Conservation Corner: January 18, 1999

A Proactive Approach To Conservation
by James L. Cummins

It is 2:00 p.m. and I am enjoying the sun reflecting off of a southern California pool filled with northern California's water. The occasion is the annual convention of the Rice Millers' Association. Their featured speaker was Marc Reisner. He was a staff writer with the Natural Resources Defense Council from 1972-79. In 1986 he wrote Cadillac Desert. The San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle described Cadillac Desert as "among the most influential books published by an American since Silent Spring." Reisner's other books include Overtapped Oasis (1990) and Game Wars (1991).

After reading the famous book about water policy, I had a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of red flags went up. But that was from my office in Stoneville, Mississippi...and there is a lot more than distance between there and my current pool side table in California. Nevertheless, I was trying to keep everything in perspective.

Less than three hours ago, Mr. Reisner articulated very well his philosophy of environmentalism. One of the first things he said was that he didn't consider himself an environmentalist, but a conservationist. Then he discussed how the California Rice Industry Association invited him on a tour of their rice growing region. After all, he was publicly against rice being grown in California.

When he began the tour, there was an eagle sitting next to a rice field. That couldn't have been staged. But the truck that said on its side, "Help your government destroy America, join an environmental group," was staged. To make a long story short, I was amazed at what he said next. "Although the rice industry uses a lot of water, if it wasn't for them, there would be no Pacific Flyway".

But don't waterfowl and the rice industry already have a lot in common? Yes, but there are many more opportunities to provide substantial environmental and economic benefits on rice fields. Aldo Leopold, who is regarded as the father of wildlife management said, "Despite nearly a century of propaganda, conservation still proceeds at a snails pace, progress still proceeds largely of letterhead pieties and convention oratory (present company excluded). On the back forty, we still slip two steps backward for each forward stride."

By being proactive, we can shape the future of Mississippi rather than being driven along in a knee-jerk manner by controversial issues that many groups see as their only agenda. We must understand that to ensure a quality environment, we cannot operate in a vacuum. It takes a sound economy to sustain a quality environment.

The future is, to a large degree, where we want it to be. We can assume a passive posture and react to what comes along. Or we can meet the new decade with excitement and vigor by letting out what we want the future to be and what course of action to take. We have no alternative, but to accept the latter. Or as Reisner says, be "proactive.

James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi.