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Show | THE ZEPHYR/JUNEJULY 2005 eT STG (continued) true---not one environmental organization in Utah has officially objected to this canyoneering company or any similar operation. And there are now dozens of them. Why is SUWA, for example, unwilling to cast a critical eye at the Arches commercial activity? The fact that Desert Highlights prominently proclaims itself a “proud business supporter of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance” may have something to do with it, whether SUWA will admit it or not. This is the quandary environmental groups like SUWA face-they want to build a constituency of businesses who support wilderness, but this is the kind of compromise it must make in order to achieve the support it wants. And it gets worse. One of the most offensive canyoneering web sites I’ve ever encountered was originally called “Select Circle of Few (sic),” now “Circle of Friends,” operated by Shane Burrows of Draper, Utah. On his web site’s home page, he writes: “Want to learn about a secret canyon betore everyone else? Here is your big chance to join the ‘Select Circle of Few’ canyoneering program and be the first into newly identified canyons....for the unbelievably low price of $15 (it’s up to $20 now), I will email you canyon information before it’s published to the Climb Utah web site.” Yes...that’s pretty unbelievable. Yet, on Burrows’ web site, which he maintains is a nonprofit organization, is a link to Desert Highlights which in turn offers a link to SUWA. I don’t believe anyoneat SUWA would want to be a part of The Select Circle of Few; yet there are only two degrees of separation between them and an “unbelievably low price.” Perhaps SUWA and other enviro groups see no alternative but to embrace what Bill Brewster of ABC News called “one of the biggest, baddest, boomingest slices of the ever- swelling travel pie—Adventure Travel.” In a 1999 story following a canyoneering tragedy in Switzerland that claimed 14 lives, Brewster wrote that the adventure sport would grow, despite accidents and the loss of human life. He interviewed Matt Moore for the report. Under the sub-heading, “Tragedy May Boost Popularity,” Moore, according to the story, “had a slightly different take, saying that accidents like this week’s and a similar one that killed 11 in Arizona in August 1997 give a sport like canyoneering a ‘high profile’ cachet (Wwww.erniemort.com/switzerland1999 /adventureworld.htm). In 2002, SUWA even got into the act itself when it sponsored and promoted a number of slide shows by “legendary backcountry explorer and author Steve Allen.” (Redrock Wilderness Newsletter). Allen called his show, “Canyoneering Chronicles” and he took it to nine different cities in Utah and Idaho, as well as New York City. Ina related story in the Salt Lake Tribune, titled “Canyoneering Allen Says More People Should See Wilderness to Save It,” Allen insisted that a mass influx of non-motorized tourists to wilderness areas was MOAB, Utah - Riding down | the ski lift from the highest point on the red-rock rim overlooking the Moab Valley in Utah, our feet dangled some 800 feet in the air as Scott McFarland talked about the latest project for his Moab Adventure Park. "We're applying for permits for a zip-line, a 2.500-foot-long cable that goes from the top of the hill to the bottom," McFarland said. "You get into a harness on the top and cruise to the bottom, kind of like you're flying. "Without a braking system, you d hit about 145 miles per hour. With the system, you'll go 50 or 60. Thats on the computer, anyway. We'll see." One of the city's concerns in considering the permits is its noise ordinance. Nearby residents are worried about screams coming from riders zipping down the cliff.” The report said it all. What one rarely hears mention of when talking about any form of recreation these days is silence. Or tranquility. Or spirituality for that matter. When was the last time anyone used the reverential aspect of wilderness as an argument for preservation? It’s becoming increasingly ditticult to hear. It may be that environmentalists seek to avoid conflict with businesses like these for the very same reason these businesses exist. Ultimately, it’s always about the money, whether the motive is honest and well-intentioned or not. That is where we've descended to... AN AMENITIES BOOM...AND BACKFIRE Patrick Diehl is an outspoken environmentalist and a strong advocate for change in Rural West. In fact, he’d like to dismantle it completely and start over again. Diehl ran the U.S. Congress two years ago on the Green Party ticket and received 7% of the vote, bad for a guy who, until recently, lived in one of the most remote communities on Colorado Plateau (Diehl and his wife recently moved back to the West Coast). the for not the Escalante, Utah is eons away from becoming the next New West town. It is rural toits roots and proud of it. It has earned a reputation with some for being one of the most intolerant towns in Utah; even some environmentalists believe that Escalante simply wants to hold onto its lifestyle and its history The clear message, in any case is—don’t try to change us. Diehl was ready for a change, or more precisely, a revolution. Two years ago, The Zephyrinterviewed Patrick Diehl and his wife Tori Woodard at their home in Escalante. Their neighbor and Zephyr contributor Erica Walz interviewed Diehl at length about his views on what he called “The New Economy.” “The ‘amenities economy’ idea,” Diehl explained, “that the Wilderness Society was putting out is what I think lies (ahead). There's still a fair amount of merit to this concept. Between the extractive economy and the purely touristic economy is a third. way in which you have people moving to an area to live there and be part of the local society and perhaps the local economy--in many cases bringing their jobs with them and telecommuting--and the reason people come there is because it's a beautiful place to live. It's not going to be healthy and beautiful if you degrade it through logging and mining and grazing. It involves replacing some of the extractive economies. But I'm much less confident in the future of this economy (in Escalante) than I was four years ago when we moved here, and | also see that the savagery of the local resistance exceeded even my expectations. People will go very far to make their area be extremely unattractive to outsiders. It has to do with political power. If you let outsiders in, if you allow them to organize and voice their point of view you can easily lose control. These small towns have a lot to lose from a political standpoint if there's much influx from outside. So the chances of actually getting an amenities economy going in southern Utah is very bad in the short run because of the political situation.” Diehl wasn’t willing to completely abandon the rural population and believed work could be found for them if this New Economy took root. For instance, he believed a massive effort to cut and treat and remove the exotic plant tamarisk would attract a great number of the old locals, “if they were paid for it.” But for the most part, Diehl wanted to see a dramatic turnover in small rural communities like Escalante, even its population... “| think this town needs to double in size. If we're going to have more towns in this part of the world they should be more self-sustaining. They're really untenable. Not just in economic terms but as cultural units. Maybe 50 or 100 years ago when they were cut off from the outside world they had to create their own culture, but right now it feels like the further reaches of Provo to me--it's nothing, in itself.” What about people who enjoy it the way it 1s? “I can't imagine enjoying it. I really loathe this town, and you can quote me. Socially it's Wilderness Alliance 804-486-3161 or. wwwesuwacorg © ~ a really loathesome place. You can put that in the paper. Absolutely. It's the worst place I've ever lived, and I've lived quite a few places. So some people like it--it's like there's no accounting for taste.” This is the quandary environmental groups face. They want to build a constituency of businesses who support wilderness, but this is the kind of compromise they must make, to achieve the support it wants. the only way to preserve our threatened wildlands. “We need more people out there, not less,” he said. “Right now, the wilderness lands are in flux. They’re embattled. We need as many supporters as we can get...If places get too crowded, we can take appropriate steps (to limit access).” Again, no one in the environmental community stepped forward to challenge Allen’s strategy. Numbers indeed appeared to be the game that many organizations were and are playing, supposedly for the moral and philosophical support these groups ¢hink the nonmotorized recreationists could offer. There is no bigger numbers game to be played than the “24 Hours of Moab” bicycle race, held near Moab each fall. The first ‘24' was staged a decade ago. Since then, their numbers have swelled in excess of 5000 and the race route comes, in some locations, within feet of proposed Utah Wilderness Coalition wilderness "| really loathe this town (Escalante), and you can quote me. Socially, it really is a loathsome place." Patrick Diehl areas; in fact, part of the course was once raced inside proposed wilderness. But environmental groups have steered clear of the event, despite obvious environmental Ultimately, Diehl’s failed vision of a New Escalante only frustrated and embittered him. When Patrick and Tori left town for good, they left few friends behind. Escalante still holds In fact, the economy generated by “extreme” adventure-type enterprises dominates Moab’s business district. The word ‘adventure’ is so commercially pervasive in Moab, it’s Moab, on the other hand, could not have been riper for change. Moab was already “a funky little town” in the late 1970s and it was that odd cultural diversity that made Moab such a prime target for the New West. Although we bickered and impacts, because the event is such a shot in the arm to Moab’s economy. hard to escape it. Or even remember what it’s supposed to mean. A quick Google Search for “Moab” and “Adventure”provided almost 4000 hits, including: the Moab Adventure Center, Moab Adventure Xstream, Moab Adventure Headquarters, Moab Adventure Inn, Moab Adventure Package, Moab Adventure Guide, Moab Desert Adventures, Adventure Xscapes, Adventure Racing Retreats, Moab Resort Adventure Package and a link to the Moab Adventure Park, from WWTI Newswatch50 in, of all places, Watertown, New York. They reported the following: onto its rural culture, backward as some people may see it, and intends to stay that way. fought, the various factions in Moab at least co-existed. As a result, a level of tolerance, albeit shaky at times existed in Moab that wouldn’t have been found, even 50 miles down the road in Monticello. Ultimately, it was people like me who in a perverse way made the New West Invasion possible. PAGE1I4 continued on page I6... |