a264  1847  05 Jul 90
AM-Fighting Ecotage, Adv09,0593
$Adv09
For release Mon AMs, July 9, and thereafter
Conservatives Battle Radical Environmentalists for Public Sympathy
With AM-Earth First
By KURT J. REPANSHEK
Associated Press Writer
    DENVER (AP) - Loggers, miners and ranchers burned by
monkey-wrenching ''eco-warriors'' no longer have to suffer silently.
They can call 1-303-TESTIFY.
    The hot line - the letters stand for ''Tell of Environmental
Sabotage and Terrorism Interfering with Freedom '' - is run by the
Mountain States Legal Foundation, a conservative law firm that
believes the news media have glamorized the bulldozer-burning,
tree-spiking exploits of radical environmentalists such as the Earth
First! group.
    ''They all treat these people as some modern-day Robin Hoods whose
concern is not the poor of the forest, but the trees. And I think
that's a terrible disservice to the American people,'' said
foundation president William Perry Pendley.
    Pendley's mission: to rally those who believe in multiple use of the
nation's public lands and galvanize public opinion against
environmentalists who would ''lock up'' those lands for wildlife.
    The Denver-based legal foundation carries on work begun in 1978 by
its first chief legal officer, James Watt, who later rose to the top
of environmentalist hate-lists as President Reagan's interior
secretary.
    Watt no longer is with the foundation, but its work continues,
funded by individuals, timber and ranching groups, and corporations.
    Pendley said he favors a thriving environment with lush forests,
sparkling streams and fresh air. But he also values the logging,
mining and grazing that help feed, clothe and shelter Americans.
    ''Our belief is ... we can protect the environment and still have
respect for property rights, and still have an economic system,''
Pendley said.
    That message is no easy sell, he said. It must compete with the
cuddly critters inevitably featured on posters urging people to
''Protect Wildlife.''
    ''Being an environmentalist is a feel-good thing. It doesn't ask you
to make any hard decisions whatsoever. It just says 'feel good, care,
like animals,' '' he said.
    ''What can I put up (on posters) - 'Cut Trees?' 'Produce Income?'
'Graze Cattle?' 'Mine For Ore?' It's not feel-good.''
    Instead, Pendley hits the road. He regales sympathetic industry
groups and trade associations with horror stories gleaned from
newspapers and from the several calls that come in each month to the
hot line.
    He tells of 18-inch spikes driven into trees to spoil them for
logging, of cattle killed on public land, of tiny spikes scattered on
the ground to puncture trail-bike tires.
    Records of the hot line calls are filed away; eventually, Pendley's
group hopes to collect enough evidence to file a suit against the
environmentalists.
    ''I frankly think that a lot of these people, a lot of the
environmental terrorists, are just thugs that get off on violence,
that enjoy vandalism, that enjoy sabotage,'' Pendley said. ''And they
say, 'Hey, we're doing this for the environment, so it's OK.' ''
    Pendley has little chance of swaying unrepentant Earth First!
activists, who call his hot line with news of what they consider real
vandalism: federally approved timber sales, drilling and road
projects.
    But he hopes for better luck in appealing to the public.
    ''We have the working men and women of this country who believe in
what we believe in,'' he said. ''When they are put at risk, in a
situation when they are threatened with the loss of their livelihoods
and futures, then they become energized and activated.''
    End Adv for Mon AMs, July 9
    
 
AP-NY-07-05-90 2136EDT
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