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Show Owens' gutsy wilderness stand unique It takes spunk. Regardless of how you line up environmentally you've got to admire ad-mire the resolute determination of Congressman Wayne Owens. Despite the threats, he wants to leave unborn generations of Utahns the biggest slice of wilderness legacy he can possibly carve. LEAVITT Managing Editor The Utah Democrat has made his mark as a maverick. Most recently by raising the voice of reason and voting against war in the Persian Gulf until other options were fully explored. Not a popular thing to do in the face of an overwhelming public pub-lic relations campaign, engineered by President Bush, that had war drums pounding in virtually every comer of the nation. Fortunately for Bush victory was massively brutal and without question, ques-tion, proving again that when a nation wins a military war its cause is just. Still, one of the political mechanisms that makes this country such a great place to live are its laws that protect men like Congressman Con-gressman Owens. In the USA we can raise the voice of dissent in the midst of a militant storm without being locked up in the heat of emo- ! tion by architects of the overwhelming overwhelm-ing majority opinion. Owens sailed into a pretty stiff breeze again last week when he reintroduced a bill to create 5 million acres of wilderness on BLM lands in Utah. , It's a much bigger chunk of preservation pres-ervation than is popular with the , majority of southern Utah residents, who live and work in or near the affected af-fected lands some of the most strikingly beautiful real estate on earth. The BLM itself is recommending recom-mending only about 2 million acres be set aside for wilderness. The state Legislature, supported by Utah Republican leaders, favors only 1.4 million acres. i Leaders in the GOP-controlled state Legislature have said openly that Owens' refusal to back off on his wilderness stand has prompted them to expose him to southern voters, many of them bitterly opposed to sweeping wilderness legislation. As part of redrawing Congressional District boundaries this year, the GOP darkly hints that Owens all-Salt Lake County district may be broken up, gerrymandered ger-rymandered so that it will include rural areas where anti-wildemess passions run deep. But Owens, as usual, is undeterred. "I hope we will be wise enough to save a significant portion of Utah's remaining wilderness," he told the House as he introduced the bill. "It is the finest legacy we can leave our children and generations genera-tions yet unborn." Amen to that. It takes only a glance around neighboring states to realize how quickly the pristine areas in the U.S. are being gobbled up. California is so overrun with people, its parks and rivers are being be-ing trampled under. Already, outsiders out-siders from Japan own and are expanding the concessions in Yosemite National Park. Multiple use advocates have destroyed white water rivers with dams, and the redwoods that state's most unique treasure are being violated beyond recall by timber cutters, as well as hordes of visitors who trample the environment essential to these magnificent giant trees. These things run through my mind as I watch Owens face the current storm over Utah's wilderness. His bill is endorsed by 35 independent in-dependent Utah conservation groups and virtually all major national conservation organizations. organiza-tions. These are usually led by people peo-ple who have experienced the travesty that is California or sections sec-tions of the industrial East. On the other hand, most of these "environmentalists" don't have to make their living in or near the lands that would be set aside in wilderness designation. The debate is likely to continue well past its ultimate settlement in Congress. The cost, for Owens in particular, may be heavy. But you do have to admire a legislator willing will-ing to take a stand for what he believes to be right. It's a rare thing in this age of political compromise. |