The Private S ector
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The Wise Use Memo

VT V olum e 8, No.3

P rivate P roperty— Free M arkets— Lim ited G overnm ent

1

A utum n, 1995

M

Governing:

THIS
ISSUE
Page 2
Defending
Dwight
H am m ond’
s
Rights
Page 3
!

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What Do We
Believe?

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T h e W ise Use
M em o
Alan M. Gottlieb
Publisher

Ron Arnold
Editor

Leadership Conference Report:
What a Success!
I f we saw anything at the

1995

Wise Use Leadership Conference in
Reno, it was enthusiasm! More than 150
delegates from all over the nation attended
the 8th annual event, aimed at “Fixing the
Endangered Species Act.”
Emcee Kathleen Marquardt of Putting
People First said, “This was the best, most
intensive conference ever.” Rob Gordon of
the Washington, D.C.-based National Wil­
derness Institute was the featured luncheon
speaker, and challenged wise use leaders to
rise to the opportunities presented by the new
Republican-dominated Congress.
Perry Pendley, President of Mountain
States Legal Foundation roused the audience
with his optimistic assessment of our chances
in the courts. He made the presentation of
the conference’s Activist of the Year Award
to Kathleen Benedetto of the Womens
Mining Coalition. Congratulations, Kathy!

Jim Burling of Pacific Legal Founda­
tion gave a sobering overview of the case
law that has evolved around the ESA.
Our agenda has become the national
agenda. Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-Idaho)
told wise use leaders in her keynote address.
A member of the House Resources
Com m ittee’s ESA Task Force, Rep.
Chenoweth has heard testimony all over the
nation. She gave a detailed assessment of
fixing the ESA’s problems.
Chuck Cushman, head of the Ameri­
can Land Rights Association andKathleen
Marquardt gave the well-received work­
shop, “Peaceful and Fun Ways to Influence
Public Policy.” Chuck once again proved his
legendary ability to poke fun at our opponents
while making a strong point to the public.
The Center thanks all the wise use leaders
who spoke and the dozens of organizations that
co-sponsored this hugely successful event!

Announcing the Center’
s SPEAKERS BUREAU
N ow Y ou r G r o u p C an
Help Us Spread the Wise Use Message

Janet Arnold

R esearch Editor

Michael J. Bennett

Washington Bureau

Henry Batsel
D ocum ent R esea rch

Andrea Wright
Production

SusanEUnge

Distribution

Published quarterly by the
'enter for the Defense of Free
Enterprise
IN.E. 10th Place
llevue, Washington
98005
206-455-5036

FAX 206-451-3959

Ron Arnold, Center executive vice presi­
dent, has announced the formation of the
Free Enterprise Speakers Bureau.
The permanent project will help spread
the inspiring wise use message to an ever
broader audience. Ron himself will at last be
available to personally address any organi­
zation in the world.
“Now that the Center’s heavy publishing
schedule is running smoothly, I can be part of
this new project,” said Arnold. A roster of
distinguished speakers is taking shape.
Speaking engagements will be accepted
for motivational seminars, annual meetings,
technical conferences, and more.

Ron Arnold has recently taken several
interesting engagements, one to address the
Student Animal Legal Defense Fund, an
animals rights group at Portland, Oregon’s
Northwestern School of Law. That was an
interesting confrontation!
Ron was also dinner speaker for the Alli­
ance Conference in Tucson, Arizona. This
address to pro-pesticide alliances was booked
by the American Crop Protection Associa­
tion of Washington, D.C.
For bookings, arrangements and hono­
raria rates, call the Center at 206-455-5038.
Ask for Susan. FAX us at 206-451-3959.
Help spread the message!

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 News from Around the Movement
Environmental Grantmakers Association 1995
Fall Retreat at Michigan
resort
Big Money Foundations
Meet: The EGA, control center
of environmental movement, in
closed strategy sessions
The Center for the Defense of Free
Enterprise has learned that the Environ­
mental Grantmakers Association, the
command center cartel of eco-money,
scheduled its 1995 Fall Retreat for Octo­
ber 11 through 15 at Sugar Loaf Resort
near Cedar, Michigan.
The keynote address, “Everything
Else: The New Green Agenda,” is de­
livered by Denis Hayes, executive di­
rector of the Seattle-based Bullitt
Foundation. They’re clearly planning
to come after “everything else,” the
rest of our resources and our free­
doms.
Speakers include Theo Colburn of
the World Wildlife Fund, Timothy
Weiskel of Havard Divinity School, and
an assortment of experts in trashing the
economy.
Wise users have staged protest dem­
onstrations at two EGA Fall Retreats.
1995’s: Sugar Loaf Resort, 4500 Sugar
Loaf Mountain Road, Cedar, MI 496219755, telephones 1-800-968-0576 or
616-228-5461, FAX 616-228-6545.
EGA sessions are closed.

Wise Use Leadership
Conference set for May

Help Dwight Hammond
Defend his Property
Rights!

Moved Earlier in Year:
The ninth annual meeting in
Reno to bring leaders together

Free Enterprise Legal
Defense Fund com es to
aid of Oregon rancher:

In response to many requests, the
Wise Use Leadership Conference date
has been advanced from its usual time in
mid-July to early May for 1996, accord­
ing to Charles S. Cushman of the Amer­
ican Land Rights Association, a major
co-sponsor of the event.
The 1996 Conference will be held
May 10, 11 & 12 at John Ascuaga’s
Nugget in Reno, Nevada.
Conference emcee Kathleen Marquardt of co-sponsor Putting People First
said, “This will allow many to attend
who otherwise could not.”
The Nugget has advised all attendees
to book their rooms three months in
advance to assure your reservation. The
block of rooms held for us will be re­
leased to the general public 30 days prior
to the event. Call 1-800-843-2427 for
reservations.

He was attacked by federal
eco-police, thrown in jail
and hauled off in chains for
defending his water rights.

Dwight Hammond, a soft-spo­
ken, hard-working rancher respected
for his integrity, is another victim of
federal bullying to steal his water
rights. After a confrontation instigat­
ed by U.S. Fish & Wildlife officials
on his Southeastern Oregon ranch,
Hammond was brutally jailed and
hauled to federal court in Portland in
chains—a scene like something out
of a Roman Empire movie.
Now the federal government is
harassing Hammond with lawsuits
designed to run him out of money so
they can take his ranch away from
him.
The Center’s division, the Free
Enterprise Legal Defense Fund is
Wise Use goes to college asking for your financial help in de­
Kelly Corbin, a student at Florida’s fending Dwight Hammond. Please
Broward Community College, submitted send your tax-deductible gift to
a paper to his English class based on FELDF right away. The need is
Trashing the Economy, published by the urgent. We must save the Hammond
Center. Corbin’s paper, titled, “False family from economic ruin by an
Prophets are Raping the Profits,” got an A! arrogant federal government.

I w ill h e lp D w ig h t H a m m o n d an d k in d re d v ic tim s o f fe d e r a l b u lly in g
Here is my tax deductible donation to the Free Enterprise Legal Defense Fund for the exclusive
charitable purpose of helping victims of federal abuse defend themselves in court.
□ $25.00
□ $50.00

□ $100.00

□ $1,000.00

□ $150.00
□ $250.00
□ $500.00

d

□ $2,500.00
□ Other

d

d

Check made to Free Enterprise Legal Defense Fund (FELDF)
Visa
MasterCard
Card Number______________________________________________ Expires___________________
Name__________________________________
Street_________________________________ _
City______________________ State_____ ZIP
Telephone Donations 206-455-5038!
FAX Donations 206-451-3959!
Mail to: Free Enterprise Legal Defense Fund,
Credit Cards Only by FAX or phone!
12500 N.E. 10th Place, Bellevue, WA 98009

tr

The Private Sector / Wise Use Memo Autumn 1995

 What Do We Believe?

Is there such a thing as a “
wise use philosophy”
? And if so,
what would it contain? H ere’
s a preliminary assessment.
Hardly a week goes by that the Center does not
receive inquiries about what the wise use movement
believes. With more than 1,500 varied organizations
loosely falling under the rubric of “wise use,” trying to find
a single positive statement that all would agree upon is
impossible. But there are general principles most of us
could support. Here is a distillation of many ideas from
literally hundreds of wise users, presentedforyour comment
and critique. Let us know what you think.
1)Humans, like all organisms, must use natural
resources to survive. This fundamental truth is never
addressed by environmentalists. The simple fact that
humans must get their food, clothing and shelter from
the environment is either ignored or brushed aside by
suicidal statements such as this one made by an animal
rights activist: “I would rather see a blank space where
I am— at least I wouldn’t be harming anything.”
If environmentalism were to acknowledge our
necessary use of the earth, its ideology would lose its
meaning. To recognize the legitimacy of the human use
of the earth would be to accept the unavoidable
environmental damage that is the price of our survival.
Once that price is acceptable, the moral framework of
environmentalist ideology becomes irrelevant and the
issues become technical and economic.
2) The earth and its life are tough and resilient,
not fra gile and delicate. Environmentalists tend to be
catastrophists, believing that any human use of the earth
is “damage” and massive human use of the earth is “a
catastrophe.” An environmentalist motto is “We all live
downstream,” the viewpoint of helpless victims.
W ise users, on the other hand, tend to be
comucopians, seeing themselves as stewarding and
nurturing the bountiful earth as it stewards and nurtures
us. A wise use motto is “We all live upstream,” the
viewpoint of responsible individuals.
The difference in our sense of life is striking.
Environmentalism inevitably promotes feelings of guilt
for existing, feelings that eventually degenerate into
dark pessimism, self-loathing and depression.
Wise use by its very nature promotes feelings of
competence to live in the world, generating curiosity,
learning, and bright action toward improving the earth
for the use of future generations.

-------------------------------------------------------[B

T he g lo ry o f the “ d o m in a n t W estern
worldview” so scorned by environmentalists is its
metaphor of progress: the starburst, an insatiable and
interminable outreach after a perpetually flying goal.
Environmentalists call humanity a cancer on the
earth; wise users call us a joy.
3) We only learn about the w orld through trial
and error. The universe did not come with a set of
instructions, nor did our minds. W e cannot see the
future. Thus, the only way we humans can learn about
our surroundings is through trial and error. Even the
most sophisticated science is systematized trial and
error. Environmental ideology fetishizes nature to
the point that eco-activists will not permit others to
make errors with the environment, dead-ending in no
trials and no learning.
There will always be abusers who do not
learn. People of good will tend to deal with abuse by
education, incentive, clear rules and administering
appropriate penalties for incorrigibles.
4) Our limitless imaginations can break through
natural limits to make earthly good s and carrying
capacity virtually infinite. Just as settled agriculture

increased earthly goods and carrying capacity vastly
beyond hunting and gathering, so our imaginations can
find ways to increase total productivity by superseding
one level of technology after another. Taught by the
lessons learned from scientific trial and error, we can
close the loops in our productive systems and find
endless ways to do more with less.
5) M a n ’
s r e w o r k in g o f the ea rth is
revolutionary, problem atic and ultimately benevolent.

Of the ideas behind wise use, this is the most oracular.
Humanity is itself revolutionary and problematic.
Problems are our milieu. Danger is our symbiote. We
win some, we lose some. W e don’t give up.
Humanity may ultimately prove to be a force
of nature forwarding some cosmic teleology of which
we are yet unaware. Or not. Humanity may be the
universe awakening and becoming conscious of itself.
Or not. Our reworking of the earth may be o f the
utmost evolutionary benevolence and importance.
Or not. The only way to see the future is to be there.
We invite your comments on these ideas.
The Private Sector / Wise Use Memo Autumn 1995

 O: What is ft about the
wise use movement that's
politically correct?
A: Nothing, stupid!
Especially not these
dumb books!

P o litica lly
C o rrect
E n v iro n m en t

Need w e say more?
Alan Gottlieb
and
Ron Arnold
cartoons b y Chuck Asay

They're the silliest, most thoughtprovoking, tasteless, uplifting,
downright philosophical humor
books since Atfila the Fun.
Each of these quality paperbacks
has 180 pages, $14.95.

Yes! I w an t to ow n: (please n o te q u a n tity of each title ordered)
___Politically Correct H unting, $14.95 each.
___ Politically Correct Environm ent, $14.95 each.
Total price of book(s) ordered (Prices listed above) $___________
Add $2.00 shipping and h andling for each book $___________
Total am ount (books plus S & H) this order:
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The Private Sector / Wise Use Memo Autumn 1995