Dear HCN,
I appreciated the
interview with Steve Hinchman in the July 31 issue. It’s
encouraging to know that there are other people who understand the
problems that “recreation-based environmentalism” is causing in the
rural West. Although I considered myself an environmentalist back
when the movement was still the grassroots underdog, I’m terrified
now at the tyrannical monster that’s been created with mainstream
money and changing politics.
I often wonder what
happened to the bioregional approach in which we learned to live
well in a place by listening to the old-timers. They’d tell us how
the local human/natural habitat interface worked – and didn’t work
– and we learned from their mistakes. There was a continuity to
living in rural areas that had little to do with this “Old West/New
West” dichotomy. This approach took patience, commitment and
humility; all of these seem to be in short supply in our current
economic and personal/political climate.
What
can be done for the rural West? If you don’t agree with the
national environmentalist agenda and yet, can’t stomach all the
People for the USA rhetoric, perhaps we have the kernel of a second
sagebrush rebellion in our hands, united in the common interest “to
simultaneously inhabit and preserve fully working ecosystems.” It’s
heartening that high-profile people like Steve Hinchman are willing
to lay this complex and controversial issue on the table. Thanks
for sticking your neck out, Steve.
Lauren Davis
Lee
Vining, California
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Learning from the old-timers.
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