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Show FEEDBAG Keo] The Readers Respond... Editor's Note: In response to the April/May issue (“It's Time to Look in the Mirror."), The Zephyr received an unprecedented number of letters. In this issue, I have expanded the Feedback section to six pages to accommodate as many of them as possible. I printed ALL letters that disagreed with the basic premise of the last issue: that we environmentalists bear a growing responsibility for the deterioration of the West. And I have tried to keep my own epilogues to a minimum...JS My own journey toward trying to become a developer myself started because living in Escalante helped me recover from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), and I wanted to give others with the same disability a chance to heal. MCS lands of the West, and there aren’t enough of us to fight them. We need MORE environmentalists in Southern Utah, not less. When I moved to Escalante, I had the usual environmentalist panic over sprawl. I invested a lot of volunteer time educating ranchers about land trusts and working on a plan for Escalante City to manage growth. When locals torpedoed my work, apparently suspecting that it was part of a Communist plot--or maybe even "of devil"—I had a chance to re-thin I was moved by an article in the High Country News entitled "My Beautiful Ranchette." The author explored the contradictions of being an environmentalist and living on a 40-acre ranchette in Montana’s development-threatened Bitterroot Valley. One thing she said particularly struck me: Wildlife is flourishing on her 40 acres, whereas the ranch that was subdivided to create her ranchette had supported only a monoculture of cows. Then, an environmentalist friend taught me that properly developed homes using water conservation and xeriscaping would be better for the environment than the alfalfa fields © around Escalante, which are sprayed with water day and night, come wind or hot weather, and which support the cattle that are trashing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National | Monument and Boulder Mountain. Next I attended a Utah Wildlife Board meeting and learned that more than 50,000 “furbearers” were trapped and shot in Utah in 1999, including 4,340 coyotes, 435 mountain lions, and 92 bears. Most of the coyotes, cougars and bears died because ranchers think they kill livestock. From then on I knew I could no longer support preserving working ranches as open space. The toll of ranching on wildlife is. too high. We need to reconsider why we are preserving open space. The most important function of open space should be to preserve biodiversity, not merely to look pretty. If my choice for preserving an open space is between keeping a ranch functioning--with the attendant coyote-killing, cougar-killing, bobcat-killing, sagebrush-poisoning, pinyon/juniper burning, wasteful alfalfa irrigation, and so on - and subdividing the ranch among wildlife-lovers, I will choose the subdivision. How people live in developments matters. Do they remove all the native vegetation and put in exotic, water-guzzling grass? Do they turn cattle loose on the vegetation and cats and dogs loose on the birds and wildlife? Or do they try to minimize their impact, living in harmony with nature as much as possible? Another development issue for me is whether the homes in a subdivision are needed. I oppose the construction of monster vacation homes, or third or fourth homes for the rich. I have mixed feelings about people building a second home. Migrating south in the winter and north in the summer is a very old human tradition that could be argued to have merit. I support the construction of homes for people with low incomes. Now here’s an opinion that may surprise you; Patrick and I think Escalante should double in size, so it could provide more services to its residents. The nearest hospital is 70 miles away. We don’t have a drug store. The high school could offer more electives if there were twice as many students. Most Escalante residents want the town to grow and prosper. People have worked hard on ordinances so the growth will be good. The most vocal opponents to growth are very reactionary and right-wing. be careful with whom you take sides. It has been difficult negotiating with SITLA, since we want to sell the land for as little Sincerely, Tori Woodard Escalante, Utah Editor’s Note: This letter was edited by its author from the original 2600 word length to about 1000 words. The unedited version can be found on The Zephyr's web site. The April/May Issue--Required Reading? To the Zephyr: I have been a respectful intruder on the beauty of Southeast Utah for many years. I do not live there--nowhere close, unfortunately—but I have certainly observed the profound changes that have occurred. The April/May issue was simply the best overall presentation on the issues confronting the "new west" that I have seen. Jim’s “It’s Time to Look in the Mirror” column should be required reading by all who claim concern about the area. Just a tad of respect can make a huge difference. The labels which we put on each other may give the lazy convenient tags, but they only that we cannot make a real difference in our own communities. That is the ultimate weapon of our common foe. . Jim Essler Austin, Texas Pandering to the Recreational Economy... Dear Jim, : I picked up a copy of your "Time to Look in the Mirror" issue when my wife and I were on a camping trip to the Cisco area recently. I’m always amazed that a periodical of thoughtful environmental journalism comes out of a town of 9,000. For the past five years I’ve been researching a book on native wildlife and habitats (shameless plug: "Creatures of Habitat. The Changing Nature of Wildlife and Wild Places in Utah and the Intermountain West," Utah State University Press, May 2001) and I tooam convinced that we outdoor recreationists are having a serious negative impact on natural Mysteries of the Western Slope... GREAT LAKES FUTON Do they really exist? ee Mri te s SW NR AR ct « a, irin ALO| NO, tt doesn't KY eee matter... i, : i le DOES IT MATTER? the mystery continues... Wwww.greatlakesfuton.com ai fos as © \ Z Are they both the same person? Are they really ‘rich weasels’ in disguise? 1-800-236-3319 "or the bestFutonstoe (~ Who ARE Cactus Rat & Yellow Cat? "Serving the 4-Corners and the World since 1979." in the Four Corners, you gotta go 2000 miles.” ° magnify our fears and do nothing to resolve the problems at hand. It only plays into the hands of those who would exploit-both us and the land. But above all, we must never feel FUTONS TO YOUR DOORSTEP! japh sez: as a as possible to our low-income constituency, and SITLA wants to sell the land for as much as possible. SITLA’s policy of maximizing revenue leads them to approve expensive projects like Cloudrock We probably won’t develop the SITLA property south of Escalante, because there isn’t enough groundwater under it, and we have learned that the air may not be as clean in the future as it is now. The Forest Service plans to cut and burn 42% of the Aquarius Plateau — over the next several years (starting this summer with Pretty Tree Bench). So currently we're looking for a different community to host our MCS housing project. It will create about 25 environmentally-friendly local jobs, and its medical personnel would be available part-time to the local community. Anyone interested? ‘ s P/UBLISHING Toll-free phone orders: 1-877-ycatpub % je ‘a ie Spring Creek Rd. Montrose. CO 81401 aN stu ou seeps 7 62747 EG fs Enviros are NOT part of "the problem" Dear Jim, I agree that we need to protect all public land and not just focus on designating wilderness areas. But I don’t agree that environmentalists in Southern Utah are part of "the problem”. What are we supposed to do? All move to the Wasatch Front? How would that help? Ror at least 200,000 years, humans have been part of the earth’s ecosystem. We belong here. Some of us like to live in cities; others need the quiet and solitude of rural landscapes. Both lifestyles are natural and can be sustainable. Undeniably, less people would have less of an impact. Utah has the nation’s highest birthrate. Are environmentalists to be blamed for the population pressure? I don’t think so. On the contrary, Mother Earth needs every environmentalist she can get. No environmentalist who moves to the West from the East, or to the country from the city, should ever feel guilty. Huge environmental battles are being fought in the vast public = is a debilitating, progressive, non-contagious condition that is recognized disability by the Social Security Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). MCS victims often can’t work or even shop for themselves because ° of their extreme sensitivity to chemicals such as pesticides, fragrances, and automobile exhaust. Every year more and more people develop MCS. Anyone can get it, but people who work with chemicals are especially vulnerable. Patrick and I would like to give these folks a chance to recover in our remote desert location, just as soldiers who were exposed to chemical weapons in World War I came to the West to recover their health. We feel that if anyone should live next to a Monument, it is these people who so desperately need the clean air. We chose 320 acres of SITLA property south of Escalante because the air there i is very clean, and we wouldn’t have to buy the land outright. SITLA has an arrangement in which the developer only has to pay for the infrastructure. This option was attractive, since we don’t have millions of dollars to spend. : 970.249.5536 yellowcat®sni.net ‘ TREOEERA SE Te Te ee ee ee Pee ~ |