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Show PAGE 19 THE ZEPHYRSEPTEMBER 89 Canyonlands National Park twenty-fiv- e years old by Jim Stiles tern Clumbu camo America, before the Egyptians built their for thousands of years before man could even envision pyramids, such a the labyrinthine canyons, the towering pinnacles and goblin rocks thatplace, lay at the heart of the Colorado Plateau stood mute and silent, as do today they - majestic, beautiful and unknown. Yet even then, when the entire North American continent was a coast to coast wilderness, wandering groups of Old World hunters were crossing the Bering Strait to Alaska, and southward. A culture developed and grew along the San Juan, the Parla and In canyons cut deeply Into the ancient sandstone of the Colorado Plateau. The Anasazl flourished; they reached a cultural level In the thirteenth century, unsurpassed at 8ny other period In their history. Then, suddenly It seemed, they were gone. The sandstone sentinels stood silently as the Anasazl left. The canyons that had welcomed them, watched them depart For hundreds of years, mule deer browsed near dusty ruins, and mountain lions roamed freely for food. There were no bounties In the .15th century. No one knows Just how many "expeditions" Bates led Into the Canyonlands, or how many Dutch oven dinners he prepared. But his dedication and him led all to the the way perseverance Secretary of the Interior, Stewart He personally Invited Udall to see the Canyonlands for himself. Udall. In the Secretary, Bates Wilson found an ally when Udall observed: "Acre for acre, the canyon lands of Utah are the most spectacular In the world." Three years later, on September 12, 1964, Lyndon Johnson signed a bill creating "Canyonlands National Park. Bates Wilson became Its first Superintendent In the 25 years that have passed since then, Canyonlands National Park has endured a storm of controversy. Much of the development that was proposed In the original Master Plan failed to materialize, and local In fact, a federal residents, expecting a wealth of tourists, cried foul. budget drained by the Vietnam War, runaway Inflation, and changing attitudes by Americans toward National Park development all contributed to the park's lack of paved roads. In 1977, a new general management plan sought public Virginia Park, 1959. .'l iA The first white men to view the Colorado Plateau were not particularly Impressed. In the years that passed, Its beauty was far from appreciated. 4 -- I - jfc , Y?; w 'S- .Y ? The Deseret News In September, 1861 described southeast Utah as, "one vast for nomaoic 'contiguity' of waste' and measurably valueless, excepting purposes, hunting grounds for Indians, and to hold the world together." That perception remained for many decades. To be sure, Mormon settlebut the ments sprang up along the perimeter of the sllckrock country, late as the As Interior remained empty - relatively unexplored and unknown. areas early 1950s, southeastern Utah represented one of the largest roadless In the continental U.S. Yet there was a handful of people who recognized the singular beauty of this land; In the 1930s; a proposal to create Escalante National Monument was bandied about, between politicians, bureaucrats at various levels, and the local population. Escalante would have become the largest Park Service area In the cobntry, surpassing even Yellowstone, and stretching from the Book Cliffs south to Lees Ferry, and from the Kalparowlts Plateau east to Moab. The Idea was supported by Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, but was A smaller compromise offer was opposed by the Utah Congressional Delegation. on the table, when Hitler, Mussolini and Emperor Hlrohlto put the Idea on the back burner. In the spring of 1949, Bates Wilson reported for duty r4 I :v! -- 1 as Superintendent of Arches National Monument Less than two years later, he was offered and later, because housing at the accepted a position at another park. A month decided to stay. Had he left. new park was Inadequate for his family, Bates It's hard to say how history might have been changed. Instead, Wilson fell In love with those canyons and pinnacles and spires, and made It his lifelong mission to explore them, and to protect them. comment on the future of the park. At a "showdown" public meeting that fall, an SRO crowd at Starr Hall made Its feelings known to Director Bill Whalen. What finally emerged from the chaos was a compromise plan which ultimately led to the paving of the Island In The Sky roads, but which left the Needles district relatively Intact In the late 70s and early 80s, Canyonlands was threatened by the possibility of a nuclear waste underground' storage feclKty being constructed along Its eastern boundary. The Gibson Dome Repository would have el become the recipient of all the nations radioactive .waste. would never have same. been the the Canyonlands Though proposed site was eliminated by the Department of Energy In favor of another, the notion that the project might someday looms darkly In the background. Will dramatic Increases In tourism destroy the What of the future? ruin and solitude that Is so much a part of Its beauty? the parks Integrity As Jack Breed wrote In the National Geographic almost forty years ago, the Canyonlands "represents a heritage which once squandered, can never be replaced." high-lev- re-ap- pear |