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Show POINTBLANK WHYIDON'T BELONG T OS.U.W.A OR THE SIERRA CLUB | By Owen Severance Back in the 1960's I joined environmental organizations like the Sierra Club because they were doing “Good Things” to protect the environment. But I became disillusioned after too many misleading “The Sky is Falling” articles in their publications. I was also a charter member of Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and lasted until I became disillusioned with their “Wilderness or Nothing” policy for all of the supposedly roadless BLM lands in Utah. So I was peacefully enjoying not being involved with the BLM Wilderness dispute in Utah when I read a very interesting interview in the July 31 issue of High Country News. The following question by Ed Marston and its response by Steve Hinchman, a former editor of HCN 1) The Utah BLM Wilderness campaign would be a major national campaign. 2) The people living in rural Utah near the proposed wilderness areas would not be included in the discussions. 3) Only one, all inclusive, wilderness bill would be acceptable. Multiple wilderness bills over a substantial period of time would not be acceptable. 4) A lot more acreage would be included in the proposal than would be necessary for an acceptable bill. This would allow a lot of the roadless areas with marginal values to be eliminated during discussions on a compromise bill. and an environmental activist, inspired this essay. Marston: “For better or worse, you've come a long way from 1968, when you arrived in Paonia as a hippie with long hair and all the answers.” Hinchman: “That was eco-rhetoric. The truth is, you get co-opted when you live in these - small, rural towns and see the incompatibility of a one-size-fits-all wilderness strategy with needs on the ground. That's when you move to talking about a more integrated approach: loggers doing restoration, the BLM and Forest Service setting big fires, hunters working on habitat restoration, and putting private-land winter range into protection.” “A lot of my friends and compatriots will be very angry at me for saying this. And I know the penalty for traitors. But the wilderness movement has almost gotten intoxicated with the amount of money and power they are bringing in, so much so that they arepola to fight a scorched-earth political campaign in the rural West.” “No modern society has ever managed to simultaneously inhabit and preserve fully working ecosystems. The wilderness movement is a great and noble experiment, but it ignores the inhabit part and therefore it will fail, at least ecologically.” It is a thought-provoking interview. Most environmental organizations will disagree with most of what Steve Hinchman says, but it should stimulate interesting discussions among open minded environmentalists. The full text can be found at: www.hcn.org. It's in the July 31, 2000 issue. I was busy writing letters supporting BLM wilderness in Utah back when the Utah Wilderness Coalition was being created by several environmental organizations, and I talked to several of the leaders of the coalition about how they were planning to go.about convincing Congress to passa wilderness bill. They made several decisions in those early days that, in my opinion, have doomed the effort to pass wilderness legislation in Utah for the foreseeable future. They decided: Call me deranged, call me irrational, or call me delusional; but if I were planning a campaign to prevent wilderness from being designated in Utah, my plans would be remarkably similar to the campaign being waged by the Utah Wilderness Coalition. As a result of the first two decisions, the people in rural Utah were ignored for years until it was too late to reverse the polarization that had taken place. In my opinion, the third decision is one that won't work in Utah; especially when the fourth decision was changed to an “all or nothing,” “no compromise” approach. Call me deranged, call me irrational, or call me delusional; but, if I were planning a campaign to prevent wilderness from being designated in Utah, my plans would be remarkably similar to the campaign being waged by the Utah Wilderness Coalition. UWC has pursued a “scorched-earth political campaign” that has failed to result in-any wilderness designations. So what do I think should be done to eliminate the stalemate that exists so that wilderness legislation can be passed by Congress? I would start with the first decision that was made by UWC. As long as the major environmental organizations can use the Utah wilderness issue for raising significant amounts of money. for their organizations, they have Problem: Senior Citizens Solution: Prescription drugs must not compete with food costs. Voters must support benefits to meet seniors’ needs. Assisted living centers will help. Problem: Utility Rate Control Solution: The legislature destroyed voter protection. Voters will pay higher. bills. Senior citizens will be hurt worst. Let's work to control utility rates. RESTORE IT NOW! Problem: Gun Control- NO Solution: The Second Amendment protects our right to bear arms: The government is not asking the right questions. Safety is important, limiting access to juveniles is up to parents. Problem: Equal Representation/ Equal Power Solution: Our state was founded on the principle of 1 representative for each county. The U.S. Senate was the model. There is a constitutional way to do it! The money will follow the power as it does now by staying on the Wasatch Front. Move the money to Rural Utah. Utah State House District 71 Young for You All Politics is Local Max Young 2010 Navajo Heights * Moab, Utah 84532 (435) 259-4542 _ email: maxyoung @lasal.net Problem: Education _ Solution: Work with teachers now. Attract the brightest and best teach our kids and grandkids. The PILT money loss is inexcusable. A person representing our interests would not let it happen. We must take strong leadership in Applied Technology & Vocational Training. It is the next big challenge education will face here. Problem: Reform/Integrity Solution: Utah Progressive Network etal. League of Women voters and others urge the public's right to complete accessibility. pee rent over lobbyist gifts must stop. |