Dear HCN,
Jonathan Brinckman’s
profile of Senate hopeful Walt Minnick is written with the
arrogance that all too often portrays people of the land as part of
the problem but ignores very real problems created by growth in the
West (HCN, 9/30/96).
Consider his thesis: Those
in Idaho who care about the environment are battling “traditional
extractive industries’ over preserving the state’s beauty. Does it
occur to Brinckman that thousands of “old industry” families had
been keeping Idaho a beautiful place 100 years before 300,000
suburbanites discovered it? And that these were driven from
Southern California not by “old West” industries, but by urban
sprawl?
Every well-read person knows the damage
done by resource industries early this century. These industries
have had to change, however, and learn to practice long-term
management. Some advances are credited to non-rural people who took
time to understand and learn about the land. This doesn’t include
your author, who lumps all that he doesn’t understand into the
phrase, “extractive industries,” a term he uses like a Western city
uses water.
The West’s real threat – urban sprawl
– has made no similar progress. Poor grazing or logging methods can
be corrected, but a subdivision is forever. The same family may
farm one quarter in the Snake River Valley for five generations,
but a developer destroys almost all natural life on every parcel he
touches.
I think it’s easier to blame others for
not progressing quickly enough than to admit you have no solutions.
I have come to expect a more balanced treatment of issues from
HCN.
Chris
Frasier
Limon,
Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline It’s too easy to blame others.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
