Regarding the article "Politics of Wolves" in The Durango Herald on April 15 and online in The Journal, the true conservationists are the conservative ranchers that voted against and worked hard to defeat the introduction of wolves to Colorado. The ranchers that provide habitat, water and feed for wildlife on both private and public lands. And, yes, the ranchers that provide high quality protein to feed Colorado, the United States and the world.
We have a very good environment in Colorado and the U.S., mainly because we all have full bellies due to our “free enterprise” economic system, where we have freedom to produce food. That is why people all over the world would like to live here. We have some of the cleanest air and water in the world. Wolf introduction will inhibit the ability for ranchers to provide that food and will put many ranchers out of business.
It is a fallacy that wolves will improve the ecosystem of Colorado. We do a great job without them. We control wildlife numbers and prevent overgrazing by hunting. Wolves will destroy our wildlife, thereby, destroying our hunting industry.
I am sure that freedom-loving conservatives voted against introducing wolves to Colorado. We ranchers thank them for that.
On the other hand, the San Juan Citizens Alliance, either purposely or unwittingly, are headed down the road to make the U.S. a third-world country by pushing the “Marxist ideology” of total government control. Socialism or Communism has never been good at feeding the people and encouraging a pristine environment. (Hungry people could care less about clean water and air.) And yes, they voted for President Biden and in favor of the introduction of wolves.
J. Paul Brown
Ignacio
