Why We Need a Bold Vision for Preserving Our Wilderness
I have welcomed several promising signs coming out of the Obama Administration, from the president's push for clean energy to Interior Secretary Salazar's efforts to block oil and gas leasing near some of Utah's most stunning landscapes.
But there is still something I am waiting to see: a bold new vision for preserving America's wilderness.
Why does wilderness matter right now? It matters to me personally because I believe that our last public wilderness areas, with their rugged beauty, uncharted terrain, and ability to test human strength, are essential symbols of the American spirit.
But it also matters legally. According to the Wilderness Act of 1964, once a landscape has been altered by human development--including natural gas pipelines, oil drill heads, or roads for seismic thumper trucks--it can never become a protected wilderness area.
This is exactly the cynical calculus the Bush administration used to convert America's public lands into money-making ventures for a few energy companies.
Unlike any administration before it, the Bush White House claimed it had no legal requirement to protect wilderness lands, and so for eight long years, it refused to do so. Millions of acres of wilderness-quality lands were stripped of protection and opened for energy development.
We lost so much ground during the Bush administration, and we are still feeling the aftershocks: leasing, drilling permits, and off-road vehicle plans continue to be approved and destroy wilderness lands in my beloved Utah and elsewhere (see threatened areas on this map).
Secretary Salazar can change this. He can craft a new vision for preserving and managing the public's wilderness. I am hopeful that Salazar can take this step. He has spoken many times of his commitment to America's "treasured landscapes," but I encourage him to single out and prioritize our wilderness areas.
Because unlike other pieces of our national heritage--monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial or documents like the original Declaration of Independence--America's wilderness is not complete or set in stone. It can be added to, and deciding which landscapes should be preserved for posterity is an ongoing process.
This gives Salazar a great opportunity to expand the public's inheritance, because in fact, neither Salazar nor the Obama administration owns these lands. The American people do, and it is ours to treasure and enjoy.
I myself cherish the wildlands of Utah, like the Dark Canyon Wilderness Area, whose castle-like walls reach toward Glen Canyon, or the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, home to pink and red slot canyons so artfully sculpted it seems like they were carved by hand.
These are magical places that I have explored with my family. But I have also seen far too many wildlands lost forever. Places I viewed as symbols of this so-called Promised Land have disappeared into clear cuts, drilling fields, and open-pit mines. What do our children inherit from this irretrievable loss? Pictures of how it used to be?
Wallace Stegner wrote that you do not have to travel to a wilderness area to know that it is worth saving--simply knowing such a wild sanctuary exists is enough to create a geography of hope.
We can know, without ever going to the Dark Canyon or Vermilion Cliffs, that fellow Americans had the foresight to protect something wild in our landscape--and maybe in our national character--for generations to come.
We have the responsibility to do the same for our children. And I hope Secretary Salazar will lead the way.
You can encourage him by clicking here and sending him a letter about protecting our remaining wilderness.
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Mr. Redford.
I met you at the Blanding airport in the early 1980's. You were on a tour of an oil spill poluting the San Juan river. I was resident manager of the airport. I much appreciate your efforts on behalf of souther Utah wilderness.
Though a neighbor of Wallace Stegner's in the 1960's, I did not read his useful writing on wilderness and Mormonism until recently.,
Any way, In my view, the current wilderness laws and policy have been used to in richen In-holders and gateway communities. In Utah, especially surrounding the Grand Staircase Escalante, grandfathered grazing and mining rights lend federal government support to Utah's curious brand of religious and racial discrimination. This is obvious to all southern Utah long timers, and unseen by nearly all short timers.
Well intentioned laws can be co-opted by self interest.
I would like to see professionally managed and democratically directed cooperative wilderness land trusts acquire rights, preferably title, to In-holder and gateway community lands.
Example: the Johnson valley ranches east of Kanab could be run in the sub-marginally subsistent hay farming model of the late 1890's, early 1900's. But youth summer jobs, and internships, should be available to all according to modern diversity standards. I did some investigation of hiring at Ruby's this summer, gateway to Bryce, and was appalled at the blatantly obscure discrimination practices .
Be vigilant always!
yours cactusmitch
Thank you for using your voice, to bring attention to such an important issue.
Whilst I live in Australia, I understand your concern for your “beloved Utah”. My understanding stems not from having visited what sounds like one of the most beautiful places on the planet but from living in another beautiful part of the world, which is under threat.
Imagine a country hamlet. A treescape atop an escarpment with deep winding gullies. A township of crooked country lanes, where walkers accompanied by four legged companions and serenaded by Currawongs, take their daily exercise, inhaling pristine air.
Now, imagine that landscape sullied by trucks roaring past a local country school to collect spring water to be bottled in plastic containers. Those responsible do not live in our town and so may be unconcerned with the noise, air and land pollution that this venture could create.
With a passion for peace, I hold a vision of our town undamaged.
As I think of you and your beloved Utah, I am reminded of others around the world who are working toward global protection for wilderness and local environments. Working in our own backyard, so to speak, is all that is necessary but carrying a vision for others is also possible.
I will therefore carry a vision for the protection of Utah, in my heart. I do not need to see Utah in order to understand its value, for as you say, “we can know without ever going…”.
Karen Scott-Boyd
What is wilderness. Wilderness is a interesting and perplexing concept. Wilderness for some lies in a quiet place in Central Park, for others small patch of protected area surrounded by urban and rural development. Others spend their life time searching for “true wilderness”. For those the knowledge of a clear cut 10 km east of a remote river, they are paddling, shatters their concept of “wilderness”. They never find “wilderness” because the knowledge of what activity lies beyond the “distance” continually taints their concept of wilderness. It is a continuum of wilderness that we must protect. The small places and the big places. Access to wilderness is essential. One must know what their wilderness is. They must experience wilderness in some from or another. A ski lift is a “vehicle” into wilderness. Perhaps not a real wilderness but that is not important at that level. Just like a river or a hiking path is a “vehicle” to a wildness experience in a larger “protected wilderness”. Yesterday I was in a boat 10 miles off a small Island off the northeast coast of Newfoundland. Sea as smooth as oil, birds drifting aloft on the rising breath of ocean wind, heavy salt air mixed with freshly mowed hay smell from the land. On August 1, 2009 that was my wilderness. It may be differenct tomorrow. Wilderness and the well being of human kind are linked.
Just wondering when the last time designated "Wilderness Areas" were reduced by Congress. I seem to remember a great number of acres being so added over the last 25 years, can't recall any wildnerness areas being removed from that designation.
I will be contacting my representatives by phone first thing Monday morning.
Mr R.; very nice piece here. I always admire your conviction and sense of mission and am ardently in favor of preserving wilderness values and wilderness reality, but to me wilderness entails that human activity is no longer shaping the land. Some resource management may not be able to operate that way but the payback should be able to restore the land as part of the rent.
An emerging modern archaeological understanding is revealing to scientists that the wilderness which is so prevalent in the dry western regions and elsewhere that humans have lived in the past, is different from what our mythological understanding is. Instead of scant small hunting and gathering tribes of forest and shorelines, praries and tundra, the Americas were home to millions with long and stable complex societies covered with resources that were more like a vast garden where human impacts resulted in improved productivity and serious restraints on wild populations. This may be too much for the simple concepts that drive our current efforts but it's good to think about. In the mean time, reconstructing the Pleistocene out west is a way for human intentions to bring about awareness and diversity which has long been absent from the decision making processes that dominate our resource management landscape.
read up "conservation refugees"
before you talk about a "BOLD" vision.
there is NOTHING bold about what you suggest, robert.
What wilderness? Tell me where on this planet that you can go and not find human refuse, garbage, chemical pollution etc... wilderness is long gone. It is all about stopping the complete destruction of the ecosystems that keep every critter (including my children) alive. But with 100's of millions of tons of toxic wastes being created by human activity and then dumped into the air, oceans, rivers, landfills, and so often, in peoples backyards, there isn't much of a chance. In many areas it is the people themselves that are the pollution (over population). Everything about us is unsustainable
Human behavior is only changed after major catastrophic events force that change. The whole end-of-the-world thing in religion is really just a recognition of human nature.
Humans create god to have a scapegoat for their own self destructive natures.
End of Sunday Sermon.
Mr. Redford,
Last year, Light Pollution, made the cover story of the November issue of The National Geographic
"The End Of Night: Why we need Darkness"
http://ngm
And just a few months ago ...
"The American Medical Association on June 15, adopted the support of energy efficient outdoor lighting technology into official AMA policy.
Resolutions are as follows:
RESOLVED that our AMA advocate that all future outdoor lighting be of energy efficient designs to reduce waste of energy and production of greenhouse gasses that result from this wasted energy use, and be it further
RESOLVED That our AMA develop and enact a policy that supports light pollution reduction efforts and glare reduction efforts at both the national and state levels; and be it further
RESOLVED That our AMA support that all future streetlights will be of a fully shielded design or similar non-glare design to improve the safety of our roadways for all, but especially vision impaired and older drivers."
The entire resolution can be seen here:
http://doc
I think it's time then to start talking about how the control and reduction of Light Pollution can help us reduce our consumption of energy and reduce our dependence on coal as well as to save our environment
After all, the good Lord above gave us both day and night and life depends on both!
yes, need a vision. It would call for repealing wilderness of '64 and relate to a needed population policy. Biggest threat to wilderness is a growing population which is one reason we need the flexibility of declaring any free space protected public land. thank you.
Interesting. So private property is now annexed by the gov't??
Brilliant!!
Robert - You want a big vision - well how about teaming up with Carol King Klein and Walkin' Jim Stoltz to promote NREPA the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act or is sharing the spotlight just a wee bit too difficult.
How is your snarkiness, helpful?
Some are environmentalists for the sake of our children. Others, like me, are environmentalists for the sake of the other critters.
We have the same general concerns, but I think the first group is missing the bigger picture.
Have a cigar.
And we need a vacation policy in the US that rivals that of Europeans, so people can build a relationship with wilderness and understand why we need to preserve it.
http://www
Robert I am normally against celebrities being asked to voice their opinions on issues. To my mind actors, singers etc. have no more claim to a valid opinion that I do, as an IT professional. I would like to see celebrities given air spare in the media only for matters that they are acknowledged expert in - in your case the film industry.
That having been said I find your article refreshing and well worth being published here. As a European, one of the things that attracted me to live in the USA is the great open spaces of unspoilt land, which you will struggle to find in Europe these days.
Given where we are you might as well use your status for a good cause and I am glad to see you doing it. I am also heartened that not everybody with money falls into the me first greed only category and can see the "big picture". I bet you would not mind paying a little bit extra that will impact your life style hardly at all if it means that somebody who otherwise would die for lack of health coverage is able to get care as a result!
" I would like to see celebrities given air spare in the media only for matters that they are acknowledged expert in - in your case the film industry."
One person, one field of expertise? You might consider expanding your horizons.
Hi Robert,
I think that's a great idea, turning more land into wilderness where it will be protected from evil developers.
The other weekend, I drove on the Alpine Loop from American Fork canyon over to Provo Canyon. I was about half way through when I noticed that a whole mountain side had been defaced by a ski resort. I can't believe that anyone with a conscience would do such a thing to mother nature.
I think the place was called Sundance. Yes, that's the name. We should turn that area back into a protected wilderness area as soon as possible and have the evil developer who put it there arrested.
Have a nice day!
(For all of you unfamiliar with Sundance, it's a ski resort that Mr. Redford created on the mountanside of one Utah's most beautiful wilderness areas. It's now full of privately owned cabins and ski runs)
You are woefully uniformed.
"Sundance" resort, was created in 1944 as "Timp Haven". Redford did NOT creat it.
As someone who has skied there as a child when the Stewart family owned it and in the years since it re-opened as Sundance,.
It also is a showcase and laboratory for testing new land use, recovery methods and strategies.
It might do you some good to actually visit there and see for yourself.
Snarky talk is cheap and not constructi
roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty and make a positive difference.
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