It's a fact that wilderness, wilderness stewardship, wilderness management, wilderness designation and even support for wilderness is at times directly linked to politics. Even something as pure as wilderness isn't immune to political swings and changes over time. An article recently published in Seattle PI Local looks at how a changing Natural Resources Committee Chair could have impacts on wilderness in the coming years.
YAKIMA, Wash. -- Congressman Doc Hastings, a soft-spoken conservative who toes the Republican party line on most issues, generally doesn't garner much public attention outside his sweeping U.S. House district in central Washington. That's likely to change with GOP control of the chamber come January.
Hastings is set to take over the Natural Resources Committee, a panel that has jurisdiction over most federal land and water policy, covering national parks, wilderness areas and American Indian reservations.
Issues in those areas resonate across large swaths of the American West, not just in Hastings' 4th District, which stretches from north-central Washington to the Oregon border.
In a telephone interview this week, Hastings noted that he has yet to be named chairman, but said he's pleased his colleagues named him ranking member beginning in 2009. Hastings, 69, first won his seat in 1994 and has won re-election, often handily, in each election since.
Wilderness is many things. But, one clear thing that wilderness is: wilderness is a political designation. Wilderness is political. Not occasionally or at times. Wilderness has never been immune from politics, including their swings. It is from the political world that agencies derive their budgets and their mandates; it is in the hands of political appointees to steer agencies; all nonprofits working on behalf of wild lands are also engaged in the political processes of our country. I really hope that your group will engage deeply, beyond platitudes. Wilderness is incredibly important, and the wilderness community needs people who understand this moment in time. Not just the wild landscape, but the political one as well.
ReplyDeleteJeff - thanks for your comments and for your input on what the Society for Wilderness Stewardship should focus on. We're looking for individuals with a strong wilderness connection to get involved with the Society and hope you'll join us. http://www.wildernessstewardship.org
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