Shane Smith is director of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens and a long-time member of the Wyoming Outdoor Council. I caught up with him by phone recently to ask his perspective on the conservation movement.

"The environment is not a partisan issue-clean water, clean air, hunting, fishing-you don't have to be of one party to realize the effects of extractive activities on these things," Shane says.

Shane has applied his interest in these issues to his work for decades. In 1977, he helped found the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. In addition to being a public botanic garden, the mission of the gardens is also to provide meaningful work for seniors, youth at risk, and handicapped folks.

The operations are guided by an environmental ethic. In the late 1970s, the gardens pioneered the use of beneficial insects to control pests. Further, the greenhouse is fully heated by passive solar, and the office building is 50 percent powered by photovoltaic panels, making electricity for the operation in large part free. The Botanic Gardens also serve an important role in teaching people about environmental stewardship.

"You could sum up a lot of what we do as sustainability," Shane says.

It's because Shane values a healthy environment that he joined the Wyoming Outdoor Council. He served on the board from 1990-1997. Shane has seen a lot of changes at the organization: "WOC has a wonderful history thanks to Tom Bell's vision. We've gone from a staff of just one or two people-when board members were asked to open their billfold just to keep someone on staff-to a leading conservation group. But we've always been homegrown. We're nonpartisan, and we don't have any outside affiliations. Decision makers are more open to WOC than they are to national organizations. Governor Herschler used to say, ‘Wyoming on our terms.' That's the philosophy of WOC, too. We don't have to sell our state to the highest bidder."

Shane now serves on the board at the Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. When I asked him to describe the institute's influence in environmental politics in our state, he noted that one of the many roles the institute plays is encouraging all interested parties to examine the effects of growth.

"Rural sprawl, the proliferation of second homes-these are problems in Wyoming. For instance around Laramie and Cheyenne, you have ranchettes in places where people used to enjoy a pristine viewscape. The Ruckelshaus Institute is asking, ‘What effect is all of this having? Are there better ways to do this?' Growth is a difficult thing to stop. But with fortitude, we can shape it. The Ruckelshaus Institute is helping the government and other folks learn how to shape Wyoming's growth-again, on our own terms."

Shane remembers important strides made by the Wyoming Outdoor Council over the years. One example is the Arlington wind farm. He recalls, "We were hearing from various folks who opposed the project because it would harm birds. Pacific Power and the company that built the farm were also calling on us. WOC decided we could support the project if the generators were designed to protect birds, and we told the designers this. In the end, Arlington was one of the first wind farms that listened to environmentalists. In part because of the influence of WOC, the farm built some of the first solid-beam columns used at wind farms. [Solid beams eliminate roosting.] Also the operators geared the turbines to turn more slowly. Ultimately, WOC felt we needed to weigh the effects of the wind farm against the effects of other forms of energy. And we decided, ‘Let's take the lesser evil.'"

Shane knows that those of us who promote renewable energy in Wyoming have an important task ahead. "Wyoming is behind the eight-ball," he says. "We're relying too much on extractive energy and losing the high ground to other states. We should be using some of the current windfall to position ourselves to be the leader in free renewable energy. Let's make Wyoming an energy player far into the future. Some folks seem to think that the money from extractive energy will last forever. But that income is going to end some day."

In the coming months and years, Frontline readers will see more of the Wyoming Outdoor Council's program to promote clean energy. (For a description of that work, please send an email to molly@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.) Many thanks to Shane for his help in building the foundation for our clean energy work and for his continuing support for all of the Outdoor Council's efforts.