JACKSON HOLE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE
P.O. Box 2728
Jackson, WY 83001
(307) 733-9417
www.jhalliance.org
12/5/07
By Franz Camenzind, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance
Uncivil discourse? An unseemly side of Wyoming surfaced at the recent state Wolf Management Plan hearings in Thermopolis. For some of the public speakers, name-calling, rudeness and threatening language were their only messages. Emotions and not reasoned opinion ruled the day. This behavior was allowed to continue without a single comment from the Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioners. Is this the way Wyoming conducts its business? Is this the way individuals deal with differing opinions?
Differences of opinion exist everywhere and on nearly every issue, but somehow discussions seem to remain civil and outcomes are accepted. I hope that the November meeting was an exception, and that anger and rudeness wonÕt be repeated at the next round of public meetings when wolf management rules and regulations are hashed out.
Without a doubt, wolves are one of the most volatile and polarizing issues facing this state. Feelings are held as fact and facts fall victim to prejudice. If the events of Thermopolis repeat themselves, I fear that not only is this state retreating to its darker history when wolves were killed by every means possible, but that our own civility will become degraded into something from the far distant past. This will not resolve differences; it will only more deeply entrench already polarized positions.
The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance is a non-profit
organization dedicated to responsible land stewardship to ensure that human
activities are in harmony with the areaÕs irreplaceable wildlife, scenic and
other natural resources. The organization has 2,000 members from Jackson Hole
and across the nation.