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When High Country News introduced the brand new issue of pay-to-play, industrial strength, wreckreation in a special "The Old West is Going Under" edition, they had this to say:
http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=4134
[So far, the mainstream environmental organizations have all but ignored the threat of outdoor recreation, leaving the fight against ARC to an energetic enviro-political gadfly from Bend, Ore., named Scott Silver. Silver is the leader, or perhaps the entirety, of an organization called Wild Wilderness, and he is on a crusade to stop "the trend toward commercialization, privatization and motorization of the public lands."]
Back then, I got out a dictionary and looked up the word "gadfly."
It read: GADFLY:
1. A persistent irritating critic; a nuisance.
2. One that acts as a provocative stimulus; a goad.
3. Any of various flies, especially of the family Tabanidae, that bite or annoy livestock and other animals.
When Thunderbear, a journal whose masthead reads, "The Oldest Alternative Newsletter in the Federal Government" today published an article about my work, they used the word "gadfly" twelve times in their introduction. I took it as a compliment.
Pasted below is that introduction to that interview. For those who might like to learn more about the person behind all of these provocative, stimulating, and sometimes goading e-mails --- I invite you to read the interview I did with Thunderbear. It is available at the link which appears below.
Scott
----- begin quoted -----
http://www.workingnet.com/thunderbear/268.html
THE LAST WORD -- SCOTT SILVER
One of the irritating, but necessary components of a free society is the Gadfly.
The Gadfly serves two very important purposes in a Democracy.
First, the Gadfly alerts the community to the presence of evil and evil-doers, and positively urges the community on to civic and environmental Virtue.
Second, the Gadfly simply exists. Like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, the continued presence of Gadflies in a society is one of the best indicators of the health of its Democracy. In a totalitarian society, the Gadfly is co-opted, locked up, exiled, shot, or otherwise given an offer he/she can't refuse.
Then the Gadfly has the love and gratitude of his/her community?
Well, no. Gadflies, after all, are irritating. That is their job description. Many in the community, even those who benefit from the actions of the Gadfly, will regard them as meddling party poopers.
Also, being a Gadfly does not pay well and we Americans are notoriously impressed by money.
So, how does one get to be a Gadfly? The answer is that they are self appointed and self trained. After all there is no position description for a GS-11 Gadfly in the Federal Government ("Incumbent will point out the mistakes of his/her supervisors in a timely manner; Incumbent will obstruct any action not in the best interest of the environment and/or the public. Incumbent will assure that the actions of his/her supervisors are totally transparent and aboveboard etc etc)
So how did Silver get to be an environmental Gadfly? Sort of by osmosis. He was a typical successful biochemist with some 5 patents under his belt and an avocation for wilderness travel. While on such a trip with a cross country skiing buddy, they were sitting around the campfire and came to the conclusion that the wilderness they loved was being nibbled to death by bureaucrats and developers. They returned to civilization (You always have to return) and co-founded Wild Wilderness; a no-compromise electronic defender of America's last wild places.
Michael Frome, Dean of American environmentalists, said of Silver: Scott Silver exemplifies the concerned citizen conservationist at his best. He is wholly committed, diligent, determined, and perceptive. Thorough in his research and eloquent in his writing. He is a true guardian of the public estate, an incredible watchdog who has developed a network reaching deep inside our public agencies as well as into citizen groups everywhere in the country. He does more than virtually any national organization to alert us to the real threats to our cherished land treasures.......
READ THE INTERVIEW
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- Activism 
