Rant of the Week: Enviros

Rant of the Week: Environmentalists

I used to consider myself a pretty radical environmentalist in college. I underwent a pretty significant wakeup call living in Kenya, but the story of that transformation is for another post. Additionally, working with many local, regional and national conservation groups through my job with the BLM has also changed my perception of the environmental movement. I’ve seen many examples of what I would deem “good environmentalism” and “bad environmentalism.” I still consider myself an environmentalist, and unfortunately, many of the practices of western conservation groups work against protecting the environment. What follows is 5 tips for enviros working in the western US.

5 tips for enviros working in the rural west:

1. Work with the community from the grassroots, not against them from the top down.

The thing that most harms the environmental movement in the rural west is imposing environmental “fixes” on local communities from Denver or Washington DC. A conservation group should truly understand the issues locals have to deal with. To do this, they need to station an employee on the ground in rural towns so they can work from the grassroots up. By living and working on the ground in small communities, a representative of an environmental group can forge important relationships and gain critical insights. This helps gain the trust of the locals, and even if some folks never agree with them, they respect where they’re coming from. Fortunately, environmental groups in the west are catching on to this pretty quickly. Small citizens groups are sprouting up in conservative pro-use towns. Larger national or state organizations are putting folks on the ground in these areas, and I have no doubt they’re seeing more results than directing things from Denver and San Francisco. The Nature Conservancy has a good reputation in this regard and is often referred to in my part of the west as “not one of those radical environmental groups” even though they’ve actually had more success in preservation/conservation than more “radical” enviros. Also, the grassroots opposition to drilling the Roan Plateau was downright impressive and gives the Bush Administration a red face in saying they will support local views in natural resource-related issues.

2. Go redneck

So you need some folks on the ground; you’d better send the right ones. The absolute worst thing an enviro group could do in a rural town in the west is to bring in some Birkenstock-wearing dreadlocked kid from Boulder to lecture the locals about their harmful ways. It is very important not to push some outsider on the community and expect to get anything but dirty looks. Groups should hire people with western backgrounds. The best type of environmentalist to introduce to a small community is one that rides dirt bikes and hunts. He or she should drive a beat up Ford pickup, not a Subaru. Someone familiar, even sympathetic to rural western viewpoints has a much greater chance of recruiting locals to help address environmental issues. A fellow “redneck” is better able to mobilize ranchers, hunters and other atypical environmentalists to rally to the cause.

3. Collaborate, compromise where appropriate, and keep your promises

So once you have your hunter enviro on the ground, come to the table when collaborative opportunities present themselves. Collaboration is a good way to gain respect in a community and to make yourself known. Talking face to face often strips away stereotypes and angry feelings. After getting to know someone, even if you disagree with their position, you respect them as a person. In my experience, enviros often find it harder than other interest groups to compromise. This is fine in some situations, but I think it would help their standing if they did move a little on some issues. Unfortunately, enviro groups need money to survive, and they’re damn good at getting it. They don’t get large sums of money from rich liberals in New York and L.A. by compromising; they get it for being stubborn on issues, even when they could cut a deal that better benefits the environment than stalling or suing. Finally, groups need to stick to the deal. When a gray wolf was sighted in northern CO a few years ago, the Division of Wildlife put a broad-based group together to develop a plan for the gray wolf. Enviros and ranchers actually agreed on a plan, which did not include reintroduction of wolves. However, when the state administration became friendlier to their interests, they began to sound the drums for reintroduction. How do you think that made the ranchers feel? Never again will those folks sit down with enviros to hash out a deal. The reintroduction effort is going nowhere and now the enviros are left holding only remnants of burnt bridges.

4. Don’t exaggerate, lie, or use scare tactics.

This one is by far my biggest pet peeve. I see it nearly every day. Again, enviro groups see it as an unfortunate necessity to drum up money from people in New Jersey who don’t know a goddamn thing about what goes on in resource-dependent communities. I could fill eight posts with examples. Just Google any newspaper article that quotes an enviro and you’re probably going to see some fear mongering and spin. The problem with this is they lose a lot of credibility with people who are knowledge about the issues. The lies, exaggerations and scare tactics surrounding the Roan Plateau issue was almost enough to sicken me to the point of not supporting their cause. Some enviros claimed that the gas resource could be tapped by directional drilling from the base of the plateau while they knew very damn well that you can’t directionally drill 3 miles laterally (2,500 to 3,000 ft is the realistic distance). They claimed that a 1% surface disturbance threshold would “devastate” the plateau’s wildlife and that the plateau would be “unrecognizable.” Um, 350 acres of development with rolling reclamation in a 35,000 acre area is going to spell the end to the mule deer? Excuse me? Enviros have lied about protections in resource management plans, about how a BLM plan would “destroy” cultural resources on a piece of state-managed land, and often contradict themselves. Exaggerations may shock people and get them to open their checkbooks or show up for a rally, but I would contend they’re also losing a lot of potential supporters by not being truthful.

5. Don’t just veto every project; provide solutions

Few things drives people nuts as much as enviros who veto every and all development proposals. Oil and gas development? Nope. Coal? No. Nuclear? No way. Solar panels or wind farms all over the west? Sorry. Well then can you please tell me how you think America should meet her energy needs? Many enviro groups are conscious of this problem and are good about saying “we’re not against all development, we just want responsible development in the right places.” While that may or may not actually be the case, at least they’re paying lip service. Here’s another point regarding this issue: one enviro org might not veto every project, but when many NGOs are in the same room, nearly all projects and areas are off limits. Let me give you an example. When the BLM was working with a community group to develop a resource management plan, the mediator handed out maps to everyone and asked them to ciricle areas they wanted off limits to oil and gas development. Well, the Wilderness Society circled all their lands with wilderness qualities, which might have amounted to 30% of the planning area. Okay, not bad. But then Colorado Mountain Club wants all the places they like to hike off limits, and Center for Native Ecosystems wants all critical big game and sage grouse habitat off limits, etc. When we combined all the maps, nearly 90% of the planning area was off limits. Sorry guys, but that’s not balance and it’s no way to meet our energy needs. I realize enviros aren’t a monolithic entity and that they have a diversity of concerns. But it wouldn’t it be great if they could get together and hash out a plan together that is realistic? If not, at least when enviros veto the next project, I’d like to hear a realistic counter proposal.