Photo by Christopher Zarriello

About 30 years ago the industry-spawned strategy of “collaboration” entered the policy arena to influence and neuter the “conservation movement” that was dedicated to protecting the rapidly disappearing old growth forests, native species, wild landscapes, and pristine, trout-filled rivers.

The logging industry had already lost the so-called “timber wars,” having cut themselves out of a sustainable future. Likewise, the environmental abuses by extractive industries had left Montana with an inordinate number of clearcuts, Superfund sites (including the largest in the nation), abandoned industrial facilities and mines leaking toxins such as cyanide, that required treatment in perpetuity.

Industry strategists are anything but dumb. They knew they were losing public support due to their track record of environmental destruction. So they came up with “collaboration,” where extractive industries would find “consensus” with conservationists — virtually guaranteeing they’d get at least half of what they wanted, if not more. In Montana, that strategy........

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