It’s a notion whose time has come, this Colorado Conservation Summit that begins Monday at Keystone Conference Center. Of course, it also might be presumed a decade overdue, but such is the nature of America’s current infatuation with management by crisis.
In any case, this diverse gathering represents our state’s determination to join a movement that may offer outdoorsmen a last, best hope to protect wildlife habitat so important both to our sporting interests and to what we cherish as the Colorado way of life.
This flirtation between hunter/fishers and environmentalists, an off- and-on affair, at last has progressed to the hand-holding stage. Where it develops from here, at least in this neck of the woods, depends a great deal on the bonding that occurs next week.
At the root of the initiative is the recognition, finally, that those who pursue fish and game have so much more in common with conservationists than separates them. It’s an awareness born of hard lessons, bitter defeats and the reality that if something isn’t done soon, many things very precious will be lost.
For years, the anything-for-a-buck crowd has worked an effective campaign to paint anyone with a shred of environmental consciousness as an enemy of the state, somewhere between Osama bin Laden and Ralph Nader. Sadly, we sportsmen — generally a conservative lot — bought the lie, all the while watching our streams and woodlands pulled steadily from under us.
Beyond the distortions, the obscenely well-financed campaigns of misinformation, there is one basic truth: If something isn’t done to provide reasonable safeguards for Colorado’s wild places, we will have lost much of the motive for being here.
With this comes another reality, one that cannot be ignored and must be addressed with equal consideration. Colorado, along with neighboring states we visit often, holds immensely valuable deposits of energy, some of which cannot be extracted without extreme disruption of the landscape. For this same natural beauty we strive to protect, it also has become a population magnet and the nation’s hub for megaresorts and second homes.
All these issues will be addressed at a conference that begins with a 10 a.m. Monday keynote address by Gov. Bill Ritter and concludes Wednesday morning with a concluding summary by Max Peterson, retired chief of the U.S. Forest Service.
In between, one should find keen exchanges among a lineup that ranges from hard-core environmentalists to the bureaucrats who have been charged with implementing the ill- considered energy policies of the George W. Bush administration.
Keeping with the best purposes of an event aimed at consensus, there necessarily will be a certain amount of making nice. But such sharp divisions almost certainly will make for lively debate.
Other kickoff speakers include Harris Sherman, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and Tom Remington, director of the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
Perhaps the most telling moments will come from a Monday morning panel that includes many key federal officials: Sally Wisely, Colorado director Bureau of Land Management; Rick Cables, Rocky Regional Forester, U.S. Forest Service; Stephen Guertin, regional director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Mike Snyder, intermountain director, National Park Service. The panel includes John Stulp, Colorado agriculture commissioner.
Perspectives also will come from Michael Dombeck, former director of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management; William Travis of the University of Colorado; John Mumma, former DOW director; Luther Probst, executive director, The Sonoran Institute; Tony Dean, sportsman and author; and Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien.
Registration will continue Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.
Charlie Meyers: 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com
