I see where Gov. Bill Owens is out stumping to make Bob Beauprez his successor. As far as attracting wildlife voters is concerned, the Republican candidate might want to think twice about the association.
Let’s get this out right up front. Where matters relating to hunting, fishing and resource protection is concerned, the Owens administration has been the most destructive in more than half a century.
As the days before election dwindle to a precious few, the question for voters who value Colorado’s outdoor opportunity is this: Will Beauprez be an Owens clone, serving up more of the same old rape and scrape with sportsmen as the fall guys? Increasingly, knowledgeable observers have answered in the affirmative.
The Owens legacy is one of environmental assassination, of bullied resource agencies, of rampant commercialization, of a moratorium on public fishing and hunting access acquisition and a fox in every henhouse.
A couple of weeks ago, 85 retired state wildlife employees – including several former wildlife commissioners and three former Division of Wildlife directors – signed a letter endorsing Bill Ritter, an act driven as much by the threat of more of the same from Beauprez as the promise of change by Ritter.
The League of Conservation voters twice placed Beauprez on its “Dirty Dozen” list for a cook’s broth of adverse congressional votes. More recently, Beauprez rubber-stamped a proposal by the oil and gas industry to provide off-site mitigation for the decimation of deer and elk herds in western Colorado drilling zones – raising the question of what particularly creative notions he might harbor for mitigating the loss of an elk herd.
A roadless review process involving 4.1 million largely pristine acres provides yet another philosophical demarcation. Ritter calls for a moratorium on road building and development until completion of the process; Beauprez has remained noncommittal.
Owens has delayed his roadless decision, possibly until after the election, perhaps mindful that 90 percent of respondents favor retention of the entire allotment.
Thus far, Ritter has earned wildlife community support with an active campaign that champions resource protection and support for Colorado’s outdoor heritage. An active angler, gun owner and father of a deer-
hunting son, he sounds like a man who means what he says.
On the other hand, Ritter has been attacked by the National Rifle Association as a threat to gun ownership, a reference to his stance against certain radical firearms as an article of public safety when he was Denver’s district attorney.
The notion that Ritter, or any other Colorado politician, could or would take away our shotguns and hunting rifles is absurd. Last time I checked, nobody went hunting with automatic assault rifles or Saturday night specials.
In fact, Ritter is on record promoting the development of gun ranges along the Front Range, including a magnum facility in the metro area. This wrong-headed election rhetoric from the firearms lobby consistently ignores the reality that it doesn’t matter how many guns we own if there’s nothing left to hunt.
Attitudes about wildlife protection and the opportunity to hunt and fish should have little to do with being Republican or Democrat, labels that may say something about a candidate’s viability, or may not.
I voted for Owens eight years ago, then, like a blind drunk waking up from a bad hangover, almost immediately regretted it.
The future of Colorado outdoor sport hinges on protecting the habitat that harbors fish and game, of supporting the rights of ordinary citizens to access licenses and lands.
In recent years, we have drifted toward resource destruction and catered to a moneyed European-style commercialization that takes us further from our roots. It’s time for a change of course.
