What Counts Beyond the Counting
Why I Support The Public Lands Pledge
By Matthew Copeland
A five-ton limestone block lies half-buried at the treeline of a hanging meadow on a mountain near my Wyoming home. By every measure it is is an entirely unremarkable boulder in an undistinguished piece of National Forest terrain. But I can close my eyes and bring it to mind in minute detail. When I do, the image of that rock brings with it an echo of fight or flight adrenaline, the raucous chatter of alarmed forest life, and a vague sense of liquid motion.
It is where the lion appeared one bright November afternoon, where he sat and watched the same meadow that I did for signs of the same prey, where his warm paws melted broad prints in the snow, and where he turned to stare indifferently at my own perch before ambling on, unhurried.
In this ability to conjure my senses, that boulder is akin to a mud-slick crease high on a different mountain, this one filled with the press of steaming elk meat, the tension of sharp blades, and a quickening urgency to finish the work, and cede the gory depression, before the bear arrives.
And the slow slick of soft water by the bank where the outsized mouth appeared, then shoulders, then dorsal fin and finally tail, by which appearance my heart was already racing and my mouth gone dry.
And the countless other micro-treasures of the public domain that enable my family, and my community, to hunt, and fish, and pursue the lifestyle that defines us.
These places, the experiences that pin them in our memories, and what those memories make of us as people can’t be manufactured or bartered for. They are priceless, yet free to those who would hunt them with heart and soul.
For some though, a five-ton block of limestone is a five-ton block of limestone — worth no more, and no less, than the market will bear. And limestone can be traded, transferred and translated into the lowest common denominator of dollars and cents. It’s not an outlook I can claim to fully understand, but it’s also not a perspective I’d begrudge anyone. To each his own.
Of course, perspective and action are different things. So when the flawed logic of the market isn’t satisfied with theory, when it is invoked instead to justify state ownership, and eventual privatization of federal public lands, I stop being so open minded.
Timeless places must be defended.
The music has started again in the mad scramble game of musical chairs that is our representative democracy, and the contestants are placing their bets.
Do you know which candidates stand with you in their valuation of our public lands, and which would trade them away for profit or political expediency? Don’t you deserve to know?
Demand that every would-be senator, congressman, county commissioner and dog-catcher pledge their position on public lands transfer by signing NWF’s Statement of Principles Supporting Public Lands. Then let them know you’ll be voting for the little places.
Because, you know what those places are really worth. And you deserve elected officials who do too.
From us at NWF Sportsmen: We are working hard in these last days of the election to make sure our elected officials and candidates know that protecting public lands is a priority for hunters and anglers across the country. You can suggest this post by liking it below. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Sign up for our National Wildlife Federation Sportsmen.
Matthew Copeland is a proud native of Charlottesville, Virginia who has now found his home in Wyoming. As a writer and sportsman, Copeland writes for numerous magazines — including Wyoming Wildlife, Backcountry Journal, and Sporting Classics — and co-publishes the award-winning digital outlet Stalking the Seam.
