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Show Liston Delivers Final Speech As WIR President Garfield County Commission Chairman Louise Liston concluded her year as president of the Western Interstate Region (WIR) with the hope that WIR can do its part in building "better relationships that will help prevent us from going to battle with other regions in the halls of Congress." Liston chaired her final conference confe-rence of WIR members May 19-22 at Concord in Contra Costa County, Coun-ty, California. Liston told the representatives from counties all over the western U.S., that while she was unable to reach all the goals she had set for her term of office, she was confident confi-dent that the incoming board would follow through in WIR's efforts to "reach out to hundreds of counties outside the West whose leaders don't understand the pressures and challenges we face", counties which, with "good intentions" but with a lack of solid infor-mation "promote policies that have serious implications for lives and economies econo-mies in the West. "It is proper," she said, "for Congress and all lawmakers to set worthy and noble objectives, but until the specific actions for accomplishing ac-complishing those objectives are determined locally by people and agencies with the necessary knowledge knowl-edge and expertise, we are in trouble. troub-le. "We have reached a point in time when the environmental movement is often damaging the very environment it claims needs protection. "Environmental wars are being i fought in the media, the Congress, the courts, and in the hearts and minds of the American people. Those of us whose job it is to keep the country protected, fed, clothed, sheltered, and warm are not winning. win-ning. Economic values are being pitted against environmental values, and in that war, both will lose. "It's time," Liston concluded," to begin a process that will consider both our present needs and our future fu-ture needs. WIR can and should be an important player in that process." proc-ess." Liston chaired the opening session ses-sion of the conference, and presented pre-sented at a May 20 workshop on "Growth in the Rural West: Time for Action!" Presenting at the same workshop was Luther Propst, ex- (See WIR on page 5-A) WIR From front page ecutive director of the Sonoran Institute, In-stitute, Tucson, Ariz., who has also presented in Escalante. Objectives of the workshop included: in-cluded: developing a community vision andor inventory of assets; using non-regulatory land stewardship stew-ardship tools, such as conservation easements or deed restrictions; updating up-dating local land use codes to reflect re-flect current best practices; and establishing es-tablishing new community stewardship stew-ardship organizations that can realize real-ize local goals and aspirations. Liston also arranged for a special spe-cial "Wilderness Strategy Meet-ing" to push for Oversight Hearings in Congress. |