[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 24, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1341-E1342]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      TRIBUTE TO THOMAS J. DOUGHERTY, NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 23, 2002

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to 
and acknowledge the

[[Page E1342]]

outstanding work of Thomas J. Dougherty, a Senior Advisor with the 
National Wildlife Federation. Tom will be retiring at the end of this 
year after serving 18 years with the National Wildlife Federation and 
decades of work on environmental and wildlife protection efforts.
  For over a quarter century, Tom Dougherty, who now lives in Loveland, 
Colorado, has worked to protect wildlife and its habitat on behalf of 
conservationists and the Wyoming and National Wildlife Federations. 
Tom's passion and talent for protecting wildlife first appeared in 
1983, when Tom, then president of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, 
roused the State of Wyoming and its legislature to pass an instream 
flow law. That law recognizes that leaving water in the stream for the 
sake of fish and wildlife is a legitimate and beneficial use of water.
  About the same time, and on much drier ground, Tom began a campaign 
which found its way to the national evening news and into the courts. 
Tom dedicated himself to getting rid of a rancher's lethal twenty-eight 
mile fence, which blocked antelope from reaching their crucial winter 
range on Red Rim in south-central Wyoming. Thanks to Tom (with an 
assist from NBC Nightly News and the federal courts), the five foot 
high mesh wire fence, which was impenetrable to antelope, was 
completely removed, saving antelope from starving to death in severe 
winters. Several years later, Tom helped the Wyoming Game and Fish 
Department acquire the private lands on Red Rim so the Department and 
the Bureau of Land Management could manage those lands as The Red Rim 
Wildlife Habitat Management Area.
  In the later 1980s Tom moved to the National Wildlife Federation's 
office in Boulder, Colorado, where he eventually became Western Staff 
Director. At this position, he worked with Representatives Pat 
Schroeder and Wayne Allard, the City of Denver, the United States Army, 
Shell Oil Company, the State of Colorado, and the United States Fish 
and Wildlife Service to designate the Rocky Mountain Arsenal as a 
National Wildlife Refuge--an unusual urban wildlife refuge. Tom's 
advocacy for the new refuge and talent for bringing people together to 
fight for wildlife were becoming nationally known.
  That recognition may help explain his participation in the early 
1990s of efforts to reform the grazing of livestock on our public 
lands. When then Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt was embarking 
on reform efforts, heated controversy in the west naturally ensued. The 
Secretary, in order to forge a compromise, turned to Colorado, where 
Governor Roy Romer was working to bring all sides together to develop a 
workable slate of reform proposals. Governor Romer included Tom in 
these efforts as he knew of Tom's ability to work with all sides, 
understand the concerns of the ranchers, and bring a spirit of 
collaboration--along with a passion for protecting the sustainability 
of the land for livestock and wildlife. When that effort expanded 
through Secretary Babbitt's participation, the Secretary and Governor 
Romer included him in the grazing roundtable that ultimately lead to 
new grazing regulations. Once again Tom's talent for bringing diverse 
interests together for the sake of wildlife was making a big difference 
on the ground.
  While Tom was working on the Arsenal Refuge and Red Rim, there was a 
sound absent from Yellowstone National Park. Now, you might be lucky 
enough to hear a wolf howl in Yellowstone, and if so you owe some 
thanks to Tom Dougherty. He and the National Wildlife Federation, along 
with many other conservation organizations, worked with citizens, 
teachers, biologists, ranchers, hunters, lawyers, politicians, and 
regulators (to name just a few) to bring back the gray wolf Tom was 
among those invited to be in the Park with Secretary Babbitt during the 
release of the first wolves back into Yellowstone.
  Tom's dedication to wildlife and his thoughtful and heartfelt 
encouragement for those who care about wildlife is not limited to 
federal lands. South and east of Yellowstone, Tom and the National 
Wildlife Federation joined with the Shoshone and Arapaho Indian Tribes 
on the Wind River Indian Reservation in an effort to convert the 
Tribes'agricultural water rights into instream flow rights. Keeping the 
water in the river would have restored the Wind River and bolstered the 
Tribes cultural and economic hopes to once again rely on the river's 
formerly fertile fishery.
  All of this dedication and commitment may be traced to an event early 
in his life that Tom likes to recite and that he swears is a true 
story. Forty years ago, as a boy at a Cheyenne, Wyoming, high school, 
he helped dangle another student by his heels out of a second story 
school window. Perhaps those few seconds of outdoor aerial suspension 
created a heightened appreciation of the earth and its environment--the 
boy who was dangled became a leader of private property rights 
advocates, and Tom, who kept a firm grip on those inverted heels, 
became the dedicated environmental leader, teacher, and wildlife 
guardian that he is today.
  Perhaps those few seconds at the sill of that second story high 
school window gave Tom a knack for recognizing serious wildlife issues 
before most even realize there's a threat. A decade ago he led the 
National and Wyoming Wildlife Federations into court to enforce 
Wyoming's laws against game ranching. Today, game ranches in other 
states are often at the center of concern about the spread of chronic 
wasting disease.
  Tom Dougherty has been the instigator, producer, coach, minister, and 
manager for those working to protect wildlife. Certainly one 
beneficiary of his passionate guardianship and persistent defense is 
the wildlife we enjoy in the Rocky Mountain region. But the creatures 
who thrive thanks to Tom are but a token compared to his greatest 
contribution: his recognition and nurturing of those willing to join in 
defending wildlife. Tom has motivated hundreds to care for and defend 
wildlife across the west. The allies Tom has mentored will ensure the 
West's wildlife legacy will endure.
  For these reasons and more, I am proud to call Tom Dougherty a 
friend, and urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing his 
contributions to wildlife, our county, and the hundreds of citizens he 
has inspired to join together to make the West a better place for 
wildlife and people.

                          ____________________