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Show DECEMBER 1996 BRAVE BEGCTIFOL MONGMENT Continued from page 9 county commissioners had in mind. But the bill did not merely allow the developers in, it went, some say, too far. The legislation would circumvent the long-standing protections afforded by the National Wilderness Preservation System by allowing unprecedented uses within areas designated as “wilderness”. mutiny” ness The grassroots activists were prepared, except this time they knew they had to make it a national issue because Utah politicians were bent on opening these lands for development. Led by SUWA, a national coalition of individuals, citizen groups and environmental organizations called on people in all states to stand up for these magnificent public lands and to pressure their Congressional representatives to vote against what had become known as the Utah delegation’s “Anti-wilderness Bill”. Editorials in newspapers across the country came out against the bill: “it grossly and mockingly misrepresents Utahns”; “a massive sellout of the public interest’; “a siege on the public lands”; “an all-out assault on the concept of preserving the wild lands of America in sacred public trust”; “a misrepresented _ =. La oO on . 581-7049 federal laws The environmentalists years end, the proposed PROPOSED BLM won. By legislation UWC Proposed Wilderness National Park Service Lands ee Designated Wilderness Areas J Grand Staircase - Escalant National Monument (annex Miles ) 10 in Hatch literally ‘Utahns don’t told how their land.” be used by public land specialists to help define how According to Heidi McIntosh, staff Boundary) Vel 30 the if Cedar / Senate, me shouted, need to be ‘ Dh can GLEN BRYCE to take care of He un BREAKS > wNP st tn DEE ON ERCALANTE vowed Big Habitat for Big Wildlife Environmentalists are happiest about the location and size of the newest national monument. What Clinton has done is connect two vast islands of public lands with a third, which would have been further fragmented by the Utah delegation’s proposed bill. This is important to environmentalists because it provides big habitat for big wildlife. Ee of ys CANYON | URS MONE never to quit until the bill A] was passed. Enter President Clinton with his election year proclamation and his own ideas about how to take care of the public lands in Southern Utah. ‘ ee We E La supcih ae Map courtesy of Southern ing the 1.7 million acres of land contiguous to Bryce National Park and Capitol Reef National Park as a national monument, the Clinton Administration has preserved not just the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau and the Canyons of the Escalante, but has linked these regions with the existing national parks to create a massive reserve which stretches almost all the way across Southern Utah — an uninterrupted eco-region that provides irreplaceable habitat for vast and varied desert life. The proclamation which establish- Offering Utah Wilderness Alliance attorney for SUWA, the proclamation is evidence that this is a very different national monument. The wording of the proclamation spells things out: we know that this is not the type of national monument which will result in paved roads, tourism and extensive visitor facilities, like those found in Yellowstone or Yosemite, including liquor stores, beauty parlors or restau- rants. This proclamation sets aside this land for its geologic treasures, its world class paleontological sites, archaeological inventories, and its outstanding biological resources: values which many say are incompatible with the 25,000 acre coal mine proposed by the multinational mining conglomerate, Andalex Resources Inc. Planet of the f@ipes A Fine Many Southern Utah residents see the value in the Kaiparowits for what lies beneath its, as yet, unblemished surface. One resident, who was quoted in the New York Times describes it Selection as “the finest energy field we have in of Stationery, the United States.” He goes on: “That monument won't have a dime’s influence on tourism. I don’t think anyone wants to see it. It's not even secondclass scenery — it’s third or fourth class. It’s such marginal ground that part of it was used in the motion picture Planet of the Apes.” Gifts, Cards, The coal seems to be the crux of the issue. What is seen by the Clinton Books Administration and these lands should be managed. The proclamation sets the acreage aside not for tourism or recreational purposes, but for its “scientific and historic resources.” . 20 debates es the monument is unique for its language. It is a legal document that will Richfield had been scrapped in both Houses, and Hansen, Hatch and Bennett had gone off to lick their wounds, regroup and concentrate on election year campaigning. During the lands separated by vast tracts of civilization — cities, coal mines, harvested forests — means death for innumerable plant and animal species. By designat- WILDERNESS Utah Wilderness Coalition | Predators such as mountain lions and wolves and bears need vast tracts of land to survive. Island ecology, whether ocean-based or land-based equals extinction. Fragments of wild UTAH OF . UNIVERSITY DRIVE = — iA CAMPUS WY) SOUTH O EAST X . 1580 1 poten- piece of CongressionNew York Times railed UTAH MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS tially destructive al strategy”. The and against designed to protect America’s natural resources. It went farther than any proposed wilderness legislation by providing that any lands not officially designated as wilderness would be forever banned from wilderness protection. Beyond that, those lands could not be managed to protect their pristine qualities. In other words, Southern wide open, for busiUtah was open, deceitful, against the bill as an example of “full scale More! MARIE LOUISE ELISABETH VIGEE LE BRUN, French (1755-1842) Portrait of the Young Countess Schouvalof (Elizabeth Vladmirovna), 1797 Oil on canvas, 33 x 27 3/4 in. Acc. 1993.034.014 as a national treasure worthy of timeless protection for unnamed future generations, is seen by local residents of Kane County as jobs, revenue and an improvement in the quality of their own lives for the next forty years. Continued on page 12 PAGE 10 |
