spectr17
07-18-2001, 09:29 PM
Wildlife Experts: Living in 'New West' Is Balancing Act.
Wednesday, July 18, 2001
###
BY TOM WHARTON, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
### ###PARK CITY -- With ski runs cut into mountains that once crawled with miners, and homes filling in pastures where sheep once grazed, Park City could be a poster child for the New West.
### ###Its story is being repeated in countless towns.
### ###Several hundred wildlife experts attending the Western Association of Fish and Game Agencies meetings that ended here Tuesday looked for ways to preserve rural landscapes and protect wildlife. They learned that, while solutions may differ, they will probably combine traditional rural industries with new and often higher paying service jobs.
### ###The conference drew officials from 16 states and four Canadian provinces.
### ###Conference participants heard a
familiar tale: New residents fleeing cities purchase ranch and farmlands, filling in once pristine valleys with subdivisions. That, in turn, eats up wildlife habitat and increases property values, forcing long-time residents to move.
### ###"We have switched from viewing the land as a source of raw materials to a source of recreation," said Ray Rasker of the Sonoran Institute. "The land has a different role. It is no longer something that produces food, but is a great place to live."
### ###Rasker said one of the fastest growing segments of the rural population are "equity refugees," people who sell their expensive homes in big cities then buy less expensive housing in economically depressed rural locations. They pay cash for their new dwelling, leaving the rest for travel and recreation.
### ###Couple those newcomers with small industries whose owners want to live in a beautiful area, and many towns that once depended on extractive industries and agriculture are prospering in a new economy that creates higher paying jobs.
### ###But preserving traditional industries is still important.
### ###"Environmental activists who want to eliminate agriculture are myopic," Rasker said. "Because there have been abuses in the past, there is no room in their argument for those who are doing [agriculture] right. We need to make room for those who are doing it right."
### ###Dan Dagget, an author and Arizona activist, said the West's most successful rural communities have replaced contention and confrontation with shared goals.
### ###"There is a whole lot more that private landowners can do to sustain wildlife than to just sit on the land and keep it from being subdivided," he said.
### ###According to Deseret Land and Livestock Ranch manager Bill Hopkin, some ranchers are turning big game animals they once viewed as parasites into cash crops as valuable as cattle.
### ###Utilizing new hunting laws and helped by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, he said selling big game hunts on Deseret Land and Livestock accounts for between 25 and 70 percent of its income, depending on the price of cattle.
### ###twharton@sltrib.com ###
Wednesday, July 18, 2001
###
BY TOM WHARTON, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
### ###PARK CITY -- With ski runs cut into mountains that once crawled with miners, and homes filling in pastures where sheep once grazed, Park City could be a poster child for the New West.
### ###Its story is being repeated in countless towns.
### ###Several hundred wildlife experts attending the Western Association of Fish and Game Agencies meetings that ended here Tuesday looked for ways to preserve rural landscapes and protect wildlife. They learned that, while solutions may differ, they will probably combine traditional rural industries with new and often higher paying service jobs.
### ###The conference drew officials from 16 states and four Canadian provinces.
### ###Conference participants heard a
familiar tale: New residents fleeing cities purchase ranch and farmlands, filling in once pristine valleys with subdivisions. That, in turn, eats up wildlife habitat and increases property values, forcing long-time residents to move.
### ###"We have switched from viewing the land as a source of raw materials to a source of recreation," said Ray Rasker of the Sonoran Institute. "The land has a different role. It is no longer something that produces food, but is a great place to live."
### ###Rasker said one of the fastest growing segments of the rural population are "equity refugees," people who sell their expensive homes in big cities then buy less expensive housing in economically depressed rural locations. They pay cash for their new dwelling, leaving the rest for travel and recreation.
### ###Couple those newcomers with small industries whose owners want to live in a beautiful area, and many towns that once depended on extractive industries and agriculture are prospering in a new economy that creates higher paying jobs.
### ###But preserving traditional industries is still important.
### ###"Environmental activists who want to eliminate agriculture are myopic," Rasker said. "Because there have been abuses in the past, there is no room in their argument for those who are doing [agriculture] right. We need to make room for those who are doing it right."
### ###Dan Dagget, an author and Arizona activist, said the West's most successful rural communities have replaced contention and confrontation with shared goals.
### ###"There is a whole lot more that private landowners can do to sustain wildlife than to just sit on the land and keep it from being subdivided," he said.
### ###According to Deseret Land and Livestock Ranch manager Bill Hopkin, some ranchers are turning big game animals they once viewed as parasites into cash crops as valuable as cattle.
### ###Utilizing new hunting laws and helped by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, he said selling big game hunts on Deseret Land and Livestock accounts for between 25 and 70 percent of its income, depending on the price of cattle.
### ###twharton@sltrib.com ###