These are questions no government can answer without the confidence, 

 support, and guidance of our citizens - for "... government is not and 

 cannot be a substitute for people, but is simply the instrument through 

 which they act." Where we go in the next ten years, whether we control re- 

 source development or are instead controlled by it, is up to Montanans. 



The future of rangeland is, of course, inseparable from these decisions, 

 and I have tried to outline to you what state government is doing to sus- 

 tain this resoxirce - but that's not enough. If this conference is to be more 

 than just another meeting, there has to be two-way communication, I would 

 like to know what the audience, especially what the people who own and man- 

 age the resources, think the state should or should not be doing; we could 

 use some good ideas and even criticism would be helpful. If this conference 

 would give us, your employees, an expression of the kind of decisions you'd 

 like to see made, the kind of programs you'd like to see implemented, then 

 I am certain we would get on with solving the tough problems ahead of us. 



Ga,ry J. Wicks , Helena, Montana, who presented this speech at the Governor's 

 Conference on Montana Rangeland, is Director of the Department of Natural 

 Resources and Conservation in Helena. He graduated with a B.A. degree from 

 the University of Montana in 1967. His course work was completed for his 

 Masters of Business Administration degree at the University of Montana in 

 1969. 



Mr. Wicks was the Administrative Assistant to Governor Forrest H. And- 

 erson dealing primarily with budgetary, environmental, and natural resoircce 

 problems from 1969-1971. 



He was appointed Director of the Department of Natural Resources and 

 Conservation, on its creation, December 20, 1971, and reappointed in 1975- 



Mr. Wicks is a member of the Commission on Environmental Quality, a mem- 

 ber of the Montana Energy Advisory Council and the (Jovemor's Alternate to 

 the Western Governors' Regional Energy Policy Office. 



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