THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 14, 1994 TAG: 9407140007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Although I have ignored earlier diatribes, the environmentally provocative bear-baiting in your July 3 editorial impels this cub to respond forthwith.
In your editorial on the recent appointment of the executive director for the state Department of Environmental Quality, pointed reference was made to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation as offering only the scorched-economy regime of closed fisheries and land lock-up. Ignorance of the history and success of this remarkable organization in instituting a regional environmental recovery is apparent. Ignorance of its operational methods is equally apparent, along with an obvious bias against any such protective organization.
With a philosophy, above all, that recognizes the human relationships that impact both economic progress and enjoyable usage of this immense regional asset, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has demonstrated both a cautious and balanced sensitivity to environmental concerns that place it in a unique position of esteem and make it a model of success within its four-state area of influence. Such esteem, moreover, comes from political as well as environmental sources.
The specific reference to support by the CBF of fishery closings becomes absurd in the context of the striped-bass-recovery program and, more pathetically, in the terminal status of oyster harvesting within the Bay. Unmentioned, and obviously unknown by you, is the remarkable educational program which the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has conducted for many years at various locations throughout the Bay, with impressive benefit to many thousands of schoolchildren and adults annually.
I am particularly perplexed that these recent tirades against environmental concerns reflect a marked change in editorial policy, presumably concurrent with the new leadership in such responsibility and, equally distressing, with an apparent further abdication of ownership responsibility. When a newspaper such as The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, with its massive impact on the population bordering the southern Chesapeake Bay, presents such an imbalance in both knowledge and perception of the necessity for management of this vital national resource, it becomes a travesty for the constructive influence of public opinion.
M. LEE PAYNE
Norfolk, July 4, 1994 by CNB