I grew up in the 1960s in a small town in Kansas surrounded by wheat fields and a Cold War mentality. The theme was “We’re all gonna’ die” — if not in a nuclear holocaust, then because of mass extinction, communism, overpopulation or a race riot. Someone needed to address some really big problems. The 1970s hires in fish and wildlife agencies came fast on the heels of major environmental and social legislation to get at everything that was going wrong with the world.