WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT "WISE USE" AND
"PEOPLE FOR WISCONSIN"
Fact sheet compiled by Al Gedicks, executive secretary, Wisconsin Resources Protection Council
The Wise Use Movement developed out of the
timber conflicts in the Pacific Northwest. The term
"Wise Use", as applied to land and resource use,
came out of the Multiple Use Strategy Conference in
Reno, Nevada in August 1988. The conference was
sponsored by the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise
(CDFE), a conservative educational foundation based in
Bellevue, Washington. Among those in attendance were
Exxon Corp. and several right-wing extremist groups such as
the American Freedom Coalition and the Citizens Equal
Rights Alliance (CERA), a national alliance of
Ron Arnold, executive vice president of CDFE and
a leader in the Wise Use Movement, said that "Our
goal is to destroy environmentalism once and for all."
Wise Use believes that the Earth's resources were meant
to be exploited for human gain and profit. The Wise Use
Agenda, a movement handbook that was published after
the Reno conference, lists 25 goals including the immediate
development of oil resources in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, the opening of all national parks and
wilderness areas to mining, and the systematic harvest of
"decaying" (read "old growth") trees on national forest lands.
One of the most important Wise Use groups is People for
the West (PFW), a Pueblo, Colorado-based organization that
has professional organizers in five Western states supported
largely by mining corporations. Although PFW describes
itself as a "grassroots" organization, this is quite misleading.
In 1991-92, twelve of the thirteen members of PFW's board
of directors were mining industry executives (O'Callaghan, p. 85).
The early supporters of PFW included Nerco Minerals,
which donated $100,000; Cyprus Minerals, which donated
$100,000; Chevron, $45,000; Hecla Mining, $30,000;
Bond Gold, $30,000; Pegasus Gold, $15,000; Homestake
Mining, $15,000; Minerex Resources, $15,000; Energy
Fuels, $15,000; and the American Mining Congress, $15,000.
All told, PFW collected $1.7 million from the mining
industry for its organizing work (Helvarg, p. 163).
PFW has proven to be an effective organizational response
to the broad environmental coalition to reform the 1872
Mining Law, which gives mining companies access to federal
land for as little as $5.00/acre without having to restore it or
pay royalties. By preaching the "continued multiple use" of
public lands, the industry has appealed to some ranchers,
loggers, miners and anti-Indian groups in a backlash against
proposed environmental reforms of this antiquated law. Others
have not bought the propaganda and understand that their future
livelihood depends on sustainable development.
John Wilson, former chairman and president of the Western
States Public Lands Coalition (WSPLC)--the parent organization
of PFW--is the chief executive of the Washington-based
mining company, Pegasus Gold. Mr. Wilson said that "no
mining association or other organization should think it can
go it alone."
WSPLC's incorporation papers say that the group was set up
to create "a permanent coalition between industry and local
government officials in the western U.S. to protect their mutual
interests, ensuring that timber, grazing, ranching, oil and gas,
and mining activities continue on public land."
The initial impetus for PFW's move into Wisconsin came
from Ed May, a former chief geologist for both Kennecott and
Exxon in Wisconsin. It was May who said that "Discovery of
the Flambeau deposit far exceeds in importance the size of
the ore body as it has opened the way to the development
of a new domestic mining district" (May, p.39). Widespread
citizen opposition to Kennecott's exploration in western
Wisconsin now threatens this corporate plan.
PFW Public Affairs manager Cathy Jewell came to Osseo
in western Wisconsin in the spring of 1997 to help form a
chapter of "People for Wisconsin." The initial expenses for
meetings, post office boxes and other expenses were covered
by unnamed "corporate sponsors."
At the first meeting of the Wisconsin Mining Association
(WMA), Jeffrey Grade, chairman and chief executive officer
of Harnischfeger Industries, the world's largest mining
manufacturing company, located in Milwaukee, pointed to a
hopeful development in the growing grassroots effort of such
groups as "The People for the West," and pledged his
company's support and resources "to help shape opportunities
for this industry (mining) in our home state." Harnischfeger
was one of the companies Bill Grannell, founder of People
for the West, approached for funding (Helvarg, p. 189).
The Wise Use movement in the West has had little success
in attracting large numbers of members. Their limited success,
says David Helvarg, in The War Against the Greens, lies in
their ability "to mobilize a network of core activists to
intervene in and politicize local conflicts, creating a perception
of power that they hope can be used as a springboard for
further expansion. (p. 9)"
People for Wisconsin has imported a Western U.S. model to
Wisconsin. However, replacing "for the West" with "for Wisconsin"
does not change the fact that Wisconsin has a very different culture
where rural people support environmental protections, because of
the tourism industry and the high value placed upon clean water
and a clean environment.
Sources consulted for this fact sheet:
- Kate O'Callaghan, "Whose Agenda for America?" Audubon (Sept./Oct.) 1992
- Carl Deal, The Greenpeace Guide to Anti-environmental Organizations. Berkeley, CA:
Odonian Press 1993
- People for the West, "PFW Organizes first chapters in Wisconsin!", 1997
- Jeffrey T. Grade, "Speaking Out for a Strong Mining Industry," Keynote address to the
Wisconsin Mining Association, December 1, 1994
- David Helvarg, The War Against the Greens: The 'Wise Use' Movement, the New Right,
and Anti-Environmental Violence. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1994
- William Poole, "Neither Wise nor Well," Sierra magazine (Nov./Dec.) 1992
- Rudolph Ryser, "Anti-Indian Movement on the Tribal Frontier," Occasional Paper #16,
Kenmore, Washington, Center for World Indigenous Studies, 1991.
- Robert W. Shilling and Edwarde R. May, "Case Study of Environmental Impact - Flambeau Project," Mining Congress Journal (January, 1977).
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