

When referring to the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, Secretary Kerry said there was “a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, OK, they’re really angry because of this and that.” And then he described the killing of 130 people in Paris as indiscriminate. There is no rationale for any terrorist attacks, and showing sympathy for the Charlie Hebdo attack is ridiculous.

In a Democratic debate former Secretary Clinton said she couldn’t refer to the Paris killers as radical Islamic terrorists, which is parroting Obama’s view of the terrorists. Clinton and Obama think we should lead from behind and let others be out front, and ISIS and others are taking advantage of this policy of non-leadership, and they threaten the security of this country and the Western world.

– Donald Moskowitz, Londonderry, N.H.

Schooling Mancos over MLK Day

To the editor,

Monday, Jan. 18, was Martin Luther King Day – a significant day because civil rights for all are crucial to the success of a Democratic society. Significant because the right to vote is crucial in a Democratic society. In honor of the slain Civil Rights leader and the movement for equal civil rights, our banks, government offices and schools were all closed on Jan. 18.

However, one local school district chose not to observe this federally recognized holiday, the Mancos School District was open for business.

One has to wonder what message the Mancos School District is trying to convey by non-observance. Are they saying that history and progress serve no value and, therefore, deserves no observation? Are they denying the fact that citizens were once denied basic freedoms such as using the front door, attending integrated schools, drinking from a water fountain or sitting where they like on the bus? Are they denying the fact that many have died at the hands of injustice trying to right these wrongs?

Are they denying that racism still exists today and that students currently enrolled may be struggling with the pain of racism?

It is my hope that next year, the Mancos School District will join the rest of us in honoring Mr. King and his accomplishments on the third Monday of January.

– Timothy Prow, Hesperus