HELENA — The retiring staff director for the Northern Plains Resource Council said that passion for land and local communities, creativity and devotion led to 33 years of environmental victories.
Teresa Erickson was the keynote speaker at the NPRC annual meeting at the Double Tree Hotel on Saturday where she talked about some of the victories that have protected clean air and clean water.
Erickson said the NPRC brings together people who share a love for Montana and also talked about what she has learned as a community organizer.
"Hope is not a strategy,” Erickson said. “You have to be more strategic. Hope is very important. Never lose your sense of humor. It's a very important way to survive fighting in long odds and under sometimes stressful conditions and that justice doesn't just happen. You have to make it happen."
This year's meeting also featured speakers on family farms and ranches, power and utility accountability and bankruptcies for coal companies.