Wilderness and Wild and Scenic for Utah?
I’m still not sure what it will all lead to but I find myself returning from our nation’s capitol to the West Coast with a renewed sense of optimism for the future of our public lands. The rhetoric calling for selling off public lands has dissipated – the threat is still there but those leading the charge have looked over their shoulder to find few willing to follow. In its place, a remarkably diverse list of lawmakers has called for a public lands package before this session of Congress comes to a close.
A year ago Senator Hatch and Representative Bishop from Utah called for shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monuments; the President acted following a reckless and sloppy sham of a public process. On my trip to Utah in the spring, the agencies had already printed the new maps as the court battle began. In the tempest that ensued, Salt Lake City’s Outdoor Retailer show, the major trade show for the outdoor recreation industry that made a major contribution to the Utah economy, pulled up its tent stakes and left Utah for Colorado, a state decidedly more friendly to outdoor recreation and public lands.
It’s in that context that I found it somewhat amazing, but also heartening, that I was sitting in an office with Representative Curtis from Utah talking about how the outdoor recreation community can repair its relationship with the State of Utah – on the table was an approximately 700,000 acre wilderness and 63 mile wild and scenic river proposal that would protect some of my favorite places along the Green River and its tributaries that include the San Rafael River and Muddy Creek. It’s a place where I fell in love with the beauty of Utah’s red rock over 25 years ago on a road trip with my wife – mountain bikes and a Perception Pirouette S whitewater kayak loaded on our Corolla. In more recent years, it’s a place where my kids and their friends have been introduced to the desert on the winding meander bends of Labyrinth Canyon.
These federal lands belong to all Americans, but finding a politician in Utah who would acknowledge that has always been a challenge; here an elected official from Utah was acknowledging the diverse interests from across the country who treasure this special place and inviting us to help shape the vision for this landscape. I encountered a similar positive reception in Senator Hatch’s office where a retiring Senator has directed his staff to spend the last few weeks of his time in office working as hard as they can to reach out to a diverse range of stakeholders and craft a legislative compromise that is widely supported.
While it is hard to see what the outcome will be, this past week I have caught a glimpse of the process working and that offers a ray of hope for the future.
American Whitewater joins in supporting Emery County Public Lands Act.
