The Accidental Conservationist
Welcome to "The Accidental Conservationist". I had been struggling trying to decide how to explain this site and why I set it up. I sell DVD's of Wyoming--the scenery, wildlife, some of the more humorous elements of the state, etc. Originally, I made the DVD's to share the beauty of Wyoming with others. I had hoped people would want to visit and preserve the beauty. However, I guess I failed to take into account the split-reasoning humans seem to prone to. Let me explain: "Fred" sees the DVD and decides Wyoming is so beautiful he wants to move there. He buys 20 acres of land, puts a concrete foundation over the prairie dog holes and rattlesnake dens, puts up a manufactured house and then paves over two more areas for a garage and a shop. He fences the land--limiting the movement of the antelope that he thought were so interesting. Antelope cannot easily jump fences. They are adapting, but their evolution can't keep up with the fencing capacity of humans, so "Fred" has taken the land on which the antelope live while claiming to find them interesting. It seems the antelope are interesting only if they don't get in "Fred's" way. If they do, they lose. Fred also brings his horses. Six of them, which worked fine in Ohio. Here, the horses eat the land down to bare dirt in a few months, and trample the sagebrush. Now, Fred has removed the antelope and mule deer food and, with any luck, has created a field of tumbling mustard (a weed nothing except goats seem to eat) and when the wind blows 30 to 40 mph, there is a dust and tumbling dried weed storm. The prairie dogs weren't terribly bothered by Fred's arrival and have continued to thrive in spite of the horses and less food. They are coming closer to Fred's house in search of the grass he planted and waters around the house. Fred can't tolerate the prairie dogs eating the grass his horses need. Not to mention the "dogs" carry plague and Fred's children play outdoors on the grass. Thus, the prairie dogs must be removed--probably through poisoning. Now, Fred has reduced the food supply for foxes, raptors, badgers, etc. And now Fred has effectively damaged "the beautiful state" he moved to and tried his best to turn it into the same place he left. I am not sure how any of this makes sense to "Fred" or anyone else. Humans move into areas and destroy the very things they said they loved there.
This site is dedicated to showing people what nature has to offer and what will be
destroyed or permanently changed if no one wakes up to the contradictions in
behavior and claimed beliefs. I should add that I am fully cognizant of
the right of people to change nature and behave as they chose. Humans are the top
of every natural chain out there--food, habitat, etc. What I am trying to instill
is what is being lost and to get people to be honest. Tell your grandchildren there
may be no open spaces in Wyoming or elsewhere because you had enough money to buy
land, pave it over and build an 8000 square foot second home. Tell them your dream
for Wyoming was to be just like Colorado and then take down those ridiculous signs
at the border that says "Wyoming. Like no place else on earth". BE HONEST.
And stop blaming the oil companies for the environmental damage. The oil companies
only exist because people want energy. They are fully regulated and have to reclaim
areas, as do mines. Ranchers and realtors can do anything they want to the
environment--cut ranches up into 20 and 40 acre lots, put in roads, and alter 10's
of thousands of acres of habitat so they can make the millions the oil companies
are criticized for. A realtor selling off thousands of acres and turning said area
into a subdivision does more environmental damage than energy exploration. All
in the name of profit. Let's look at ALL the contributors, not just the commonly
attacked ones, and let's look closely at who does the most harm and who does the
least harm.
Page through the various sections of this site and feel free to e-mail and let me
know if you share my concerns or you just want to pave it all over and build a
coffee shop and movie theater. Look at what will change and what is being lost.
