The Sierra Club started making a concerted effort to bring hunters and anglers into the environmental fold about five or six years ago, a fact that drew considerable comment from the more conservative Republican-oriented parts of the hunting community.
I can remember a huge controversy in my professional organization, the Outdoor Writers Association of America, when the then president of the National Rifle Association leveled heavy criticism at the Sierra Club, basically warning hunters to stay away from the group.
Therefore, it was interesting to see the full page color advertisement the Sierra Club and Sierra Sportsmen took out in Wednesday's Tribune and Deseret News urging new U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to protect the West's big game habitat from what it calls “dirty oil shale development.”
The advertisement correctly stated that some of Utah's best elk and black bear populations are found in the Book Cliffs in Eastern Utah which would be a focal point of any oil shale development. It also warned that the water required to develop oil shale could also dry up limited water supplies in the West.
I t's an interesting move by one of the most “green” organizations in the country and one that more conservative hunters sometimes view with disdain. But putting together coalitions of hunters and environmentalists would be a strong group nationally if not locally where the Legislature seems to listen more to the more conservative leaning Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife..
As a side note, I've found it interesting that the largely apolitical Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation which has spent thousands if not several million dollars to preserve the Book Cliffs has remained largely quiet on the oil shale issue.
– Tom Wharton