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Vote for values, pocketbook

Wildlife photographer Fielder makes economic case for ecology

Seven hundred and fifty-six wilderness areas. More than 109 million acres preserved: Celebrations are taking place across the nation to mark the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, and Durango, neighbor to the largest wilderness area in Colorado, the Weminuche Wilderness, is no exception.

More than 120 people filled the Powerhouse Science Center on Tuesday to see a multimedia presentation with stunning photographs of wilderness areas across the West and Alaska by John Fielder, a pre-eminent wilderness photographer. He is on a statewide tour for the anniversary, and his visit to Durango was sponsored by Conservation Colorado, the San Juan Citizens Alliance and Great Old Broads for Wilderness.

“I want to remind people how lucky we are to have wild places in Colorado,” he said. “The Wilderness Act was passed because Americans were alarmed at how many beautiful places we were losing.”

Fielder wants to see more places designated as wilderness areas.

“Wilderness areas with old-growth forests act as carbon sinks, absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, protect our watersheds and support biodiversity,” he said. “We need them to survive.”

Attract vs. extract

It took 76 stakeholders, representing local governmental and tribal entities, ranchers, conservationists, the gas and oil industry and recreation advocates, six years to reach a consensus on the proposal to create the Hermosa Watershed Protection Act, which would create another wilderness area in La Plata County along with a designated Special Management Area.

In September, those stakeholders were angered by changes made to the act two days before the House Committee on Natural Resources was scheduled to vote on it.

“This act was created by a bunch of people who don’t usually agree on much, and it took a lot of hard work,” said Michal Rosenoer, Southwest field organizer for Conservation Colorado. “We want people to encourage Rep. (Scott) Tipton to return the language to reflect what the community wants.”

Some of the changes strip restrictions from the SMA, not only allowing gas and oil drilling and mining operations but encouraging the Secretary of Agriculture, who oversees the San Juan National Forest where the watershed is located, to allow for such uses.

Roads, electricity transmission lines and possibly a reservoir in the Hermosa drainage would also be possible. A trade of 116 acres between the Bureau of Land Management and La Plata County would no longer restrict the land’s use for public purposes.

“Those people in Washington are so ideological,” Fielder said. “They go along with the party line and don’t think for themselves. There’s a congressman from Washington state on that committee who just hates wilderness areas and allowing the federal government have oversight.”

Fielder, who trained as an accountant at Duke University and worked in retail management before striking out as a professional photographer, calls himself a “capitalist environmentalist” and says the politicians are missing the bigger picture.

“Attractive creates more jobs than extractive,” he said, citing statistics that the tourism and recreation sector employs 125,000 Coloradans, while the gas and oil industry employs only 115,000 people. “We make more money from tourism, so this promotes the economy and the environment simultaneously. People have to have the courage to look ahead 100 years to see what this will look like if we don’t protect it.”

He also quibbles with their claims of being the only true capitalists.

“They’re ignoring the obvious cost of not protecting wilderness, of not dealing with climate change,” he said.

Coloradans can tell elected officials what they think in the November election, he said.

“They used to tell people to vote their pocketbook,” he said, “but now we know you can vote your pocketbook and your values, because they’re the same.”

abutler@durangoherald.com

Hermosa Watershed Fact Sheet (PDF)

Hermosa Community Support (PDF)

If you go

Photographer John Fielder is planning the “largest celebration in Colorado” for the Wilderness Act on Oct. 25 at Buell Theatre in Denver. In collaboration with the John Adams Band performing John Denver’s music, he will show 1,000 of his wilderness photos on a 30-foot screen.

Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com, www.johnfielder.com or from several conservation organizations.

Visit the San Juan Citizens Alliance at www.sanjuancitizens.org or the Hermosa Creek website at www.hermosacreek.org to learn more about the Hermosa Watershed Protection Act.

Visit http://bit.ly/1vJUguo to learn how to contact Rep. Tipton or other elected officials regarding the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act.



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