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August 17, 2000 Dear Sirs: I have never written a letter like this before but I guess it's about time I do. Up until the time I was an adult, the only dealings I had ever had with a wildlife officer were bad ones. Even when you had done nothing wrong, you always felt like they were looking for something and it was a very uncomfortable feeling. Sometimes it wasn't even what they said but just the way they acted. Lets put it this way, you didn't look forward to seeing them. Then one year I was deer hunting above the breaks of the Snake River with my wife and brother when I topped a rise and saw a large animal momentarily. I told my brother that it looked like a big Ram but I only saw it for a second. I had a camera in my pack so I left my pack and rifle and tried to follow this animal into some cliffs to get a picture. I never saw it again. Later in the day, I met for the first time , a wildlife officer by the name of Roger Holland. I got to talking to him about what we had seen that morning and he told us a story about how they had just brought in this Bighorn Ram and, I believe, 6 ewes. He said that if we could get people to leave them alone, someday we may be able to have a hunt for them in the Asotin area. Well, as we know, that worked very well until disease took them. But the friendship with Roger flourished and he became a good friend of our family. He was always willing to share with us what was going on in the area and he made it really interesting. Let me tell you about last year, Our Mom and Dad are getting older and can't get around in those hills anymore. Roger came to camp one evening and told us to bring Mom and Dad to his house just before dark. When we got there, he brought us all into the house and had chairs setup for them in front of his windows and about dark a herd of Elk came into the yard and they got to see them up close and personal. It made their trip. Because of Roger, my brother and my wife and I have started doing volunteer cleanups in the watersheds that Weyerhaeuser owns and have been able to keep some gates open that were going to be closed. We have done work with RMEF, also. Roger always stops in camp for coffee and we have always felt blessed to have gotten to know this man. Because of him, I have learned what being a true Wildlife Officer is about. We have been hunting this area our whole lives so I know what the area was like before Roger came there. He has made such a difference that it's almost unbeliveable, and he has done it in such a way as to bring people together for the good of willife, not keep them apart so they work against each other. I can't say enough for Roger and the work he has done over the years and I just want to thank him personally for letting me see the other side to wildlife management as something I can respect instead of avoid. I will look forward to seeing him in October. I may be overstepping my boundaries here, but it wouldn't be the first time. I don't know if you guys give awards or something like that , or if people like me can put them in for it, but if you do, please think about Roger Holland for the recognition that he deserves for all the years he has worked for wildlife in the Asotin area. Thank you for listening, T. C.
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