Randy Newberg, aka Big Fin, has recently appeared on TEDEx Helena w/ a short presentation on the meaning and value of Public Land to Americans. I saw it on You Tube and I am sure it is on other platforms and should be watched and commented on by everyone who care about the outdoors.
Thanks Big Fin, you represent us well. Public speaking is tough and should not be left to politicians and actors.
mike r
Don't wish it were easier Wish you were better
Stab them in the taint, you can't put a tourniquet on that. Craig Douglas ECQC
ahh I ain't worried about no public land - nothing out there to see except a bunch of nothing . . I got better things to worry about , if somebody can come up with something to do with it then let them have it - it won't effect me .
PRESIDENT TRUMP 2024/2028 !!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Bristoe The people wringing their hands over Trump's rhetoric don't know what time it is in America.
I thought Randy addressed lots of good points. He made it clear he wants public land to stay public. I'm with him on that. It's there (the public land) for our generations and generations to come, to use. Use it as outdoor recreations to hike, camp, hunt and fish. To be able to explore just like our fathers before us did. I don't think, we need to have the mind set "it wont effect me" It's all of lands and we should all care about what happens to it. Take care
Doesn't speak for me at all. He talks about the "recreation economy" of which his particular niche is a small part of the whole, to the exclusion of that same natural resource economy he also mentioned. Cleverly done, all wrapped in the flag, of course. But he ignores the millions of acres burnt, again, ignores the fact that he's opposed to certain kinds of recreational use.
Up hills slow, Down hills fast Tonnage first and Safety last.
Doesn't speak for me at all. He talks about the "recreation economy" of which his particular niche is a small part of the whole, to the exclusion of that same natural resource economy he also mentioned. Cleverly done, all wrapped in the flag, of course. But he ignores the millions of acres burnt, again, ignores the fact that he's opposed to certain kinds of recreational use.
If you had said I spoke for you Dave, I would have completely failed in my message.
Facts are facts. Neither outdoor rec or natural resource extraction has to be "to the exclusion" of the other. Maybe some see it that way if they need the simplistic binary vision to tame this scary, complicated, big adult world we live in. Might want to take another listen at 5:46 where I say the following, with no implication that one is at the exclusion of the other.
1. Outdoor Rec economy is 2% of GDP.
2. Natural Resource economy is 1.5% of GDP and critical to our national defense.
Where did I ignore that millions of acres burnt? I didn't. Factoid you might benefit from - Millions of acres burn every year. Millions of acres have burned every year in the western US since Moby Dick was a minnow and will continue to burn so long as we manage/mismanage fire, forests, and landscapes the way we do.
Tell me what "certain kinds of recreation" I'm opposed to?
I'd be interested to hear all the facts you have about me. Fact is, you don't have any. It is more of the standard clueless BS you dream up. Seems like once a year you show up to lob a few volleys from the peanut gallery, hoping someone will take you seriously, then when you're proven to be full of BS, you crawl back under a rock.
Here's an idea for you. Why don't you ask OIDabble, the guy who posted above, about my background in resource economy issues. He spent time working with my Dad's logging operation. He was neighbor with, or worked as a faller and/or skidder operator for, many of my uncles in their logging operations. I worked in a sawmill with Dabble's brother while I was going to college. He sees my brother's current logging operation on a regular basis. It would be funny to see you show up in that small logging town and start blowing your BS stories and see how quickly someone rearranges your "facts."
I'm thankful I don't speak for you. I'm thankful you've never spoke to me, seen me in person, or communicated with me in any manner. Seems such communication would be necessary to acquire all of "what you know" about me, but if facts were currency, you'd be bankrupt. Your BS doesn't work very well with those of us who live in Montana, so I guess it is expected you would try to see what sticks out here on Al Gore's internet. It would be fun to meet you some day when I'm in the Flathead.
I have a favor to ask, Dave; if ever I said something you did agree with, please let me know. I would quickly examine what I wrote/said/represented, as I most likely would have misstated my opinion.
To the rest of you, thanks for posting link and thanks for the support. Hope your mailboxes are stuffed with the tags you've applied for.
Last edited by BigFin; 04/20/18. Reason: spelling
My name is Randy Newberg and I approved this post. What is written is my opinion, and my opinion only.
"Hunt when you can. You're gonna run out of health before you run out of money."
While I know you don't need any assistance getting the drop on the Montana version of the late Art Bell...just keep up the great work for us lowly hunters, fishermen, trappers, hikers, etc. etc. that place high value on our public lands.
The short talk was laid out well, very understandable and well thought out.
Unfortunately, it likely won't have fallen on many of those who hold differing beliefs ears. My feeling over the years: many of those folks who oppose public lands (and their management by ".gov" ) for a variety of reasons don't listen to TED talks, which I've only ever heard on NPR, PRI, JPR and associated radio which is anathema to them.
I appreciate your insightful analysis.
Geno
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men. In it is contentment In it is death and all you seek (Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)
While I know you don't need any assistance getting the drop on the Montana version of the late Art Bell...just keep up the great work for us lowly hunters, fishermen, trappers, hikers, etc. etc. that place high value on our public lands.
Well done and we'll see you in the trenches.
Awww so cute
Im kinda bummed randy didn't ask the real hard hitting questions during his turdcast with you. "Buzz how is it you breath with your head so far up your rectum" "buzz, does anyone from bha call you and tell you to stfu?" "Buzz, how great is it to get paid by the people to go scouting, act like you actually work?"
Sorry, Randy, But the reality is, you're hunting and fishing uber alles. I'd bet you think the current release bill for the Metcalf WSA's, none of which cut the mustard in the original mandated 1964 review, is a bad thing. All the Greens know those WSAs are bargaining chips, a hostage-taking, potential future territorial gains, and its more ground for you to film your videos. Don't tell me you're not self interested, I certainly am. I sure like to hunt, but I also love to ride vast distances of summer singletrack on my dirt bike. I like to camp, hike, fish, but I also like to see the local mill full of logs that won't go up in smoke and that will build fine homes. I like multiple use, land of many uses, that gives my community a diverse and good paying economic base. I even like wilderness, there's no question the Bob Marshall should have been designated. The add ons? No. That wasn't the original, reasonable, decent intent of the Wilderness Act. Even Bob Marshall himself envisioned no more than 20 million acres in the end.I'm sort of glad there is more than that, like 100 million acres, but more? At the expense of literally everything else great about public lands? Heck no.
The fact is, recreation jobs don't pay. The Outdoor Industry Association bragged up the jobs last year, like 7.1 billion of which 2 billion was wages. But those wages were across 70,000 jobs that paid a lousy $25 grand a year, well below the already-rotten Montana average. You claim "outdoor recreation" as being 2 percent of GDP. What you DON'T say is the Feds just did an initial analysis, and the "outdoor recreation" that you (and the idiots at OIA) claim as all yours -- basically, the politically-corrected kind, is only a tiny part of that two percent. The total sector is 374 billion -- bigger than ag (farms, fish, forests) at 177 billion, bigger than Hollywood (124 billion). Yet, $59 billion of this sector is credited to the manufacture of motorized vehicles. Yep! Of those, $30 billion are “recreational vehicles” as in fuel-guzzling motor homes and (likely) camping trailers. Boating and fishing? $38 billion – and you can bet those aren’t just kayaks, canoes and rafts. Hunting, shooting and trapping? $15.4 billion, with hunting being 60 percent, or $9.2 billion. Horses? About $10 billion. In sum, as GearJunkie put it, “hunting, fishing, and motorized vehicles contributed the most among outdoor activities. And RVs contributed more than half of the motorized vehicle value.” What’s left over? You guessed it -- backpacking, hiking and climbing (plus gear), which certain special interests insist is the only appropriate “outdoor industry” deserving top policy priority on public lands. As Outside reported, all that remains is “$10 billion, well behind the hook-and-bullet industries.”
That dovetails with a lot of other things I've learned over the years about public lands recreation (and I'm not counting the "work" uses of grazing, forestry and yep, mining). The last Recreation Visitor Day analysis I looked at for Montana boiled down foot and horse visitors to about two percent of total visitation, while modern means of "outdoor recreation" using motorized toys of all kinds was the rest of it: Pleasure driving day trips, camping (with all the stuff), sledding, downhill skiing, et cetera, of which most was local people living within 50 miles. When it came to wilderness use, that again boiled down in interesting ways. Fully half of all wilderness visits were hunting-related, meaning occuring during five weeks of fall. The other 47 weeks (actually, more like 20 weeks when there's open ground, not snow) covered the rest of the "human-powered" visitation. So my point is, large areas are already set aside for each of a relatively few elite or purist users that seek the experience you want, while there is less and less for the other 98 percent who, for whatever reason, fall in the full spectrum of "outdoor recreation." You guys can have Randy speak for you, that's fine, but Randy doesn't speak for the other 98 percent who have been shafted, and are in fact still being shafted by bad public lands policies set by Big Stupid Green.
Up hills slow, Down hills fast Tonnage first and Safety last.
