Thank you. I think what we have witnessed today is the two solitudes of conservation. The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, the Willmore Wilderness Foundation, and the Canadian Cattlemen's Association were very clear that human beings are part of the environment and very much a solution to many of our major conservation challenges. What I heard from the other groups, by and large, was that getting people out of the environment is the way to protect it.
I represent a farming and ranching constituency and I am firmly in the first camp. I want to focus on cattle production because I think the cattle industry has gotten a very bad rap that is clearly undeserved.
Interestingly, some of the very sophisticated conservation and environmental organizations in North America are starting to recognize that. In 2015, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, which is the NAFTA environmental group, published a report called “North American Ranching Industries, Beef Cattle Trade, and Grasslands: Status and Trends”. The report was very clear that sustainably managed grasslands are absolutely critical to environmental protection in northern North America. In fact, they went on to say that grassland ranching “is one of the most sustainable forms of agriculture.”
Mr. Masswohl, why do you think society does not recognize the contributions that the ranching and agricultural communities have made to environmental conservation?