Wildlife Preservation: A Cheney Tale

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


bald_eagle_american_flag.jpg Yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke at the White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy. In a statement that may surprise you and a number of environmental groups, Cheney said, “President Bush made wildlife conservation an early and a high priority of his administration. We’ve carried out that commitment in these eight years.”

There’s reason to question whether wildlife conservation is really a high priority in the Bush Administration. It’s refusal to act on global warming for years, despite the fact that the changing climate threatens wildlife habitats, throws its commitment into doubt. The same goes for the Administration’s plan to gut the Endangered Species Act, its refusal to address upcoming mass extinctions, and its willingness to let jeep enthusiasts run roughshod over the West’s wide open spaces. The League of Conservation Voters says, “The Bush administration has arguably been the most anti-environmental in our nation’s history.”

I have another reason to doubt Cheney’s commitment in particular.

It’s a story I heard while rafting down the Snake River in the heart of the Grand Tetons. Periodically, our raft would stop to observe wildlife — deer, bison, moose. At a certain point, our guide told us we wouldn’t be allowed to stop or make loud noises. The next patch of river, he explained, was home to a pair of bald eagles, a threatened species with few survivors in the Grand Teton area. As we passed through the protected area, the guide told us a story in a low voice.

A fellow guide at his rafting company had been leading a tour through the protected area when he saw a larger-than-usual boat stopped in a bend of the river. A couple fishing poles were already set up and in the water. Definitely not allowed under park rules. The guide headed toward the boat to inform the owner of his mistake. As he approached, a serious-looking man in a black suit appeared and slowly uncovered a gun on his hip. He gave the guide a two-fingered “move along” signal. The boat belonged to Dick Cheney, a famous angler and a resident of nearby Jackson Hole.

That story might be apocryphal, but I love it none the less. Of all the threatened species Cheney could disrespect and endanger, you knew it would somehow be the one that stands for everything America represents.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate