A Minnick Legacy for Conservation

Pat Ford and I wrote the following article, published in the Lewiston Morning Tribune, to thank Walt Minnick for both his public service and what he taught us about conservation in Idaho.

Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, has ended two years' service to Idaho in the U.S. Congress. This is just one of many contributions he's made to our state. It may not be his most important.



One of those contributions stretches more than 30 years. More than any other Idahoan, Minnick has shown the rest of us - friends, business and professional colleagues, fellow elected leaders and fellow citizens - that "conservation" and "conservative" share the same root and are allied rather than opposed terms. 

Thirty years ago, Minnick was CEO of Trus-Joist, a major Boise-based wood products company. He made some waves by being what he still is: a principled conservative and passionate conservationist. He opposed government subsidies to timber companies in the form of below-cost timber sales, by which taxpayers paid companies to harvest public timber that the companies then sold for further revenue. Minnick believed no industry, including his own, should get a government subsidy - and he said so publicly. It did not endear him to many in his industry, whose conservatism was not so consistent.

When we met Minnick back then, we were young conservationists working to protect Idaho wild country. We were pleased to meet this unusual ally from the wood products industry, and quickly realized he was as committed as we were to keeping Idaho Idaho. It took us longer to understand some lessons about how to do it. It took longer still to recognize that dealing with Minnick is valuable less for what we agree on than for where he would challenge us, just as he did his industry, to think and act more consistently.

There are many who have  learned from Minnick how conservation and conservative complement each other. He challenged us to critically review our assumption that government can solve most conservation problems. He got us to listen more to Idahoans with whom we disagree and to seek common ground. He challenged us to build alliances with businesses. He taught us to respect the underlying values that unite protecting wild Idaho with protecting Idahoans' freedoms. 

Over the same years he talked to his fellow conservatives about their stake in Idaho conservation: How wilderness and wild rivers attract good businesses and creative people; how clean air and water better the business climate; how saving energy saves dollars as well as resources and how conserving creation conserves freedom.

His patient tutelage has borne fruit. Today hundreds of alliances between business and conservation exist, with thousands of Idahoans part of them. Minnick's work with Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, on the Owyhee Initiative and with Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, on the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act are examples of legislative alliances between conservatives and conservationists for the good of Idaho. Idaho conservation has changed, Idaho business has changed, and Idaho is better for it. Minnick has done as much as anyone to make this happen and it started more than 30 years ago.

For these uniquely Idaho lessons, Congressman, we thank you.



Johnson is executive director of the Idaho Conservation League. Ford is director of the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition and once directed the Idaho Conservation League.