OCR Text |
Show ,; eanim A matter of conscience When the day dawns so clear you can see from Wyoming to Nevada, it is hard to believe the reports of pollution, smog and acid rain are happening on the same planet. Across the peaceful fields fresh sets of rabbit and mouse tracks lie undisturbed in the fresh snow, and up in the foothills the elk are grazing on sage and scrub oak. From Main Street a friend points to a distant bowl on top. of a mountain and I car. see his graceful ski tracks from the day before. But you only need to look as far as Salt Lake City to see the damage man can inflict on his environment. On the prettiest of days in the mountains, the valley is choked by a blanket of brown smog. The fresh air we take for granted is a precious commodity down in the city. In fact there will be days tiiis winter when the afternoons are warmer up here than they are in Salt Lake City. The smog there will deflect the sun and weigh heavily on their spirits while we ski in t-shirts and work on our suntans. But who is to say that we will be forever immune from the same fate. Our own narrow canyons and ever-increasing population could easily generate its own pollution. There are already mornings when the smoke from hundreds of wood stove chimneys settles in a thin haze over the town. There are other problems too. Our own version of condominium sprawl is pushing the wildlife further up into the hills, taking over their lower altitude winter range and criss crossing their migration routes with roads and power lines. I know this is not a new scenario, but we have treated the problems of the environment as if they were happening elsewhere in the elsewheres we left to live here. Perhaps it is time to make a new year's resolution to begin protecting what we have before its too late. Somewhere in our master plans there should be land set aside for a wildlife refuge. In the years when the Great Salt Lake overflows its banks, polluting the freshwater nesting grounds of Willard Bay, our own reservoirs and marshes could provide safe harbor for those displaced ducks, geese, cranes and herons. And when the Overthrust Belt begins to infringe on the nesting grounds for those noble birds of prey, they would be welcomed here. Soon enough we will have to legislate the number of wood stoves allowed per household, and require soot removers on every chimney. But until then, polluting like littering, must be a matter of personal conscience. Burning garbage, wrapping paper and coal are all unneighborly gestures. So is driving an untuned or unmuffled car. This year I am making a resolution to explore as much of Utah's new nationally designated wilderness as I can. But I'm also resolving to help protect the wilderness we already have so close to home. |