People For The West Fight To Preserve Past Group Emerging As Counterforce To Environmental Movement

Environmentalists call them a blustering bunch of land-ravaging rabble-rousers, corporate pawns who intimidate opponents and live in the days when mining, logging and ranching ruled the frontier.

They are People for the West, a Pueblo-based group whose members - some 23,000 strong - say they simply want to preserve a rural way of life, reel in an overreaching government and use public lands for more than national parks.

However they’re described, there’s no question that People for the West has emerged as the country’s largest, most enduring and well-organized counterforce to the environmental movement. And that has some environmentalists concerned.

Since settling in Pueblo in 1989, People for the West has developed 118 chapters in 12 states. Colorado is home to 10 chapters. The group has its own newspaper, state conventions, even a page on the World Wide Web.

Its enthusiasm and energy rival that of some environmental groups. People for the West members lobby politicians and public land managers, stage rallies and demand an end to what they see as a green assault on industries they believe are crucial to the country’s future.

The group has the highest profile not in large cities, but in small rural towns - places like Kanab, Utah; or Lakeview, Ore.; or Kearny, Ariz. - where huge mining and timber companies account for a giant chunk of the economy.

In such small towns, out of the spotlight of major media, the group is building a reputation for standing up to environmental groups large and small.

Just how much impact the group is having on public policy is hard to gauge; its literature, filled with photos from rallies and headlines trumpeting the group’s work, paints it as a political force.

Environmentalists differ on the question. Some discount the group, lumping it in with fringe anti-government militias. But many say the group has proved effective enough to earn grudging respect.

“They’re having an impact, no question about it,” said Darrell Kuffke, who spent 11 years watching public-land issues for the Wilderness Society’s Denver office. “They have aroused some worried people (in rural communities) - maybe not a numerically large amount, but enough to make a great noise.”

They’ve certainly won friends among the West’s most conservative lawmakers, such as U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who have pushed the group’s agenda.

In recent years, they’ve lobbied for oil and gas exploration along the Green River in Wyoming, voiced concerns about a federal air-pollution study of several Southwestern states and circled 200 logging trucks around Arizona’s state capitol to protest timber restrictions.

While People for the West organizers emphasize peaceful rallies and protests, some environmentalists charge the group isn’t always so benign.

Aimee Boulanger of the Durango branch of the Mineral Policy Center, a Washington D.C.-based environmental group that monitors mining, said she’s seen People for the West use intimidation tactics against those who might be critical of a company’s activity.

Though People for the West leaders say they don’t encourage hostile rhetoric, they note that environmentalists engage in much the same tactics, scaring the public with tales of big companies against nature.

Leaders say they want to work within the system and stay away from emotional arguments for changes in environmental regulations. But they acknowledge that most members - ranchers, miners and loggers - are independent and tough-minded by nature and won’t hesitate to speak their minds.

And rural workers can’t help getting riled up. When timber mills shut down, or regulators deny a mining permit, many workers blame environmentalists. They say environmentalists, in their zeal to save wilderness and wildlife, are insensitive to the impacts on jobs.

“People that are affected by these things are hurt, they’re angry, they’ve been bankrupted,” said Liz Arnold, wife of a miner and the head of Nevada’s People for the West operations. “There’s a lot of problems they’ve been dealing with over the years, and of course they’re going to have emotional reactions.”

Perhaps the issue that angers environmentalists the most about People for the West is its claim of being “grass roots.” If most of the group’s money comes from mining and timber companies, as the group acknowledges, where’s the grassroots support?

People for the West says the source of money is immaterial - they say environmental groups like the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society get far more money from big corporations. They also say they’ve opened up board spots to ranch owners and mine employees.

“The unfortunate reality is environmentalists can give people the warm and fuzzies. We give them the harsh realities,” said Arnold. “We don’t have the same appeal on the mass scale.”

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