Environmental stewardship. Republicans should be leading the effort to conserve natural resources while enjoying them at a sustainable level today. People have the ability to influence the lifecycles of plants and animals so judgment must be used to protect a healthy balance. This basic idea should guide our environmental policies.

Too often, however, environmental protection actions become counterproductive. On one hand, putting out wildfires seems to protect natural habitats, which is an appealing goal. On the other hand, wildfires are an integral part of a natural cycle and the act of extinguishing small, natural wildfires increases the risk of enormous forest fires and even prevents germination of some species. Similarly, it is an appealing goal to maintain a viable population of wild predators such as the wolf. However, increasing predator populations lead to livestock predation. There are many similar examples.

Unbalanced environmental protection can also have unintended consequences on the relationships between countries. To the extent that Americans are unwilling or unable to tap our own natural resources we increase our dependence on foreign countries. And, many of those countries have governments and policies opposed to the United States.

There is also the example of Sauvie Island, right in our own backyard. A combination of government funding and hunters’ efforts restored natural habitat for the enjoyment of all. That’s correct; it was the hunters – who want to enjoy their sport today and in the future – that showed up and did the work to protect the environment.

Looking ahead, Republican conservation efforts should in part be modeled on Sauvie Island’s example. Similar approaches can be taken for the harvesting of salmon and timber. In the case of drilling for oil, the oil companies must shoulder the burden of protecting our oceans and coasts. Requiring oil companies to place recovery funds in escrow before drilling is one method to ensure protection efforts are appropriately funded.

In summary, the underlying principle is that those who seek to benefit from natural resources must bear the responsibility to ensure the environment is protected for future generations while benefiting from those resources today.

Sincerely,

Doug Keller