Here in the inlermountain West more than anywhere else in our 

 country, one may still find adherence to the old verities and values, to 

 individualism and self-reliance and self-confidence, and yes to the frontier 

 brand of patriotism and humility, both of which come from the love of the 

 land and respect for nature. But the ranching-farming economy has done 

 more. It has maintained for the West what the rest of the nation has lost. 

 It has provided a measure of personal freedom and independence hard to 

 find anywhere else today. It has provided the atmosphere for expanse of 

 friendliness and cooperation. For a gracious quality of life and for the 

 enjoyment of nature and the outdoors in daily exisitence. It continues to 

 permit humans to test themselves against nature and the elements, to find 

 comfort and spiritual regeneration in the privacy of the natural world, and 

 to acquire the strengths and ideals of the pioneers who built this country. 

 That West still exists. Not everywhere in the west, but in many places. 

 It is still understood and cherished by many who have lived in the West 

 for generations. And by many who have come recently and are still 

 coming, to share in those benefits and blessings. 



That image of the West, still real, has a great lure to people in the 

 cities, who are living elbow to elbow, separated from the earth by concrete 

 and beset by all the modern-day ills of a city. And on the other side of 

 the coin, they are welcome by certain westerners, by the developers and 

 boosters, the supporters of growth, industry, more jobs, bigger payrolls, 

 more people with more money to spend. In that regard, the West is no 

 different from the rest of the country. Like every other region, it has 

 the right to try to get what it wants. The question, however, will it get 

 what it wants and does know what it wants? 



Taking the last question first, I would like to ask, is the West a 

 willing and ready partner to the changing of the foundation of its life, 

 from a ranching-farming economy to an industrial economy? This is not an 

 academic question. The islands of such change are beginning to appear on 

 the map. They will multiply and expand an area faster and faster. They 

 will be linked by new roads and railroads, transmission lines, pipelines 

 and slurry lines. They will mushroom into service centers and become 

 urbanized with core populations, whose impacts will be felt in increasingly 

 wide radiating circles that will affect the land, the water, the wildlife and 

 everything that grows. What the West now is will inevitably disappear, to 

 be replaced by a new way of life, powered and controlled by new people. 

 One may say that it will not happen everywhere, just in islands here and 

 there. A new dam will be built here. A new power plant over there. A 

 housing development up yonder. A new city in that other county, not 

 mine. And a ski resort next to a wilderness that i never go to. 



Well maybe. But the signs point otherwise. One example is worth 

 noting. The Bureau of Reclamation was created to serve the agricultural 

 economy of the West. For almost 80 



years its clients have been farmers and ranchers and its job was to make 

 years its clients have been farmers and ranchers and its job was to make 

 water available to farmers and ranchers. But no more. It has read the 

 future and has added new and more important clients. Its job now is to 

 supply water to industry and it is even taking water from farmers to make 

 it available to industry. And its name. It's not the Bureau of 

 Reclamation anymore. It's the Water and Power Resources Service. 



