Attorney General Phil Weiser is going to win the gubernatorial election.  

That said, Colorado agriculture and rural communities have a 30-year track record of finding the win-win be it for species or industries or habitat. Former Governor Roy Romer possessed what Gov. Jared Polis has demonstrated repeatedly he doesn’t have: the willingness to find compromise through cooperation. It’s the old adage of attracting more flies with honey than vinegar and when Weiser takes office, he will have to stop the bleeding caused by the Polis administration. 

To heal the damage done by Gov. Polis, Weiser will have to pick a few low-hanging fruits to demonstrate to private property owners, rural residents, ag producers, outdoorsmen and the most reasonable among us that he is willing to work together. 

My intuition is that Gov. Polis, who is angry that ag producers, hunters, trappers, outfitters and landowners didn’t bow down to his will, is going to try to burn down the proverbial house until he slams the front door, storms out and begins his presidential run in earnest. That was evident through his most recent round of Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission appointees who pushed their own agendas with no mind for CPW staff or what the public has repeatedly said they want. Of the low hanging fruit, this one is the Chiquita banana, man. He needs to immediately dismiss the five unconfirmed appointees to the CPW Commission and work with and listen to stakeholders to appoint people who represent their stakeholders on paper and in action. Related to the CPW Commission, leaders of large staff like the Director of CPW, who are unwilling to push back on a board that is overstepping their bounds and treating their staff poorly have no business in the next administration.  

The people Weiser taps to lead the Department of Agriculture, Department of Natural Resources, and the State Land Board will speak volumes to the stakeholders of those agencies. Those choices will also speak volumes to the respective staffs of those agencies who are ready for ships to be righted before they runs aground.  

The fight for water in Colorado is a fight we are wholly unprepared for, and it is a fight we will lose if Weiser is ill prepared for battle. No longer in the state do we have a late John Stulp, former commissioner of agriculture and the state’s first and only water czar. Weiser spoke about water at the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting with familiarity, but he must surround himself with actual experts and be prepared. 

While former Governors Romer and Owens established the long history in Colorado of cooperating with those outside the blue stripe, former Gov. Hickenlooper, when he was in office, was good at hiring good people and allowing them to do their jobs. Former Commissioner of Agriculture Don Brown, a farmer and rancher from Yuma, was an outstanding Commissioner and Hick didn’t interfere and he did as he said he would. He was also willing to listen to criticism and be redirected down the right path. That’s worth bringing back. 

Weiser has the ability and willingness to listen. He showed up to the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association meeting knowing that the majority of people in the room didn’t align with him politically. He will have to continue showing up. I anticipate he will as he spent a great deal of time in rural Colorado. 

There is a way for green energy to exist with rural communities and agriculture but real cooperation will be necessary. The Biden-era NIETC line proposed in southeastern Colorado needs Weiser’s attention so it doesn’t continue to be a weapon to remove ag producers from the landscape. If he is willing to find the win-win, agriculture will thrive, but we can’t win like this. 

There is a way for wildlife habitat and conservation and ranching to thrive together, but the noisy minority will have to be given the same seat at the same table and private landowners and ag producers, not just waved through the velvet rope.  

We can’t win as polarized as we are today and the future of agriculture rests on Weiser’s ability to fight for agriculture rather than against it. 

Rachel Gabel writes about agriculture and rural issues. She is assistant editor of The Fence Post Magazine, the region’s preeminent agriculture publication.