which I am interested. Do not change that part of the government which 

 influences my life in some fashion that I think is beneficial to me. And as 

 a resuU.» nobody wants to change anything. 



Examine if you will, the agony of the current federal budget which is 

 of such astronomical proportions I cannont even envision it: slightly more 

 than $600 billion. It is said that it would be balanced this year. I have 

 no idea how because nobody will change anything. Read the newspaper. 

 The President sends forth a budget in which he suggests certain changes 

 in the federal financing of things that affect our lives and everybody is 

 willing to change any part of that budget except the one that I am 

 interested in; and since each of us, somewhere along the way, is 

 interested in every part of that budget, it does not get changed. There 

 is little likelihood that there will be a manifest change in any part of the 

 government as we experience it today because people will not let it 

 happen. It was my challenge some years ago shortly after I became 

 director to try to close some fish hatcheries. I learned about politics from 

 that. I am a biologist who somewhere went wrong and became a 

 bureaucrat and administrator and in recent years, in order to survive, I 

 have learned a little about politics. I discovered that it's much easier to 

 talk about closing a fish hatchery than it is to do it. I got acquainted 

 with a number of senators and congressmen. They explained to me, in no 

 uncertain terms, why I would not close any fish hatcheries. It's akin to 

 closing a post office, a thing vou do not do. Post offices are dear to 

 congressmen and senators because they are a tangible evidence of the 

 presence of these individuals. You can't change any of that so we quit 

 trying some time ago. 



Unfortunately, this seems to apply to almost every facet of 

 government. We can't really change anything. In my judgement, much of 

 the Sagebrush Rebellion stems from the fact that many people who live on 

 the land and from the land and who recall what it's like to live from the 

 land and on the land, become resentful of the fact that there are a whole 

 lot of people in the megalopoli of this country who don't understand that 

 and are imposing their will on their land where you live. It's really very 

 simple to describe. I defy anyone to come up with an easy solution to the 

 question. I think it's important that you recognize that the problem exists 

 and perhaps, in some ways, why it exists because I can tell you with 

 absolute assurance, it is only the beginning. 



Times are changing. The things that drive this government, whether 

 il relates to economy or the environment are changing markedly. People 

 have a vastly different perception about what the world is really like. 

 And they act upon that perception through their congress, through their 

 lobbyists, through whatever kind of influence they may have. It doesn't 

 mean they're right. It means only that they have great influence. That's 

 a challenge for many of us in the environmental business because it is 

 entirely possible--more than possible in my judgement--that the 

 preponderance of people who live in this country may have an erroneous 

 idea about what's right for the environment and so using their power, 

 perhaps lead us in the wrong direction. And for that reason it becomes 

 extraordinarily important to make sure that people properly understand 

 what some of my people refer to as the straight-skinny about the real 

 world . 



