Dear HCN,
In a recent article,
writer Mark Matthews agonized over alleged radical shifts in
philosophy and direction here at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
(HCN, 5/27/02: Elk conservation group sharpens its ax). Our
immediate response was, “Huh?”
Bewildered, we’re
still not sure how (or why) Matthews weaved his handful of scrap
info into such a wet-blanket litany. His misinterpretations were
compounded by gross factual errors, such as over-reporting by $10
million the price of our proposed headquarters
facility.
The bottom line is that our longtime
mission – ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife and their
habitat – continues to steer our operations. Fuel comes from
urgency. In some regions where subdivision and development threaten
critical elk range, we may have only 10-15 years to do our job. And
then it’ll be too late. We must adopt businesslike swiftness and
efficiency. Tough decisions must be made now. A custom headquarters
will provide us with infrastructure, a smaller staff is giving us
focus, and our members and volunteers are adding sweat to aid our
mission. Matthews’ article was absurd to many of us whose hearts
and heads are dedicated to effective
conservation.
There’s reason for our pride. In
just 18 years, the Elk Foundation has enhanced or permanently
protected 3.8 million acres – an area 50 percent larger than
Yellowstone National Park. That’s land conservation at a pace
approaching a square mile per day. But we must continue to
prioritize resources to do the most good for the most elk. Public
access will be opened wherever feasible – in 2002 alone, we’ve
moved more than 9,300 acres into public
ownership!
Matthews attacked conservation
easements, a tool we use to permanently protect privately owned elk
habitat. His analysis of costs and benefits was poor, however, and
I challenge High Country News to objectively
explore this topic in a future article.
Steve Wagner
Missoula,
Montana
The writer is public
relations director at the Rocky Mountain Elk
Foundation.
Mark Matthews responds:
I did not editorialize on whether the
installation of corporate-style management, layoffs and shifting
emphasis to private land conservation at the Rocky Mountain Elk
Foundation is bad or good. I only reported what happened and how
the tenor of the organization has drifted away from its original
down-home, grassroots character. It was RMEF’s chairman of the
board, Jon Fossel, who told me that he wanted to see RMEF get more
involved in protecting private lands. Whether the public will be
able to walk those lands is a legitimate issue: As I talk to
hunters across Montana, hunting access is now their major concern.
But as in every story, praise comes with criticism. I recently
received an e-mail from a former RMEF employee with whom I have
never spoken. The ex-employees cannot comment in public because
RMEF made them sign a confidentiality agreement in order to get
their severance package. The worker wrote: “Your article is so
true. Thank you so much for writing such a wonderful
article.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Matthews wrote wet-blanket litany.
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