OPINION: Environmentalist puts together his 'wish list'

We environmentalists are not very well-liked in Montana. The Democrats don’t like us. The Republicans hate us. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service consider us a problematic, litigious, pain in the butt. And hunters and trappers despise us. Only the lawyers and the vast majority of Americans like us… and the wildlife love us dearly.

All we want out of life is to save the planet Earth from the next, sixth, mass extinction, already underway, due to scientifically proven global warming, and reserve scientifically adequate wilderness habitat for the animals.

We have a lot of dirty names the “other side” has branded us with: Greenies, tree huggers, conservationists, naturalists, enviros, et al; and we are harassed, ostracized, criticized, scorned, shunned, and generally denied many accesses to jobs and goods and services in this bigoted Flathead County atmosphere we live in. Valid reasons for such treatment escape me.

Here is our wish list to change the culture of this society we live in:

•  STOP killing animals by hunting and trapping and poisoning them. (Sign petitions by Footloose Montana for ballot initiatives to stop trapping on public lands. www.footloosemontana.org).
•  DO NOT delist grizzly bears, bald eagles, wolves and other wildlife from the Endangered Species List necessary to our fragile forest ecosystem, in perpetuity.
•  DO list wolverines, Canada lynx, bison, et al, who must be added for the preservation of the natural ecosystem (www.swanview.org and www.wildswan.org).
•  PRESERVE America’s public land stewardship that lies in Montana.
•  REMOVE from office current leaders with their lifetime tenured jobs from FWP, USFWS, and USFS that lie with impunity to the public and are not protecting wildlife enough from hunters, trappers, loggers, and snowmobilers.
•  EXCLUDE renegade pseudo-environmental groups from our midst who have joined with politicians and FWP, USFWS, and USFS to justify surrendering wildlife habitat to logging and motorized access use.
•  REDIRECT that membership to join real environmental groups.
•  RECOGNIZE that the Native American Indian Tribes are superior stewards of the land and wildlife than FWP, USFWS, and USFS.
•  CRIMINALIZE and PUNISH human-caused illegal wildlife mortality.
•  INSIST on government scientists (paid with our taxes) advocating for wildlife, wilderness, and global warming. If they do not we are all doomed.
•  MAINTAIN clean and healthy rivers and lakes. Support the efforts of Montanans for Healthy Rivers on your behalf. www.HealthyRiversMT.org.
•  MONITOR railroad tracks for possible derailment risks along the Flathead River corridors. Push BNSF railroad to do better by supporting Glacier Climate Action out of Whitefish. http://citizensclimatelobby.org/)
•  ELIMINATE coal and oil trains routed dangerously through this area. Change the minds of Tester, Daines, and Zinke who promote these trains for commerce. Again, support Glacier Climate Action.
•  EMBRACE John Muir’s brilliant teachings: “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”
•  HONOR Albert Einstein’s genius: “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
•  HELP our judiciary to gain the necessary wisdom to better judge.
•  CONSULT with Pope Francis on mankind-caused global warming. He gets it.

Bill Baum is a resident of the Badrock Canyon.