[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 31, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E14]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO TINA ARAPKILES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 31, 2006

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge a 
dear friend and a good citizen, Ms. Tina Arapkiles. Tina recently 
``retired'' from the Rocky Mountain Regional office of Sierra Club to 
spend more time with her family and other pursuits. I have known Tina 
for many years and have the highest regard for her work on behalf of 
conservation and the environment.
  Tina's reputation for gentle, but persuasive, advocacy is well known 
in Colorado and I think it is fair to say that she has admirers from 
across the broad spectrum of public opinion, and not just from within 
the environmental community. Certainly, her reputation with members of 
the Colorado Congressional Delegation (past and present) from both 
parties has been above reproach.
  Advocacy in the public arena is all too often characterized by angry 
debate and an unhealthy appetite for making villains out of those with 
whom one disagrees. This has never been Tina's way, and it is much to 
her credit that she leaves her service at the Sierra Club with a well-
deserved reputation for thoughtfulness and respect for others. Her 
example of quiet, but determined and passionate advocacy, is one I 
greatly admire.
  For the last 20 years, she has been a consistent advocate for 
protecting the West's land, air, water, and wildlife. She began her 
work on these matters with a lobbying trip to Washington to help pass 
the Superfund law in 1985. In 1989 and 1990, she worked with Congress 
to revise the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. She has worked to 
protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge since the inception of the 
campaign and has been a staunch supporter of Utah wilderness.
  She also helped pass the California Desert Protection Act and the 
Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993. In fact, Tina, some say, single-
handedly gained protections for the Wheeler Peak area. She also worked 
to designate Colorado's first Wild and Scenic River--the Cache la 
Poudre along Colorado's northern Front Range just north and east of 
Rocky Mountain National Park.
  Because of her work on environmental issues and her reputation for 
thoughtful advocacy, Tina was invited to be a member of the Denver 
Post's Community Roundtable in 1995 to discuss international trade 
issues. She was also appointed in 1992 to the Board of Editorial 
Contributors for the Rocky Mountain News to offer regular perspectives 
on environmental policy.
  In January of 2000, Tina directed the Southern Rockies Wolf 
Restoration Project, a coalition of groups and individuals that played 
a strong role in the Colorado Wolf Working Group, which pushed the 
State to allow wolves to roam freely throughout the State. Her essay on 
wolves and camping with her family appears in the recently published 
collection Comeback Wolves.
  She highlights working with Sierra Club volunteers as one of the best 
memories of her job, as well as attending the signing of the Colorado 
Wilderness Act of 1993 in Colorado by President Clinton.
  In addition to her work in the public arena, Tina has perhaps the 
more important distinction of successfully raising two children. For 
anyone who knows Tina, it is clear that her passion for the natural 
world is directly related to her interest in humanity. She cares deeply 
about Mother Earth, not because trees are more important than people, 
but because people need trees and all the other wonders of the natural 
world in order to be fully human.
  Although she is leaving a distinguished career of service on behalf 
of the environment, and will be missed at the Colorado State capitol 
and in the halls of Congress, I know she will continue to be active in 
all the causes that she believes in, and I ask my colleagues to join me 
in wishing her the very best in her future endeavors.

                          ____________________