Re: "...it is the "environmentalists" who are the greatest allies of the wets in this part of the country. They think it's wrong to catch a single butterfly but that it's OK for habitats that these cockroaches are hacking down bushes and trees for firewood and to make paths?..."
That is because they are followers of the stereotypical totalitarian mythos.
This time, it is the following scenario:
Once upon a time, the entire world was populated by "people of color", and was in perfect ecological balance and spiritual harmony.
The tribal hunter / gatherer culture took only what it needed from "The Land"; and did so in a way that "Out Mother Earth" was constantly replenished.
Then!...
The Devil Incarnate, otherwise known as THE WHITE MAN!, arrived and raped the Earth and made desolate the pure native brown & red peoples.
Therefore, we applaud the illegal invasion by alien savages, and hope they will dispossess all of us suburban white privelaged members of The Sierra Club & other such organizations, so that Our Mother Earth will never again have to bear the burden of our SUV's damage to the "environment"; when we return each weekend from our camping and kayaking trips.