Butterfly scandal?

[Kenelm Philip]

	The 'Wise Use' movement has come in for a lot of flak recently on
Leps-L. I am not a member, not are any of my friends or acquaintances
(to my knowledge)--but I do think a little balance should be restored,
so here goes...

	In the early 1990s the Wilderness Society, alarmed by the rise of
the Wise Use movement, hired a firm of consultants to review the movement
and advise them how to counter it. The Wilderness Society _Report on the
Wise Use Movement_ soon appeared, and was revised in March 1993. This
report conceded that "Wise Use is a local movement driven primarily by
local concerns, not national issues." However, it recommended a strategy
for containing the movement: depict it as a "far right" fanatically
religious "pawn of powerful special interests." "Expose the Wise Use/Jap-
anese connection...prepare articles, monographs and books that expose
Wise Use activities and leaders..."

	Another quote from an environmentalist: "The more we dig into it...
we have come to the conclusion that this is pretty much generally a grass-
roots movement, which is a problem, because it means there's no silver
bullets, it means this is...something that's going to have to be confronted
in states and communities across the country...The movement is actually
growing quickly at the grassroots as it finds its base...In New York it's
about the Adirondack Moutains, it's about private property rights move-
ments, it's about the Northeastern forests. In the Southeast it's about
coastal zone management and coastal development. It's about shrimpers in
Louisiana not liking turtle exclusion devices. In the Midwest it's about
farmland..."

	Clearly the attempt to 'demonize' the movement has succeeded. In
practice, of course, both sides of the controversy will happily accept
money from their supporters, and can thus be accusing of fronting for
wealthy special interests.

	In case someone wants to accuse me of spouting Wise Use propaganda,
note that all the direct quotes above were made by environmentalists or
people hired by them.  :-)

							Ken Philip
fnkwp at uaf.edu




 
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