http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020120-1417390.htm
Greens cut Turner a break
By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Billionaire Ted Turner pursued his stated goal of saving the
environment by purchasing a good portion of it - 1.8 million acres in 10
states, making him the largest private landowner in the United States.
But neighbors and other critics say Mr. Turner, 63, has an odd way of
demonstrating his concern for nature on his own land:
The CNN founder sponsored elite bison hunts at $10,500 per hunter and
erected "killer fences" that snare and torture migrating wildlife.
He cuts timber and drills for natural gas.
He even bulldozed a hilltop to create a better view of a mountain range
that is reflected in his trout pond.
Ordinarily such behavior would draw howls of protest and legal action
from a broad range of environmental groups. But critics of Mr. Turner's
stewardship of his lands say he largely escapes repercussions for such
activities because the media mogul is one of the environmental movement's
most generous benefactors, donating millions to the cause.
"When it comes to land-use policy and environmental policy, he treats
his own property different than how he wants everyone else to treat their
property," said Alan Gottlieb, president of the Center for the Defense of
Free Enterprise. "There is no doubt a hypocrisy here."
But Russ Miller, general manager of Turner Enterprises, says there is
no conflict between Mr. Turner's environmental philosophy or philanthropy
and his ranching operations.
The mission of Turner Enterprises is to manage Turner lands in an
economically sustainable, ecologically sensitive manner while conserving
native species, Mr. Miller said.
"I consider myself a serious rancher," Mr. Turner told USA Today. "But
we're not trying to squeeze the last nickel out of everything. We're trying
to leave an adequate portion for wildlife."

Buffalo empire
Mr. Turner purchased $500 million worth of land to reintroduce buffalo
herds, preserve endangered species, tear down miles of fences and return the
land to its natural condition.
Today, he owns the world's largest herd of buffalo - numbering 27,000 -
and is the major producer of buffalo meat. Buffalo are harvested on site as
part of a commercial hunting venture.
Mr. Turner's latest venture is to create a new outlet for his bison
meat, a chain of restaurants called Ted's Montana Grill that will feature
the Western delicacy.
The meat already is sold to a cooperative that the federal government
subsidizes in the amount of millions of dollars a year. Taxpayers also
subsidize some Turner ranch operations - which received more than $217,000
in federal funds from 1996 to 2000.
There is no means-testing in the award of government grants, Mr. Miller
said, noting that Mr. Turner invested $1 million along with the grants to
restore native grasslands.
"People who spend a lot of money to restore grasslands should be able
to receive federal funds," the Turner Enterprises general manager said.
Mr.Turner's 20 ranches and other properties cover more than 26,000
square miles in Montana, New Mexico, Nebraska, Kansas, Florida, South
Dakota, South Carolina, Georgia, Colorado and Oklahoma, as well as in
Argentina.
The ranches are world-class hunting and fishing destinations that
charge up to $4,000 per person for big-game hunts in addition to the pricier
buffalo hunts.
Mr. Turner ordered the topmost 10 feet of a Montana ridge to be
"shaved" by bulldozers, the London Guardian newspaper reported, so he "could
see the Spanish Peaks mountain range reflected in his trout pond."
Mr. Turner has cut timber on his BarNone and Vermejo Park ranches in
Montana and New Mexico. And exploration for natural gas on the pristine
Vermejo ranch - which crosses into Colorado - is expected to net more than
$80 million in royalties for the Turner clan over the next 20 years,
according to Forbes Magazine.

'Killer fences'
Mr. Miller could not confirm how much the Turner family will receive in
royalty payments. He said the family unsuccessfully sought to purchase
mineral rights when they bought the property from PennzEnergy.
Instead, the family negotiated to forge ahead with development with
agreed-upon environmental protections, Mr. Miller said. "We wanted to
control our own destiny, but [the mineral rights] were not for sale," he
said.
The leading critics of what they call "killer fences" and other Turner
ranch practices are sportsmen Jack Jones, a retired wildlife biologist for
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Jack Atcheson Sr., a conservation
activist who has been honored by Outdoor Life magazine.
Mr. Jones and Mr. Atcheson say the electrified fencing around the
12,000-acre Snowcrest Ranch in Montana not only is illegal but kills
wildlife that tries to crawl under or through the fence to enter winter
feeding grounds.
The sportsmen say the fences are 60 inches tall with a bottom rung 9 to
11 inches above ground, a departure from the federal government's definition
of a legal fence.
Mr. Jones and Mr. Atcheson say they recorded 23 dead elk and deer along
a 500-yard stretch of fence during three field trips in August.
"The elk were dead because they could not get over or under the fences.
So they died a horrible death after spending five to seven days starving to
death while continually being shocked," Mr. Jones said.
Mr. Miller said animal carcasses have been found along the fence line,
"but that doesn't mean the fence had anything to do with the death of the
animals."
The law requires fencing for livestock operations to control animal
movement, Mr. Miller said. A gate allowing access to feeding grounds is
supposed to be open during winter months.
"We have many fewer miles of fences now than when we bought our
ranches," the Turner spokesman said. "Tight fences make good neighbors; you
don't allow your animals to range on someone else's land."

'Bit of a problem'
Mr. Miller referred further questions on the fence to Jeff Hagener,
director of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, who
acknowledged cause for concern.
"It appears that last winter, a number of gates were not left open,"
Mr. Hagener said. "It's my understanding we are working with Turner to
install more gates or fix parts of the fence where the fence is too high or
too low [for wildlife] to get through it. We're trying to address issues
that do seem to be a bit of a problem."
Mr. Hagener said the fencing does not appear to cross federal land and
so does not violate federal guidelines. However, his and other agencies are
reviewing state guidelines to determine whether changes are warranted.
The Montana wildlife agency has a good relationship with the Turner
ranches, Mr. Hagener said, but others harbor a "lot of resentment" over Mr.
Turner's different kind of management for his vast acreage.
Other ranchers, the sportsmen say, are held to a higher standard than
Mr. Turner.
"If a cattle rancher had a fence like that, all these bleeding-heart
clubs would be after these guys' heads, there is no doubt about it," Mr.
Jones said. "But since it's Ted Turner, they turn their heads and they don't
want to talk about it."
The Turner family intentionally fenced in wildlife to create a private
game ranch, the sportsmen say.
Hunting operations on six Turner ranches target bison, elk, deer,
antelope, oryx and turkey; fly-fishing is free but hunting fees range in the
thousands.
Asked why environmental groups are not protesting Turner ranching or
hunting operations, Mr. Jones pointed to the Turner Foundation and said,
"Follow the money trail and see where it leads."

Millions in donations
The Turner Foundation, headed by Mr. Turner and his children, awarded
3,143 grants totaling more than $152 million from 1991 to 2000 to
environmental and population-control groups, foundation President Michael
Finley said.
"We give to groups that are interested in protecting the environment
... or support sustaining use of the environment, which includes hunting and
fishing," Mr. Finley said.
Mr. Turner, an avid hunter, donates money to conservation groups that
support hunting, including the National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited
and Ducks Unlimited.
"If someone is postulating that this foundation only provides funding
to groups who are anti-timber cutting, anti-hunting, anti-fishing, that is
totally inaccurate," Mr. Finley said.
"Our whole emphasis is working with groups and institutions looking for
long-term stability in terms of protecting our environment. We recognize
that we need a strong economy, that we need to utilize our resources, but to
do it in a sensitive and sustainable manner so that in 100 years we have
something left."
Mr. Turner's philanthropy "proceeded huge land acquisitions," Mr.
Finley said. "To say he started giving to defer criticism - someone has it
backwards."
The National Wildlife Federation has received $1.8 million from the
Turner Foundation for outreach projects and informational sessions on
endangered species. The federation also led the fight to make fences like
those on the Turner ranch illegal on federal property.
Mark Van Putten, president of the National Wildlife Federation, said he
had no direct knowledge of the fence but praised Mr. Turner's contributions
to the environment.
"He has taken on the most innovative habitat projects I have ever
seen," Mr. Van Putten said. "He has done more for habitat protection than
anyone I can think of.
"The most significant contribution he has brought has been his
irrepressible vision and his commitment to creating a sustainable planet. He
has a planetary vision."

'Daddy Greenbucks'
Critics say environmental groups refuse to criticize Mr. Turner because
of the funding provided by his foundation.
While a timber-cutting operation was under way on one of his ranches in
1998, members of the radical environmental group EarthFirst instead
protested timber cutting on a nearby ranch owned by Zachary Taylor, said
private investigator Barry R. Clausen, who spent a year undercover at
EarthFirst.
He asked a protester why the group did not include take on Mr. Turner,
Mr. Clausen said, and was told: "We cannot. That's where our money comes
from."
Mr. Clausen, author of "Burning Rage," an investigation of domestic
terrorism, said environmental groups' nickname for Mr. Turner is "Daddy
Greenbucks."
"Ted Turner has canned hunts where you can shoot a buffalo and drilling
in New Mexico and clear-cutting trees and he never gets protested. And when
you ask why, it's because he is one of the biggest contributors to extremist
groups," Mr. Clausen said.
Rainforest Action Network, which has received nearly a half-million
dollars since 1995 from the Turner Foundation, also avoided protesting Mr.
Turner's activities.
But the network joined EarthFirst in protesting Mr. Taylor's logging
operation, which went out of business after the Earth Liberation Front
burned down the purchasing company, U.S. Forest Industries of Medford, Ore.
The Earth Liberation Front is the underground organization that took
credit for the largest act of eco-terrorism in the United States - the Vail
Ski Resort fires on Oct. 19, 1998, that destroyed three buildings and four
ski lifts.
Two Turner ranches harvest timber but by doing limited cuts, not
clear-cuts, said Mr. Miller, the Turner Enterprises general manager.
A judge last month blocked a Forest Service plan to salvage timber from
destructive wildfires in 2000 even as a Turner ranch began salvaging timber
there burned by the same fires.
Mr. Miller said the projects are different because one was on private
property and the other on public property. Mr. Turner's project, he added,
is endorsed by the Nature Conservancy.
"Basically, we recognize that forest products are necessary to
livelihoods in the United States and necessary to the economy," Mr. Miller
said. "What we have set about doing is to harvest wood products in a
sustainable manner and we are pretty proud in the sustainable way we do our
harvest."

Environmental critics
Not all environmental groups are willing to side with their
high-powered benefactor.
In 1999, a group called New West Research revealed that the federal
government was asked to kill predators on Mr. Turner's 320,000-acre Ladder
Ranch in southern New Mexico.
The agreement called for "aerial gunning" of wild dogs at the Turner
ranch even as the Turner Endangered Species Fund touted a program to
reintroduce the rare Mexican wolf. The latter program put Mr. Turner at odds
with New Mexico neighbors who say the wolves threaten livestock.
Some in Montana and New Mexico say Mr. Turner picks and chooses among
species to create a personal menagerie.
Conservation programs to reintroduce rare and endangered species are
conducted on 11 Turner ranches. The species include the Mexican gray wolf,
California condor, Rio Grande chub, Chiricahua leopard frog, bighorn sheep,
aplomado falcon, black-tailed prairie dog, black-footed ferret, black bear,
Mexican spotted owl and red-cockaded woodpecker.
"He brings endangered species onto his private property - which is his
own business - but it does have an impact on his neighbors," said Caren
Cowen, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association.
"On the one hand he brings in all of these endangered species, but on
the other hand they hunt on their ranches. The two don't meet in my mind
very well.
"In addition, he gives a lot of money to radical environmentalists who
are trying to put us out of business," Miss Cowan said.
"When you dig a little deeper there is always another side to the
story," said Mr. Miller, the Turner spokesman. "If environmental groups are
not criticizing Mr. Turner's operations, it is because there is nothing to
criticize.
"I can't refute criticism or ties to funding, but what we've tried to
show is there is nothing to criticize."


Scott Riebel
Director of Environmental Affairs
United Four Wheel Drive Associations
www.ufwda.org


:usa: