thai was the way history was going to record my three-and-a-half years as 

 director of this department, it is best to dispose of it. So we lit a fire in 

 the fireplace and we threw the scrapbooks and the clippings and the whole 

 works in the fireplace and we opened a bottle of wine. I'd been on the 

 wagon since last November, but I opened a bottle of wine and we burned 

 the whole damn works because while people were talking about the kind of 

 car I drive, the kind of beard I wear and so on, I'd been involved in a 

 lot of important issues. For better or worse, only history will tell if I had 

 any impact. I tried to improve relations between my department and the 

 other sectors of the Montana economy. I tried to improve relations with 

 landowners. I tried to establish a good rapport with other government 

 agencies, both federal and state. I tried to do things that I thought were 

 in the best interest of the resource, and not any of those were recorded 

 in the press. 



We've done some very significant things in the last three-and-a-half 

 years in my department. And I don't take credit for them. I'm just 

 saying while I was director we did make an impact on relations with 

 private landowners. We did establish better relations with federal and 

 other state agencies. We did establish Montana as a national leader in the 

 resource management arena. We've held several national conferences here. 

 I serve on a variety of important national and international committees. We 

 did do some good things but they were never recorded in the press. 



I don't want to make this too personal, but what I'm leading up to is 

 the punch-line of both stories. My charge this morning is to tell you that 

 communicators, both those that work for resource agencies and those that 

 represent the media--and I'm sure this is a voice crying in the 

 wilderness--have a responsibility to represent the public, to communicate 

 fairly to the public, to call attention to the public the important issues we 

 are facing. And I'm not going to recite all these issues. Our economy is 

 in decline because of the energy crunch. Resources in Montana are 

 threatened. Because of our extreme environmental position we've lost 

 credibility with other sectors in our society and our economy. And, I 

 hope you people will give me the credit for being a professional 

 conservationist, unlike those that indulge in this as an avocation or as a 

 way to earn a living or as a hobby. I've dedicated my life to the cause 

 of conservation. What I want to do is utilize those resources, but protect 

 the natural landscape, protect the way of life that Montanans value so 

 highly. I'm one of those conservationist in the old definition that believes 

 that we can utilize resources without depleting them or destroying them. I 

 think that we can use forests. I think that we can use wildlife. I think 

 that we can use water. We can use land. We can use grass. We can use 

 all those resources without depleting them, without destroying them. And 

 I've spent my life advocating that position. 



And now I'm going to get down to the point of my message. 

 Professional conservationists, scientists, wildife biologists, foresters--none 

 of us can do the job unless the public is with us. And the only way you 

 get the public with you, the only way you get the public to understand 

 the issues, is through communication. All my degrees and all my 

 experience are meaningless unless my message is conveyed in an effective 

 way to the public. And what I am saying is that journalists have a 



