Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by
the Honorable Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior
for the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife
Refuge Transfer and Expansion Event
Commerce City, Colorado
Friday, October 13, 2006
Thank you, Dean, for that kind introduction, and for the outstanding work you, the refuge staff, and your partners, have done here at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. This beautiful refuge is truly one of the nation's premier urban wildlife refuges.
As we look around us, we can use our imagination to envision the rich history of Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and the long journey that has brought us to this day.
If we were here 4,000 years ago, we would see primitive people using the area as a hunting camp. Archeologists have found their spearheads, knives and other artifacts on these grounds.
If we were here 500 years ago, we would have seen Apache teepees dotting the landscape - the men hunting rabbit, turkey and deer and the women gathering fruits, honey and nuts.
If we were here 150 years ago, we would have seen prospectors heading west, driven on by rumors of gold and other precious metals in the Rocky Mountains.
If we were here 80 years ago, we would have seen farmhouses and fields plowed by the hardy men and women who scratched a living from the prairie through the sweat of their brow.
If we were here 60 years ago, we would have seen a vast complex of military buildings used to produce chemical weapons in World War II. It is one of the lessons of history that we never had to use these weapons. The mere existence of the Arsenal served as a deterrent, keeping the Axis powers from using the chemical weapons they had stockpiled.
Hitler had called Americans "a nation of softies" who would never match his chemical weapon production. Within two years of breaking ground, the Arsenal was out-producing Hitler, and, as a result, he never dared use his chemical weapons.
The farmers who gave up their land and homesteads so that America could build the arsenal did so without complaint. A farmer named Ray Telfar, expressed the great patriotism of that time. "We loved the farm and the land," he said. "It was beautiful farmland, very rich and flat. But we all remembered what happened at Pearl Harbor. We just wanted the war over, and when Uncle Sam said he needed our land, we were willing to help in any way we could."
Later in life - in his late 60s - Ray volunteered as a guide for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the very land he had farmed.
Today, we no longer see an Arsenal on this site. We see a national wildlife refuge. Through the dedication and hard work of many people, we have turned this area from a place for producing nerve gas to a place that soothes the nerves and reconnects us with the natural world.
I am confident that if we could be here 50 years from now, we would see people hiking trails and watching bald eagles. We would see children fishing and learning to love what is wild and free in the world.
As the new Interior Secretary, I am a latecomer to this great transformation. I am humbled by what you have accomplished here - the tireless efforts have successfully changed the Arsenal from a Superfund site to a conservation asset for metropolitan Denver, the State of Colorado, and the nation.
[ I want to applaud Governor Owens, for the continuing participation of the State of Colorado in this enterprise, and for your recognition of the Arsenal as a valuable addition to Colorado's already-impressive list of natural areas.
Thank you also Senator Allard, Congressman Udall, Congressman Beauprez, and the other past and present Members of the Colorado Congressional Delegation -- including Senator Ken Salazar - who have provided the partners with the tools, and the funds, to move the cleanup forward and establish and enhance the refuge.
Likewise, I want to commend the local government leaders here today for recognizing the potential of the Arsenal to benefit your communities and for your involvement in the processes that have brought us to this day.
I'd also like to recognize the U.S. Army, Shell Oil Company, the Environmental Protection Agency, and all of the other agencies, organizations, and individuals who have contributed resources to the creation and restoration of the refuge.
Finally, I'd like to thank the employees and volunteers here -- the men and women who work hard every day to turn vision into action and restore and heal this ground for future generations.] It is appropriate that we celebrate the expansion of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge this week because it is National Wildlife Refuge Week, the annual celebration of our refuge system.
A little over a century ago, President Teddy Roosevelt established the first national wildlife refuge on a tiny swath of land in Florida called Pelican Island. From that humble beginning, America has built the National Wildlife Refuge System into the largest and most diverse system of lands in the world dedicated to fish and wildlife conservation.
From the Arctic Circle to the Caribbean, from the Maine Coast to the Hawaiian Islands, our 545 refuges provide nearly 100 million acres of wildlife habitat. They also provide habitat for Americans to enjoy and learn about wildlife.
We are only 10 miles northeast of downtown Denver - within view of the skyline. What a gift it is to the people of the Denver to have a world-class wildlife refuge within eyesight of their world-class city. The proximity of a refuge to an urban area is not unusual. In fact, Denver has two other refuges - Rocky Flats and Two Ponds - also in its metro area. There is a national wildlife refuge within driving distance of every major city in America. I encourage all Americans to take advantage of this proximity.
Our refuges also are unique because of their diversity. Originally established to protect birds from market hunters, the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System has evolved to meet the ever-growing, ever-changing conservation needs of the nation. The refuge system now includes at least one example of every kind of ecosystem in the United States.
As the demographics of our nation continues to undergo tremendous change, refuges are reaching out to new constituencies, connecting those who may not typically have had access to wildlife and the great outdoors.
I had a wonderful experience not many days after I was sworn in as Secretary. The Fish and Wildlife Service stocked a pond on the National Mall with bass and blue gill and invited inner city school children to go fishing.
So I hung my "Gone Fishin" sign on my office door and joined them.
It is hard to express the excitement on the faces of children who may never have fished before or even been to a river or pond when they catch their first fish.
Those children now know the joy of outdoor recreation. They have share in an inheritance that every child should enjoy.
I'm pleased that you are working so hard to introduce nature to children and so many others here in the Denver area. I'm especially pleased that you are reaching out in unique ways to underserved populations -- welcoming school groups, taking the refuge experience into the classroom, hosting fishing programs for urban youth, making the refuge accessible for people of all abilities, enhancing visitor services for the significant number of Spanish speakers in and around Denver, and using virtual media to bring the refuge to people who cannot be here in person.
These, and other initiatives, provide people who live in a city or urban area with an important "gateway" to the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Teddy Roosevelt considered conservation to be one of our country's highest priorities. He said, "Conservation is the chief material question that confronts us - second only to the great fundamental questions of morality."
For more than 100 years, Americans have put into practice the belief that a society that protects wildlife and wildlife habitat is a richer, healthier one, and that conservation of natural wonders is an important, defining characteristic of who we are.
The possibilities on our refuges are endless:
Children gazing skyward in wonder at the ancient migrations of waterfowl.
Parents passing to their children the tradition of hunting and fishing and the love of the outdoors that they received from their parents A birder catching a first glimpse of an elusive species.
It is moments such as these that form the fabric of America's close and lasting relationship with the National Wildlife Refuge System.
The investment each of you has made in the Arsenal will help ensure that this relationship endures, and the National Wildlife Refuge System, will remain strong and vibrant for years to come.
Thanks to your dedication and the spirit of partnership, America has turned an arsenal of democracy and freedom into an arsenal of conservation. Thank you.