is with the Southeastern Montgomery County

chapter of Trout Unlimited

As a sportsman living in Philadelphia, where Pennypack Creek gives me frequent respite from city life, I've come to view our nation's vast tracts of open country as a real treasure. They are places where hunting and fishing reign supreme, and where a man can lose himself just for a bit while chasing fish or game.

For the last few years, I and a number of fishing pals from the Philadelphia area have made an annual fly-fishing trip to southwestern Wyoming. Fishing for gorgeous strains of wild cutthroat trout there, we marveled at the Western mountains that made the Poconos look like the distant cousins they are. We were amazed to see herds of trophy deer and elk roaming through the Wyoming Range - a place that has been seared in my memory forever.

In the next few days, Congress will consider legislation that would protect places such as this. If approved, the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2008 would protect places near and dear to hunters and anglers from coast to coast.

One provision in this bundle of legislation is called the Wyoming Range Legacy Act. It would preserve the very place where I have traveled to fish during the last several summers.

Much of the range already has been leased for natural-gas drilling, and some of it has been developed. But most of it remains untouched.

The legislation would protect this area threatened by encroaching energy development, preserving 1.2 million acres of public land as the sportsman's paradise it is.

Some say this protection is unnecessary, that our country needs the energy that would come from the land. But it's a very small supply of energy - just 24 days of natural gas and six hours of oil.

It's a simple question: Which is better for Americans in the long run? More than a million acres of land protection, or less than a month's worth of energy?

Our elected officials have an opportunity to do the right thing before it's too late. This pristine place deserves protection now.

Pennsylvania's senators are expected to vote on this important legislation this week. I hope their votes make me and other sportsmen in the commonwealth proud.

I remember leaving the mountains of Wyoming last year and thinking, "This is America the way it used to be - wild places, wild animals and open spaces."

I don't want this special place to become a memory of America as it used to be.