Essay by Jim Ludwig
The West – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine
Steve:
Glad to see you made the big time as a guest columnist at The Post, now you are part of “a place where greed, exploitation and profit are the name of the game,” to quote a friend and author.
I can hear you say, “That is not fair, Jim”. But neither is your accusation that the West was developed by and for those reasons. Am I guilty because I’ve taken a rundown forty acres and developed a nursery that supports several families and sells plants for a profit? Would it be better if the elite were to tell me if I were to grow native plants or not? Would the West be better off if the land I’ve exploited for profit, because I’m greedy, had continued as a hay field?