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Another enviro-Republican

By Tom Biglen

A few weeks ago I read your fine article about Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP). I like Montana and its land, and I am a Republican. Then Gov. Judy intimated that I may be an eco-terrorist. This shook me and made me feel bad because it sounded like Gov. Judy didn't want someone like me in her party. But then I discovered REP in the Bozeman Chronicle and learned there are honest-to-goodness Republicans all around the country out drumming up support for the environment.


 I e-mailed REP, paid my dues, and soon received a complimentary REP newsletter, and was surprised to find our own Congressman Denny Rehberg showcased, but then I went on to read why. In response to a federal employee pointing out that the East had little habitat because of industrial development, our congressman replied, "You've already destroyed your habitat in the East, and you're trying to protect us from destroying the West?" Well duh, Denny.

On a more positive side, a REP brochure lists some Republican presidents who acted like the environment was an important deal. For example:

Abraham Lincoln protected Yosemite Valley.

Ulysses S. Grant signed Yellowstone National Park into being. How many of us locals have taken the fall tour to hear the elk bugle?

Benjamin Harrison gave us the Forest Reserve Act. I think this is why us Big Timber folks can go hiking and fishing up the Boulder and in the Crazies on a moment's whim.

Theodore Roosevelt gave us the first national wildlife refuge, and while you can't put your finger on its impact he gave some of the most eloquent reasons ever stated to preserve our land. I have heard Sen. Burns give a few reasons to log the land, pave the land and drill the land, but I don't think Conrad has the intellectual heft to take on Teddy Roosevelt's Republican legacy.

Herbert Hoover -- Grand Canyon, no less.

Dwight D. Eisenhower protected the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Our Republican leaders today are going to turn that around first chance they get. I still like Ike, though.

Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency and signed the Endangered Species Act into law. Actually, Mr. Nixon shook my Republican roots to the core, but here he is now in the 21st century, an embattled conservationist. That one is going to take some getting used to.

I feel a little better now about what my party was and what maybe it will be again, someday.

Tom Biglen

P.O. Box 1483

Big Timber

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