Turner calls for more conservation

As a kid growing up at Triangle X Ranch, John Turner was inculcated with a frugal ranchers’ mentality that taught him to hold onto bits and pieces of machinery in case something broke down. That ethic of conserving items around the ranch is similar, Turner said, to the value of conserving the different parts of the natural world. “You couldn’t run into town to Ace Hardware. You had to fix these things on your own and save all the parts,” Turner said Thursday in front of about 30 people at the Murie Center. “I’ve always felt that is a good philosophy. “We need to save the parts of our biodiversity,” he said. Speaking from the front porch of Mardy Murie’s cabin, Turner explained how he grew up indoctrinated by a “rockbed Republican redneck family” that loved the valley and believed in conservation. His remarks were made alongside Murie Center Executive Director Paul Hansen and Rob Wallace, vice chairman of the center’s board, at a “front porch conversation series” talk about “conservative conservation.” As a politician, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director and leader in the nonprofit world, Turner earned a name for himself as a conservationist. His green credentials were built as a Republican, a juxtaposition he said has drawn skepticism from some he has encountered in life. “I’ve always felt that conservation is a conservative philosophy,” Turner said...more

Mr. Turner, please explain how increasing the size of the federal government, increasing federal expenditures and federal influence over our economy is "conservative"?

Turner reminded the crowd that many formative environmental laws governing the United States today have roots in the Nixon presidency. “Richard Nixon betrayed us on a lot of fronts, but if you look at his record every major piece of environmental legislation this country has passed through president Nixon,” he said. “National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act — it’s a pretty long list.”

Nixon did "betray us on a lot of fronts", including the environmental front and the items you list.  They have done far more damage to this country than the break-in at Watergate.

But let's get back to the point.  Do you consider Nixon to have been a conservative?  The same President who took us off the gold standard and imposed wage and price controls?  

I think you are confusing the word Republican with the word conservative.