Dear HCN,
Your article, “Greens not
welcome in Escalante” reminded me why I left my home state (HCN,
5/24/99). Southern Utahns have long regarded nature as an enemy to
conquer, dating back to the days when Brigham Young sent them to
colonize a howling wilderness. Considering the local belief that
the Earth is a mere steppingstone to heaven, it’s no wonder rural
Utahns see nature lovers as dangerous
nuts.
Pro-wilderness groups with a “national
agenda” have worsened the situation by pointedly ignoring locals.
Most southern Utahns were apathetic about land issues until the
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the Cowboy Caucus convinced
them that heathen outsiders were out to grab their land. I actually
sympathized with Barry Barnson’s complaint that some people treat
locals like a “bunch of idiots.”
My flight from
Zion began when I ran a humane society in Cedar City, a gruesome
and thankless task. For five years, I wrote a pro-animal column in
the Southern Utah Spectrum, enduring much abuse from people who
think only cows and sheep deserve a life. A column on the realities
of predator control was my last, courtesy of a big cowboy fist
crashing down on the editor’s desk.
Defeated, I
wandered a land deforested by fencepost cutters, littered with
skinned coyotes, shredded by ORVs, and denuded by overgrazing. My
protests to federal agencies were shrugged off by staffs composed
of younger ranching sons. I finally left Utah with my tail between
my legs. I now live in a well-protected paradise treasured by a
populace that doesn’t seem to mind losing the right to pillage,
plunder and destroy at will.
I feel guilty about
giving up the fight, but Utah is a place that can kill the spirit
of the most dedicated activist. It’s sad to feel so unwelcome in
the place where I was born and
raised.
Lester
Wood
Coleville,
California
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Sadness from a native son.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
