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Show THE ZEPHYR/JUNE-JULY 2005 FEE TRE THINKS DBACK READERS INGEBRETSEN AN EASTER NIGHTMARE Dear Zephyr, I ama public school teacher from inner-city Chicago who has been Spring Breaking in Moab for the past ten years. I have many wonderful memories of my travels here, quite a RESPOND few witha motley bunch of regulars, many of whom I now count among my closest friends. I also take it upon myself, each time, to bring along a few new faces. A number of these folks, raised in man made urban jungles, were strangers to the outdoors at first. Moab has never failed to shake them of their indifference. And they return, again and again, to revel IS NUTS... Good Evening, Iam amazed at what some papers and websites put into print. Did you check on any of the statements that Rich Ingebretsen wrote in his article? 1 was not familiar with your publication until an article by Rich Ingebretsen was forwarded to me. If it is an opinion paper, then you should state that and his article would be ok. If you are presenting it as fact, then you need to check the facts that are given to you. You seem to be an environmental type of publication. Remember, every environmentalist has their own agenda and often they clash. So you as a publication have some choices to make. Side with the drain the lake crowd and remove the dam, cause more dirty coal to be burned to produce power, screw up the economy of an entire region, scrub the area below the dam clean every few years in a massive flood, buy more foreign oil or come to your senses and support a reasonable operation of the dam to address the issues. It can be done. There is more to the world than Moab, Utah. You probably get a lot of your produce from California or Arizona, and I know that if you buy milk, you get most of it from California. You have a lot to consider. Sincerely, Glenn Strickler Victorville, CA ALSO LIKES LAKE POWELL... Dear Editor, As a desert lover, and Lake Powell enthusiast, I'm always dismayed to read the tripe from Dr. Richard Ingebretsen and his Glen Canyon Institute. Clearly, his opinioned piece about Lake Powell being a "One Trick Pony" is lacking in facts. While we have hydrologic data recorded from the past few hundred years showing times of drought and times of plenty, itis wrong for him to say that Powell will never refill, and be less than 50% full from now on. Precipitation is unpredictable. We just don't know. Lake Powell is managed in a way that 8.23 million acre feet of water is released through the dam each water year. No more, no less. The drought has brought the water level down, not demand as Mr. Ingebretsen states. If he looks at the hydrologic data that he speaks of, he will notice that the precipitation in the upper basin drainage area has suffered low precipitation for the past 5 in its natural wonders and to happily spend their vacations on its economy. I was therefore quite shocked this year when a collision with Jeep Week”’s whirlwind nearly ground this magic to desert dust. : Our crew had just returned from a full moon canyon hike to our campsite at Gold Bar on the Colorado. Five years ago it would not have been our custom to stake down in an official BLM campsite. As we have made our passages from young adults to young professionals, however, outhouses, fire rings, and designated tent plots have blossomed in their appeal. A few bucks in a collection envelope no longer mean cuts in the rations of, ramen or libations. In addition, such sites provide a welcome shield from the rambunctious spring breakers who still stake the uncharted territories from which we have reluctantly but humbly traveled in our ripening age. This year, Jeep Week not only rolled over these notions, it shredded the very idea of physical safety in an official BLM campsite. Our group had just dispersed for the evening toward their individual tents. Legs sore but minds tuned, all looked forward to another night of blissful rest in the silent starlight of Utah. Then came the sudden shout from Jen, the green horn from L.A., who had recently become a teacher on Chicago”’s South Side. “”Guys, there’”’s something wrong with my tent. I think somebody cut it.”” There was a sea of flashlights, a flurry of scenarios, as we gazed at the long angular cuts in the tent’’s fly. Then I spotted them, wide, heavy, where they had laid down the green grass like a mass at Gettysburg. Tire tracks, all over our site, blazed right down the driveway, right past the entrance sign, right past the outhouse, right past the fire ring with its flurry of furnishings, right into the tree line, and right over her tent. The poles were smashed, the fly destroyed, many belongings inside smashed to sheet metal or bits. The final poetic insult came in the form of our camp cooler, rammed through the front door of the next tent over, the bumper gouge recording its push there as the bandits hammered their jeep into the reverse arc from which they’’d slingshot off into the night. We had left at dark and returned at midnight. On another day, Jen could have been in that tent, and likely dead. My initial opinion, in regard to this incident and Jeep Week, was published in the SL Tribune and T-I. I singled out Jeep Week’’s leadership and a segment of the Moab community for what I viewed as a lax and dangerously inappropriate approach to ensuring safety during this very chaotic week. Thave since returned to my home town of Chicago and to a flurry of e-mails in my inbox. years. In fact, 2002 was the worst year for water volume in about 200 years. For him to state They express an array of views on the issue. One very well written letter, by a Mr. Darrell his opinion, and not based on fact. Second only to Lake Mead in water storage for the west, Fordham from Jordan, UT, criticized me for overly harsh blame on the organizers of Jeep Week’s biggest event, the Jeep Safari. They are the Red Rock 4x4 Club. Mr. Fordham also that "there is simply more water in the Colorado River Basin without Lake Powell" is also how can he make that statement?? challenged me to take a broader look at how I might assist with a solution to ensure future Mr. Ingebretsen has been using the Cathedral in the Desert and various other sites around Lake Powell as the "poster child" for draining the lake. Yes, the Cathedral is beautiful, but it's not the only site of the sort on the lake. With the 1,250,000 total acreage of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Lake Powell only takes up a scant 13% of it. There are PLENTY of arches, alcoves, waterfalls, and natural ampitheaters all over Glen Canyon. Why don't we hear of any of them? Because Mr. Ingebretsen and his GCI choose to be near the water, and even use boats to access some of the sites. Seems hypocritical to me. But, since he's an emergency room doctor in Salt Lake, l imagine he doesn't have weeks at a time to take off and hike around. It's much easier to access the canyon sites via water. In case Mr. Ingebretsen isn't informed correctly, Lake Powell is doing exactly what it was designed to do: hold water in dryer years, and store it efficiently in wetter years. Without Lake Powell, the downstream lakes would be in crisis right now. Instead, Lake Mead is 60% full, and with all the wonderful winter precipitation, the lakes below Mead are nearly full. Yet Lake Powell is at 33% right now. Before Lake Powell, fewer than 200 people had ever seen Glen Canyon. Now with the lake, millions of visitors come each year--because of the scenery, and ACCESS! It is a National Recreation Area, and people choose to recreate in boats. By trying to get it to be a National Park and draining the lake, the millions of visitors will go away, because access will be denied. Of course, that's what Mr. Ingebretsen wants. He needs to realize he's not the only one on the planet, and that water storage is vital to the west. The population growth isn't going to slow down anytime soon, so I'd say we need more dams and water storage here out west. We're not as lucky as the eastern U.S. with all/the precipitation and flooding that they get. I hope your readers aren't duped by all the misinformation that's out there about Lake Powell. For more accurate facts, please check with the Friends of Lake Powell: www.LakePowell.org safety in Moab. I wanted to take a minute to shed some light on the responses I have received about the Red Rock 4x4 Club. It is obvious that many — many - people respect their commitment to responsibility and proper etiquette. These voices have come from a variety of angles. | would like to share with you my angle and why I published it. Mr. Fordham mentioned that, as a teacher, I should not be expected to hold responsibility for, say, a fight that happens between two students at a school basketball game. Similarly, Mr. Adams and the Red Rock 4x4 Club should not hold responsibility for the 4x4 high jinks that occur outside of their designated event in Moab. Ina teacher's position, it would be the job of school police or security to break up a fight at school, not theirs. In the Red Rockers’ case, it is the job of Rangers or the Sheriff, not theirs. In a pure legal sense, I absolutely agree. I will go one layer deeper to share how Mr. Fordham’”s comparison might relate to the safety situation in Moab. As a teacher, I have often played the role of coach. Most teachers in Chicago do. As a coach, part of my duty is to instill in my students a sense of strong sportsmanship. As important as winning, is their grasp of the importance of discipline, respect, self-control, and a keen sense of proper behavior. The hope, of course, is that no one at our sporting event would get into a fight, largely due to the stellar behavior being modeled by the team, on and off the court. The players are the stars at the epicenter of the event. As the stars, their behavior, directly and indirectly, emanates through the rest of the crowd. Ifa fight is looming, though a coach might not be directly responsible for ending it, they understand their crucial role in setting the precedent that might very well prevent it from happening. Now, to make it clear, while in Moab I was not watching the Red Rock 4x4 Club's activities as if I were a spectator. We'd passed by each other periodically each day. Sometimes we were in the same vicinity as one another, sometimes not. When we came Now, sit back and watch the lake level rise with some much-needed spring runoff. I can't wait to get back out there and explore. Maybe the water will come up enough so we can get back to our camp at midnight following the desecration of our site, it was clear that a four over that waterfall in the Cathedral, and get up to the next level. That would be a sight to I called Mr. Adams to make him aware of the situation. His response "Shoot, you lost a $70 tent? That's nothing. I had two guys just yesterday blow two grand when they rolled their jeeps," was not the answer that should have been given by one who could be looked at as the head coach of Moab's star team for that week. His statement basically painted the picture that personal damages should be expected for anyone in the vicinity of what I'll call the Moab playing field. It's basically stating that he cannot tell the difference between his ~ own players, who are willfully engaging in risky behavior, and folks on the side line who are not. His statement kind of makes Moab sound like a free for all during Jeep Week. behold. Long live Lake Powell, Tiffany Mapel, Friend of Lake Powell Durango, CO ACCUSES MOAB BIKE SHOP OF EXPLOITATION. Jim: I just read an article in today's LA Times that Moab's Poison Spider Bicycles is touting Mexico's Copper Canyon as the next Moab and is offering mountain biking tours. Great. Another treasure exploited to death. A big turd in the punch bow] for Poison Spider. Here is the LA Times web link... : beep (ww welatimes.com /features /outdoors/la-.oscoppercanyon12apr12,0,4815607.story?coll=la-home-outdoors Eric Temple Bethesda, MD wheel machine had been in our midst. As the leader of the premier event of the week in Moab, the Red Rock 4X4 Club needs to realize that whatever statements it makes, in any situation, carry a lot of weight. Like it or not, they are the epicenter of the party that week, among registered and non-registered guests. With that responsibility, they need to realize that all of their words will be heard by many. These words might easily, consciously or unconsciously, translate into actions made by their followers, be them registered or unregistered guests - and in some respects, I think the line between these two types of followers can be a bit hazey. |
