Despite what the culture the media lead the public to believe, conservation starts with conservatives, and farmers and ranchers are our nation’s vital environmentalists. That was the message Saturday from former Colorado Congressman Bob Beauprez, the son of a dairy farmer and a rancher.He took the stage at the Western Conservative Summit Saturday as John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” played in the massive ballroom at the Colorado Convention Center.

“I didn’t know they were going to play that,” Beauprez, the two-time candidate for governor, said as he stepped to the microphone and stamped his foot, almost hoe-down style. “That’s pretty appropriate.”

He started with a joke about a liberal “dandy, dressed kind of like I am,” referring to Beauprez’s black suit.

Then he dived into Republicans’ image problem.

“If you ask folks on the street, they might say, ‘Yeah, conservatives they might be good for business, but they’re anti-environment and anti-conservation,” Beauprez said. “The idea that conservatives don’t value the environment couldn’t be further from the truth.”

He cited the work of three Republican presidents: Teddy Roosevelt, who established the national parks and forests; Ronald Reagan, whose Montreal Protocol protected the ozone layer; and George H.W. Bush, who addresses acid rain by amending the Clean Air Act and addressed it as a global issue, which most remember as “cap and trade.”

“Conservatives, inherently, have a deep connection to our air, land and water and believe in responsible stewardship,” Beauprez told the approving crowd. “Whether it’s the hunters and anglers who cherish their time deep into our public lands, or the farmers and ranchers spread across the West who have been responsible stewards of their land for generations, it’s just in our DNA out here in the West, isn’t it?”

Though his beliefs about conservation aren’t new, Beauprez is now working with a Colorado-based  The Western Way nonprofit.