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Show available resource base, then sooner or later they starved or had to migrate. The great place it is, and welcome them for their potential community contributions. The New Economy is already happening in southern Utah, despite the supporters of extractive industries. As more people arrive here, Living Rivers will be promoting water efficiency /conservation. Let’s produce electricity locally with new technologies and in environmentally sound ways, not with destructive dams like the big one in Glen Canyon or the little one in Boulder Creek on the side of the Aquarius Plateau. If people conserved water, and if the "need" for water-wasting irrigated alfalfa growing was mostly eliminated by ending public lands grazing, counties like Garfield, Wayne, or San Juan could easily accommodate 2-3 times their present population, with a healthier environment and a better life for their residents. sustainability of their way of life was maintained by a particular consciousness regarding nature. The people were spiritually connected to the animals and plants on which they subsisted. There were part of the landscape and of nature, and not set apart as masters. The larger question we face in the environmental movement is can we move our nation and, particularly people in the West, toward sustainability? In the end, a move of this magnitude is comparable in scale to the Industrial Revolution of the last century. That revolution was gradual,’spontaneous and for the most part unconscious. However a change in this society towards sustainability will have to be a fully conscious operation, guided by the best foresight that science can provide, foresight pushed to its limit. Today we have more science and understanding available. But the difficulty of converting scientific findings into political action is a function of the uncertainty of the science and the pain generated by the action : John Weisheit is Conservation Director of Living Rivers and lives in Moab, Utah. Although we cannot return to the sustainable economy of our distant ancestors, in principle, there is no reason why we cannot create a sustainability conscience suitable to a WAYNE modern era. Such a system would profess that humans are a part of nature. Our existence depends on its ability to draw sustenance from a finite natural world and to abstain from destroying the natural systems that regenerate this world. Also, the economic activity must account for the environmental costs of production. There has been a start here with environmental regulation. But the market has not been mobilized to preserve the. environment. Finally if 80% of the members of the human race are poor, we can not hope for this shift in thought if the poor nations attempt to improve their lot by the methods we rich have pioneered. The result will be ecological damage. It is time for a clear set of values consistent with the consciousness of sustainability to be articulated by leaders both of this nation and those that have more concern about Western issues, in both the public and the private sectors. And while difficult, motivations must be established that will support these values. Red Rock Forests of these issues so I am speaking is "grossly underpopulated." His excluding Price from this category’ a double opinion with regards to population. Not only is most of southern Utah underpopulated but it is also populated with the wrong mix of people. He argues that a pattern of circularity operates to keep the population base too low. There are not enough services to attract new people and there are not enough services because the population base is too low. His solution is two fold. First, bring in those with non-labor income (euphemism for retirees and rich people) and those with outside labor income (euphemism for those who can telecommute and rich people). Second, put all these people into a community large enough to support all the man made amenities now expected in life. But I think some other factor is operating here. The new west has not been planned, it is not part of a human justice movement or an environmental movement to correct past problems. It is the result of a new kind of exploiter of the rural landscape, the subdivider, the developer, the industrial tourism promoter, a few people who see an opportunity to gain some immediate financial return without looking too far in to the future. The New West is driven by the same principle as the old west--the pursuit of wealth. The process is not necessarily beneficial or benign. All that is necessary to understand this is a look at southwest Utah. There you can find people with non-labor income and people with outside labor income. There is a college and a university, two good hospitals, a cancer treatment center, a U.N. free zone, flattened desert tortoises and a community so ravenous for water it wants to drink the sewage behind Glen Canyon Dam. About 29,000 grazing’ allotments are held by 25,000 permit holders. Of those 25,000 permit holders, something like 70-80% are within 10 years of retirement age. Many Richard Ingebretsen is president of the Glen Canyon Institute. He lives in Salt Lake City JOHN WEISHEIT, Living Rivers Thanks for the chance to comment on Patrick Dieh|’s ideas. As chair of the Sierra Club Glen Canyon Group I work closely with Patrick, a fellow Executive Committee member since the summer of 2000 (though I am not speaking for the Sierra Club in what follows). I agree with Patrick about ending livestock grazing on public lands. I also agree that open discussion of basic issues will help the communities of rural Utah. What I want to focus on is the "New Economy." People who came to Moab to escape the crowds probably won’t agree with Patrick about bringing more people to southern Utah. I notice, though, that he doesn’t think Moab is "underpopulated.” I definitely do not believe that development should destroy our water resources, night skies, view sheds, and ete...3 Some parts of the "Old Economy,” like grazing and logging, are already in decline; mining, including the exploration of oil and gas, needs to be eliminated. The tourism part of the Old Economy has been important to the West for over one hundred years. It won't be. going away in.the New Economy and..we need to find ways to stop the associated resource damage it causes. ; The new part of the New Economy is the "move-ins" who bring retirement income or jobs with them. Ending livestock grazing and commercial logging on public lands would enhance the amenities that attract move-ins like most of the readers of the Zephyr: light population, clean air, open spaces, amazing landscapes, endless opportunities for recreation (low-impact and non-motorized, please!). Besides money, future move-ins would continue to bring new skills, ideas, contacts, knowledge of the larger world, and wider horizons for all small town communities to embrace. I can see why Patrick would think that more people and more services would make “Escalante become self-reliant, Maybe Escalante could be a regional center for the Highway 12 towns from Tropic to Boulder. They could use a live-in doctor closer than Panguitch and a diversified grocery store closer than Cedar City. Without more students and a bigger taxbase, their schools are lacking in the resources necessary to utilize the New Economy. People wouldn’t have to drive so far to get what they need. The way to achieve these HOSKISSON, Red Rock Forests has not taken a position on any strictly for myself. Patrick Diehl believes that much of southern Utah exception to this generalization is Moab. I assume he is because it is not far enough south. Patrick expresses permittees do not have heirs that want to pursue the ranching life. This alone indicates _ change is coming. ~The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service slowly (incredibly slawly) focus on ‘returning our western landscapes to a more natural and native condition. Cleaning up stfeams, rivers, marshes, springs, and washes is now mandated. The environmental and ‘economic pressures on ranching will eventually lead to dramatic changes. Can we work with ranchers to reduce the adverse effects of current grazing practices? Yes, we can. But the end point of that improvement may be the place where it is impossible to earn a living - producing livestock on public lands. Should we compensate ranchers for the loss of grazing permits? That depends. If we -end public lands ranching with a change in public policy then it is reasonable that we should compensate people whose lives are dramatically altered by the change in policy. If we decide to wait, if we do not interfere, the changes will come very slowly. Public lands ranching is so heavily subsidized that market forces no longer apply. Stop offering grazing at below-cost rates, stop emergency feed programs, stop killing predators at public expense, stop building dams to water alfalfa and public lands ranching may disappear. Wayne Hoskisson is director of Red Rock Forests in Moab. things for Escalante would be to open its doors to people of diversity, advertise what a CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE... ANOTHER FAKE ENDORSEMENT: ENRONG KENNETH LAY!!! ORDER LINE: 800.316.1138 FAX: 310/316.1138 WWW.BROWNTROUT.COM P.O. BOX 280070 JAN FRANCISCO, CA 94128 WE ARE THE LARGEST PRODUCERS OF CALENDARS IN THE WORLD... 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