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Show LT EE TE ETI pomp POS RE iO Rae er landscapes, habitat and wildlife. You may have located the root of the problem: When we argue to preserve wild places for recreation and a recreational economy, we pander. Native landscapes and the wild things that depend on them are more important than that. Much more than scenery is at stake. ; We can’t afford to look at wild places as big outdoor adventure parks. There are too many of us now. During the balance of our recent camping trip I thought about what you wrote. The crunch of cryptobiotic soil was unusually loud as I tiptoed between rock ledges. When I went to bury my um, SS elimination, the thought plagued me, "Shouldn’t I use a portable toilet? How many others are doing this too?” It is convenient for us hikers and RR Environmentalists or Recreationists? Stiles, The April/May issue of the Zephyr sets a new mark for excellence and thought provocation. I always enjoy what you write, but I usually come into each issue witha set of preconceptions of your take on whatever subject you happen to have picked. However, the depth and thoughtfulness of "It’s Time to Look in the Mirror" surprised me. The idea that our ideology is sounding no different from theirs, and the fact that should we choose to look we may find that share more with rural westerners than we don’t. I believe you. I was glad to see you put quotation marks around the word “environmentalist,” at the beginning of your story. A point you didn’t make because it may belong in a different story, is that all the outdoor recreationists are not necessarily "environmentalists." mountain bikers to demonize others on conservation issues rather than focus on the damage to natural areas we cause directly. And we can’t ignore the dramatic effects of our urban and suburban overconsumption: more dams, highways, strip malls, and subdivisions.. As you suggest, we could be open about it and lead the search for solutions. Coming home from Cisco, on a birdwatching side trip, we got our four-wheel drive truck hopelessly mired in slick mud on a remote backroad. Who do you think happened by and cheerfully towed us out? Three cougar hunters. We can’t do it alone. Adversarial lobbying groups encourage name-calling and a blame Case in point. Count the SUVs with bikes on the roof you see pulling a trailer of OHVs. The outdoor industry succeeds by creating entertainment out of the experience most of us first came to Moab for. The original mountain bikes (as I remember it, there were two—the Specialized Stumpjumper and the Univega) were bought mainly by people who didn’t own jeeps but who still wanted a way, a means of getting further into the great unknown in less time. It was when the BMX kids grew up and needed bigger bikes and bigger places to _ play, that the environment began to suffer. game mentality. But people who care about natural landscapes, habitat and wildlife are multi-dimensional. Maybe you could organize an ongoing forum—"Common Ground" on insurmountable peak or spectacular tower--somewhere no one had been before. While it’s your web site-where people who hunt or birdwatch or fish or hike or ranch can speak to each other as individuals and discuss steps to conserve and restore native landscapes on public and private property. Keep up the good work, Mark Gerard Hengesbaugh Loving the Land by Staying Away... Jim, Congrats on the best issue ever, great essays throughout about truths we don’t want to admit. I’ve been going to S. Utah for 27 years and now I see that the best favor I can do to places I love there is to stay away, not add my footprints, however well-intentioned and careful, to the mess. Of course now there are many others who do not seem to care or notice the tracks they leave, or else they leave them by intention, to lay some kind of claim. It is true that numbers are the problem. But also, what we lack, and have no doubt always lacked as we Euro-Americans have invaded the desert West, is reverence and humility. We all use the land we inhabit, whether for recreation, livelihood or spiritual renewal, but a dose of humility would help us use it in a way that doesn’t destroy it. Best to you and thanks for the thoughtful issue. Susan Mars Jackson, WY Wildman in Alabama Jim and Company: Hey from Alabama. This here is Ray Vaughan, Ned Mudd’s attorney and gun dealer. Picked up a copy of your latest rag in Ruth’s Diner up Emigration Canyon way above Salt Lake whenI was there last week visiting and preparing a lawsuit against the Forest Service. Mighty fine omelets at that there diner. aoe Anyway, about this stuff on environmentalist recreationalists now climbing the lists of bad news for the wild, I must say that y’all have hit the possum on the head. It’s time for folks to wake up. Nothing like saving the wilds just so folks can tramp it and trash it to see the view. That’s why I go into swamps myself, no one else goes there. Gators eat tourists. Seems like y’all need some gators in them redrocks to eat some touristy enviros. Might make the place a bit less trammeled, not to mention a might more interesting. But we see the same things down South; wherever there ain’t gators, people are starting to trash the woods just through too much use. And we hardly have any public land down here (just five percent of the state). For me, I don’t see no controversy here. Y’all done good. Keep it up. As Mudd says in that famous song he wrote, “we're nothing but monkeys with the blue jeans on." We mess up everything, even what we love. Especially what we love. So, ifn you love a place, best not to go there. Better yet, don’t tell no one else about it, neither. To help y’all out, I hereby take a pledge not to ever go into the Grabens again. I will forgo the deep haunts of the Canyonlands I love so as to let thém rest from me. No gators there anyway. How do y’all get along without all the humidity anyway? Climbing--early climbers learned their skills as a way, a means, to get on top of an still that way for many of them, for some, a few molded fiberglass holds bolted to a wall in a tall room will do. Fifty years ago, skiing was mostly wild--mountains and snow and a strong, quick body. 3 i Today, ski resorts cater to the Disneyworld and Las Vegas crowd by grooming the mountain to a shadow of its former self, smoothing out the rough spots, putting up ropes ‘ and fences to contain the masses, and passing out kleenex at the bottom to keep noses from running and crusting the fur collars of their new parkas. Outdoor sports are now more about ends than means. Remember when Yellowstone was on fire and all the little shop owners in West Yellowstone, Cody, and the rest of the "gateway communities" raised holy hell over the "let burn" policy the Park Service subscribed to keep the park natural. They seemed to have forgotten that without the "natural" there would be no Yellowstone and without Yellowstone their towns and their businesses wouldn’t exist. So why is it so difficult here. for every business owner, every member of the county council, every citizen to acknowledge that without the wildness, the river, the National Parks, scenery the likes of which can be found no where else on earth, Moab would be Cisco (not that Cisco doesn’t have some redeeming qualities but I wouldn’t want to own a restaurant there)? Why can’t we see that if we don’t all keep conservation and preservation in front of everything else we do, we lose, we fail. We die. If we do, we live, we thrive and if we do it well enough all those outdoor recreationists who come here for entertainment, might leave with an experience that could change the way they live the rest of their lives. So I dream a little. : ; Sorry to rant. Brooke Williams _ Castle Valley, UT Actually, I thought the premise that many environmentalists are just recreationists in disguise was evident. It's a matter of commitment and conviction--their depth is often, to coin a phrase, “a mile wide and an inch deep." JS Changes are coming...Let’s talk. To the Editor: ; We read all the varied opinions on the treatment of the land and find great value in the diversity of experience. In our Northern Arizona region we spent several years yelling at each other at "consensus" meetings. What we finally discovered was that we had many things to teach each other, once we started listening to each other. We now live in Southeast Utah and are feeling like natives after five years. All the things we say about how we feel about the land should be managed need to be brought together or we will be victims of the condition of this area in the future. We may never agree but it is about time we tried to find out if we can. There is power in agreement. Some of us are against change and some of us initiate it. We are all users of - this area and impact it. Whether we like it or not, changes are coming. More people will be coming. Will we be part of the driving force that shapes that change, or will we just continue to complain about each other? We would like to invite all citizens of this area to meet and discuss our differences and what we wish for our futures and those of the land. Anyone who is interested can call 1.877.868.4262. From the swamp, Ray Vaughan WildLaw Alabama Always good to hear from my friends in the Swamp...JS Thank you, Gary & Claire Dorgan Valley of the Gods, Utah Continued on next page.. 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