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Show AA4 The Salt Lake Tribune OPINION Sunday, April 23, 2000 The Wilderness Debate ii n Utah Has Become Stagnated, Piecemeal __BY JIMSTEITZ Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Gov. Mike Leavitt, seek piecemeal compromise, both environmentalists and county politicians oppose them. This approach falsely assumes qualitative conciliation is impossible. The 90's dialogue among the factions and their politicalallies wilderness, its justifications, and its advocates’ tates all support HR 1732, but that we (including the scientifically unversed majority) understand the tangible benefits of wilderness, more given to constructive ation, apart from the strong but exhausted ethical and aesthetic First, wilderness protects species intolerant of human interfer- communicate the importance of ence. Cougars, for example, require vast unbroken areas. West- tionally, and unfairly depicted ru- ral citizens and politicians as greedy barons,profiteering at nature’s expense. They often preached to the choir without seeking support within communi- ties near proposed wilderness. Rural citizens and politicians misinterpret this rhetoric, respond with cynicism and defensiveness, and ascribe environmentalists derogatory adjectives ad infinitum. Their reaction is unfortunate but understandable, as they hear grandiose, rhetoric about legacies and spiritual renewal, which certainly sounds ominous in one’s backyard. They framed the disputed lands as a large, divisible pie, and labeled environmentalists’ demands greedy’ and ‘exclusive’. Eurthermore, while ORV users and extractive industry ‘share’ the land, environmentalists seek a private playground. Ironically, this paradigm itselfcontradicts the concept of wilderness, undermining meaningful dialogue. To reach consensus on wilderness, we must acknowledge it, foremost, as ecological protection. It is one of manyconservation tools required to traverse the 21st cen- ern population growth diminishes Cougar habitat, as it did in the East before its complete extirpation. Its vast hunting grounds and behavioral interactions dictate thin populations, necessitating large areas to avoid the genetic and stochastic dangerinversely related to population size. Large mammals always suc- cumbfirst to human influence, and only wilderness preservation can avert the downward spiral that nowentraps Asian tigers and African cheetahs. Some species re- quire specialized, unique habitat. Manycanyon country plants have evolved in isolation with precise, stable conditions, any perturba- tion of which eradicates them. Only the lack of human activity ical diversity. cannot optimally manage without opponents may understandits importance, while environmentalists may negotiate on specific economic needs. We must eschew images and symbols and create tangible, majority-favored measures. The Babbitt-Leavitt optimal knowledge. Species are genetic templates fine-tuned to their individual environments. Because wepartially understand these environments, we can only approximate them and hope for luck in is impossible inviolate conservation areas. Finally, wilderness optimally protects regional and global ecosystems. Human life depends upon a matrix of living organisms running global physical and biochemical cycles by producing and decomposing organic matter and regulating water, heat, and chemical fluxes through the biosphere. Ecosystems maintain air and water quality, regulate weather and hydrology, and degradecivili- Nonrenewable resources may be more immediately lucrative (depending on typically optimistic viability projections) than service jobs derided by rural officials, but we must also consider a political taboo — placing future genera- tions’ welfare above ours. Even the largest coalfields, such as that once targeted in Grand Staircase,are finite, short-term answers. Opponents claim wilderness excludes motorized recreationists. Opposition to motor vehicles is not of aesthetic: sensibilities, but ecological reality. Desert soil is a thin, easily destroyed biological veneer. ORVs severely damage natural terrain when, invariably, they are unleashed from roads. Environmentalists condone ORV use on zation’s wastes and pollutants. These realities, the primary object of materially self-interested con- established, planned roads. How- servation, receive lip service but enforcement, little alternative to categorical ORVrestriction exists. Wilderness seeks simply to protect, and favors hiking due only to rarely prioritize action. Wilderness recognizes that one should not take crudely calculated risks with ever, unless the ORV community itself or the BLM vastly improve ness is vital to humanity's future, while wilderness per se is irrelein lieu of rational dialogue, pre- vent resolving roads issues constructively to integrate — and legitimate infrastruct needs. demands can be crafted, but jointly and before delivery to Washington. Landpolicy gridlock in sparsely populated rural Utah indicates deep problems. We need specific UWC’s respect for traditional uses clears a larger misperception that wilderness is imposed upon, and eliminates, existing uses. The objectives and scientific means, Wilderness Act's suitability criteria and explicit recognition of ex- not symbol and powee, before population growth undermines all workability. We can afford no more partisanship, myopia, or egotism. Too muchis at stake. isting rights strongly endorse the status quo. Targeting an area for wilderness implies endorsement of and enshrining current practices. Jim Steitz is a student in environmentalstudies at the Utah State Nothing is more conservative and traditional. Wilderness opponents err in confusing traditional uses University. [oo richer areas. Even the rocks and rattlesnakes’ Grand Staircase Monumentis a labyrinth of botan- measure, large, conditions in a region. desert, it is among the nation’s tangible Conservation against which we can assess managed lands on long time scales and determine which goals fit natural specific analysis. cient protection. Much more biodiversity needs this protection than one might expect. Despite suppositions that southern Utah is a biological as well as climatic Once wilderness is understood as a without amid civilization and may become scape preservation requires site- wilderness affords provides suffi- Second, wilderness insures against errors on our managed lands. Because our ecological knowledge is incomplete,local citizens (or anyone else), even well intentioned, cannot know how to best manage’ southern Utah. One tury with an intact biota. preserves’ are ecological islands arguments. motivations. Similarly, advocates failed to wilderness to Utahns, partly because wilderness is addressed na- tion. Without it, we set wildlife populations upon the house of cards of oureee seaee sant. capecially Sing slokel oF mate change. Our _— video Deo iT) directories a as freee U.S. Census Counts Some People More Than Others BY CORNELIUS DEASY Nigeria or Lebanon? At this point there isn’t much The U.S. census now taking space left on Form D-1 to identify place has generated lot of protest aboutthe length and intrusiveness of the long form sent to one in six inhabitants but there has been a surprising silence about the strangebias foundin the questions aboutrace andethnicity. The Census carries out a Constitutional mandate that an “actual enumeration” of the people of the the remaining 200 million of us who have been here a long time and generally think ofourselves as “American”. The Census offers African-Americans a boxof their own to check and the American Indians, not only have a box to check but a space where they can United States shall be made every 10 years so that “Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned amongtheseveral states.” The Census 2000 forms show that the Census Bureau's mind has wandered from its original purpose. Like other agencies in Washingtonit has ringin its nose so the lobbyists can conveniently jerkit in their direction. All Censusforms, long or short, cover suchbasic statistics as age, sex, and numberof members in the family. They also include two questions devoted to Ethnicity and Race, questions 7 and 8 on the short D-1 Form most people receive. Finding out where we all came from seems like a good idea but these questionsdon’t do that. They focus on where some of us came from. Question 7 is devoted exclusively to people of Spanish and Hispanic origins and provides a menu so you can check off your country of origin, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, or any other you wish to write in. That takes care of one ethnic group, many ofwhom have lived in this country for generations, but what abouttheItalians, the Irish, the Greeks, and all of our other ethnic groups? No answer. Question 8 asks you to establish your “Race” and here things get rather strange. If you come from a nation in Asia, like India, or one of the Pacific Islands, like Samoa, another menuis provided so that you can check off your country of origin. Between questions 7 and 8 the Hispanics, Asians, and Pacific write in their tribe. As for the rest of us, that conglomerate ofpeople from dozens of countries who have crossed the ocean during the last 200 years to help makethis country, the Census Bureau has generously allotted one box. It is labeled “White”. That’s all we get. No mentionofall those countries of origin we came from. Not evena little box labeled “American”. Onenew feature of Census 2000 is that you are allowed to identify yourself in,more than one category, an apieociste change considering how muchintermarriage has taken place in the evolution of the American people. Under this new rule you can indicate that you are Hispanic and Chinese of AfricanAmerican and Thai. What you cannotsayis that you are Hispanic and American or Chinese and American, or anything and Amer- With free domestic long distance and 500 free weekend minutes, you'll be tempted to call anyone;anywhere, for any reason. ky P40) sate)Va GETS YOUAP US WEST” Wireless makes staying in touch so simple, you never have to think twice about making a wirelesscall. @ Free domestic long distance calls are included in ourspecial price plans whencalling from your home coverage area. Get 500 free weekend minutes whencalling from your home coverage area. Call orvisit us today. You've never had so manyreasonsto stay in touch Psat telitcd LONG DISTANCE ican. That's regrettable. There are many Hispanics and Asians who have lived here for generations and are as American as anyone can be. Whycan’t they say so? It might be argued that “American” is not a “Race” but neither is “White” or “Samoan” or “Asian Indian.” How did the “actual enumera- the simpler way. 1-800-222-3772 www.uswestwi ireless.com tion” of the people of the United States turn into a “preferential enumeration”? The reason for the preferential treatment the Census offers some minorities and its bu- reaucratic blindness to the restthat of lobbyfor minorities have done an ‘The Free LD 200, 400and000 rien nbn,sank ak taining or enlarging minority sta- oatsmie em Visit arorartcn Sacneunes wey iepedp Piarvecuinore 1182 East 2100 South all out to lunch. Washington. ‘That's 18, SontO ichoreeresen etisraelSere tafowaarstema fet ct, On a Sct span onan B48 pt et om U8 WEST ee een een ee sae Dene 0: bo ean ea "201mary 1200 tnd z. vin it et us is that those Commons in The (801) 466-0038 WEST retail stores: center. mee 10450 S. State Street By the upper level malt Tayi ap soteeriemot rn ton raw a Or find us in ee ee your town: IZM sassund entrance, near JCPenney. —dvectConnect Weiss (801) 571-5091 —Holteday Reing “Sot-pe88802 gauray CClFain Pace) eee TECammeatn Dra Tacos Sandy ee Eee NT atran Pork City Coftutar fees sae as GTS a Vcaton Comm, borto0011 aia’? Cornelius Deasy, 81, is retired Open Mon.-Fri. 10-7, Open Mon-Sat. 10-8, omer Toriesscon “ovata une and writes aboutpublic issuesfrom Sat. 10-6, Sun. 12-5. ‘Sun. 12-6. Shane, Opt a $o1-408-2088 his home in San Luis Obispo, Calif. \ t an woreraser tor rites |