Subject: [Tweeters] Sweeping generalities of "cattle country"
Date: Jan 13 06:40:55 2016
From: Scott Downes - downess at charter.net


A brief note that sweeping generalities of areas mentioned in emails such as "hostile to wildlife in cattle country" is not only partially inaccurate but it hurts the relationships that we should all try to build.

Land use policies are often at odds between environmentalists and ranchers, but I've seen many ranchers actively feed birds, report unusual birds they've had on their land, hardly hostile to all wildlife.
There are individuals that are hostile to birds and wildlife throughout the state. These sweeping generalities reinforce the divide of east vs west in the state that some groups try to promote. We should try to encourage any love of wildlife rather than blindly casting these negative generalities.

Scott Downes
Downess at charter.net
Yakima Wa