to answer this question. Wildlife of all kinds fills me with awe and wonder. Wolves certainly do. While I respect the rights of people to defend livestock from wolf predation, I do not see wolves as an overall menace. I support legal hunting, whatever the species may be. But having worked over many years to help bring wolves back from near extinction, I hope they won’t be overly hunted. I am opposed to being able to shoot a wolf on sight outside of a legal hunting context. Q: You are currently working with ROAR, a group that is suing the Secretary of the Interior, the head of the department that employed you for thirty-five years. Awkward? A: No. ROAR’s suit was filed to protect lands, water, and wildlife that he [Ken Salazar] swore to protect when he became Secretary of the Interior. He’s not doing that with these BLM [Bureau of Land Management] lands. Secretary Salazar has aligned himself completely with Christo. The project should never have been approved by [BLM] and the Department of the Interior. The Environmental Impact Statement is flawed, and the approval seems to have been ordained before the EIS process ever began. Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing Grand Teton National Park today? A: The incredible popularity of the park for all kinds of visitor and recreational uses. I do hope the National Park Service is allowed to carry on its mission of protecting these incredible parks and serving all visitors. Sometimes that includes saying no to certain uses or events. Increasingly, elected officials are trying to tweak the mission to suit their political agenda. Parks and visitors are the losers when politics dictate how the National Park Service operates. Q: What drew you back to Jackson Hole? A: There are few places on Earth like this. When I left for my work in Colorado, I missed Jackson and the Tetons to the core of my being. When I returned in 2011, it was the sight of the mountains coming into my view as I first crested the National Elk Refuge hill on Highway 89 that had me saying, “I’m home, I’m home, I’m home.” I cherish every day and every glimpse of my mountains.
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Interview by allison arthur
WINTER 2013 JACKSON HOLE MAGAZINE
33