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Show yi.WMWAVW.VAMW.V.V.VA VAWWMV,VAlAVWyVlAy.V.SVA,VyA,-,A- Xi.U l M5t?s ,A. y ,f,.V.VAA,AVAVX.WiA.yAV,X.,.V.V.V.,1.Vl WW,AVWWyAWy,.WASV.VVlVA,.,.,.,.V.'.,,V.V.l.V.,A',,.l,,.V.WAW,W.l.V,,..W.V.y.,.l.1.VAW,l,V,l,V,W.V..V.VAV.',1.,.V.1 ' I probably won't scare any eagles or be given the bird! For your atonement, Stiles, I ask two things-ke- ep doing . . The Zephyr and help fight Chris idea to take Lost Springs Canyon into the NFS fold. Tell Cannon's revenge, this insane them to get the cows out of Sleepy Hollow first Tell them to get )et skis and small planes out of the park, first Tell them to renounce industrial tourism, unpave the Delicate Arch Road, institute a bus transport system, kick out the concessionaires, and give all the locals free passes first Most of all, let Walt Dabney know that we won't let him help steal the last remaining vestige of the Entrada Sandstone canyons just so he can expand .vWW'WJvX SNr I. 5. '' 5 : S j N- fw O W ,i.'. r,. , Vvo;v:Mteoxw:x.v:i;iAM,vAr.v.'WAvw s )S-:- r $:: I fey T' i l ft ts y y? fe ;: . s, va-.- ? 4 :kv k .V m,aav.v .v ) I ...-.- - ....-$ J little-know- f 77ie following letter was originally sent to Sierra magazine; its author (and Zephyr subscriber) Andy Gantenbein sent us a copy. Whether it gets published in the Sierra Club's magazine or not, Dan Kent Moab it's our Letter of the Month. Sierra Magazine I was livid when those two young people from New York City called us, rolled us and mugged us on the phone to try to get us to sign up for a Sierra Chib Masterchib card. They began with environmental talk, then jerked us around to sign up. This happened the last day before we began our 6,200 mile trip through Big Bend National Park, across southern New Mexico, Arizona, and then into Utah and Colorado. The land depletion we saw on and off public lands was awful, to say the least. Then we get home and the new issue of Sierra, feature article "Bicycle Our Newest National Monument" was on my dining room table. What is wrong with you people, anyway? We revisited Moab to see old friends from when we lived there in the early '80s. The e money grubbers. Now you are at place has been totally destroyed by bikers and like Escalante, Hanksville and to towns mess historic a it again on campaign canyonland up Kanab. I've changed my mind about cows. For seven years we hiked Kanab's BLM wilderness and the Escalante River area, every spring, just like clockwork we were out camping near Escalante and on the Arizona Strip. The cows that the ranchers grazed on BLM lands and the national forests were all more or less regulated by habitat, if nothing else. Basically, if they starved, there were too many of them. There are no habitat limits as for as rocreationists are concerned. Cows don't build n, his computerized backcountry reservation system for the idle rich and the profiteering outfitters like fartward bound and the National Outdoor Followership School Thanks, fcfagiW.fllAWjMuwVAIIJlAAMMl!sMAl tent-campi- "? and reactionary rednecks have a lot more in common than the politicians and corporate elite would like us to believe. PS. Remember "radical environmentalists ng big-tim- motels. Whereas many of the old mid western industrial towns have cleaned up smelly petro-ai- r smells and set aside downtown commercial zoning and protected historic areas, Moab's McDonald's strip is right on top of the old town, new business built three feet away from the Main Street curb. In addition, the smell of the oil field south of Moab has gotten ten times worse. I'd rather drive through Gary, Indiana than Moab. And this whole mess has rippled away from Moab like a two-hoJeep commercial, a direct result of the mountain bike promotion by magazine writers back in the early '80s written by writers like the ones you like to hire. In other words, you editors were the cause of it and I'm sure that having said that, you'll dump my letter in File 13. I could shoot my left brain and write better eco articles than what you print in the name of environmental ur protection. I'm for cows, not recreationists. If Ed Abbey were still alive and visited Moab like he used to do. I'm sure that he'd support me on this. You people have no real values, it's just money, money, money. Dearest Jim: Are you all right? Page Two of the April May issue of 77k Zephyr. . .that part about the plane ride. . SHOCKING. Maybe it was the altitude or the proximity to the holes in the ozone. . .As I read, I was stunned with disbelief and then flooded with concern for my hero. Experiencing this magnificent country from the air has its allure, I guess. Got my chance last spring when I was hired to shuttle a vehicle from Escalante to Moab. Three small fixed-win- g planes flew to Escalante to pick up a hiking group and then to Moab as the last leg of their Utah adventure. It was my first small plane ride. I was crushed. My whole world seemed to shrink in an instant. Inaccessible and secluded paradises suddenly lay naked and revealed, exposed and vulnerable, invaded by our piercing glances and the roar of the planes. It is devastating to realize how easy it is for almost anyone to fly over almost anywhere. This single flight took away once and forever the illusion I had harbored that if I backpacked long enough and for enough, I could actually touch someplace remote, someplace where there was, as you wrote, "not a trace of human activity." It is true that over the years every place I have gone, no matter how seemingly "remote," has been assaulted by motorized aircraft. "Silence," that is, the absence of motorized sound, is the one resource that no agency protects. Be it motorized land vehicles, water craft or generators. The best one can do is BUT THERE IS NO to backpack away from roadsriverslakesreservoirscampgrounds. PLACE THAT PLANES DO NOT GO. In the past when we have spoken or written our concerns about aircraft flying over "protected" areas, we have been told that the agencies in charge of protecting the land have absolutely no authority over the air space above that land. On Page Ten of this same AprilMay issue of The Zephyr, in his article on the Mineral Bottom Airstrip, Dave Pacheco mentions that "Fortunately, legislation has been recently introduced into the US. Congress to allow land agencies some regulation regarding overflights." This is our big chance. If you value natural soundssilence, please let the appropriate agencies know how you feel Thanks. Dfehna Chalmers Andrew Gantenbein Stevensville, Michigan Castle Valley, Utah Dear Jim: What's a poor, disgruntled environmentalist who's fed up with all the development and degradation of our beautiful canyonlands supposed to do when he or she is at rope's end and totally depressed about it all? Why, head on down to the friendly folks at Mountain Flying Service (freedom of the skies!) and take yourself a scenic overflight and trash everyone rise's wilderness experience and peace and solitude. All those kmriy canyons and mesas you speak of don't feel so lonely when you're being buzzed by aircraft. Shame on you, Jim-j-oy riding around over the backcountry, apparently oblivious to what an environmental nightmare the charter and scenic overflight industry has become. I must say you really surprised me. Have you not been to the backcountry in the Grand Canyon, or Rainbow Bridge, or Canyonlands? Any feeling of solitude and timelessness is completely ruined in the Grand Canyon and Rainbow Bridge, due to intensive aircraft overflights. It feels more like Disneyland. I have been buzzed by aircraft in the Maze District of Canyonlands also. These planes were dose enough to the ground for me to see the smiling feces of the passengers. They all got a friendly Edward Abbey-styl- e wave from me, fist raised with middle finger protruding skyward. Jim, many of our public lands are threatened or are already ruined by too much aircraft overflights. And who do you think is flying around up in these airplanes and helicopters? The few elite rich people who can afford it, enjoying their cheap thrill at everyone else's Never in nine years of publishing the Zephyr has anything I've done caused as much of a furor as my scenic flight last winter, here are the complaints, followed by a short response. Stiles! What's happened to you? Get a grip, man! In your last issue, you wistfully lament the destruction of open space and wild things, then as a remedy. . .fly a plane over places where you "saw not a trace of human activity, where "winter has a way of obliterating the signs of man," places that should "not be marred by bulldozers, or jeep tracks, or cows, or bike tracks, or pitons. By anything ." (your italics). Does this include pointy-eare- d aliens posing as environmentalist editors getting closer to the places they love in a planel Do you know how many hundreds of small planes I have mooned, flipped off, cursed at and photographed in my years in Canyonlands? (Hmm, a little blackmail scheme I could have used just had tale. . .) the wind taken out of it by your All heroes must have their moments of weakness, Jim, and I admit I, too, have considered flying over the maze of sandstone canyons, but I guess I fear seeing how small it really is, and figure an afternoon in my backyard or a short walk up Mill Creek will get me far closer to the desert muses I seek than any mechanized conveyance ever can. And communistic-tree-hugging-land-lovi- ng low-flyi- need to supply water beyond the reach of power lines, then solar power can solve the problem. Well and surface pumps: 500 to 30,000 gallons a day. Let us help you determine the optimum system to meet your needs. Complete do it yourself kits available. If you Robert Soldat HC 64 BOX 2510 Castle Valley, UT 84532 (801)259-763-8 CALL SUPERIOR ENERGY, SOLAR PUMPING EXPERIENCE SINCE 1987. awrT-. vertex. , .Xv.Mt. ' i,. mi - Atir . mmmrn THIRTY-EICH- T ng |
