Reprinted with permission from RANGE magazine 1 800 RANGE 4 U
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"Our opponents don't use science, they subvert science," says Arizona rancher Jim Chilton. "Endangered species are just their tools to raise money and to impose their antiproduction philosophy."

Chilton wants to expose the way the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) does business and is incensed over the lost livelihoods of tens of thousands of rural westerners: timber workers, ranchers and miners who lost productive, well-paid employment. "Too many other victims just couldn't defend themselves against relentless attacks by CBD or Forest Guardians."

Brothers Jim and Tom Chilton and their father Ken, partners in Chilton Ranch and Cattle Company, recently won a defamation suit against CBD.

"Environmental activist organizations wear people down until they can no longer function," a witness in court asserted.


"That's exactly the problem," emphasizes Jim, who persevered through seven years of predatory political action, litigious attacks, slander and libel to protect the family's multigenerational heritage. "Ranching is not a job; it's a culture. It is a unique western American way of life and a national cultural treasure worthy of preservation. This [defamation] case is more about the truth, values and science than about money."

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Past Articles of the Month

Stewards article published in RANGE magazine