I find the threat to the Endangered Species Act by the GOP disturbing, for it is nothing more than a self-centered move by corporations and their political cohorts to line their pockets with money using the line “economic development,” which is nothing more than “a smoke screen for personal greed and spiritual impoverishment,” (David Peterson, Ghost Grizzlies.) The statement “Its, (Endangered Species Act), been used for control of the land,” by the House Natural Resources Committee, Chairman Bob Bishop, is either deceitful or total ignorance, for to save a species, one also needs to save habitat, which quite often is land. It’s only common sense.
Call me a sentimental old fool if you like, I can live with that. I believe that being 60 years old qualifies me for that. But I remember a time growing up in south Snohomish County when we never saw bald eagles and the first time I saw one along the Skykomish River, nobody believed me, “They weren’t around here any more.” But now, because of the Endangered Species Act, and the banning of DDT, hardly a day goes by when I don’t see one, and on one occasion saw nine on my way home from work. To paraphrase John Denver, “I’d be a poorer man if I had never seen an eagle fly.”
There is much more in this world, speaking of the environment, that is worth than money or material possessions, and I believe I am a richer man, because of the Endangered Species Act, and other environmental protections.
Donald Stobbe
Sultan
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