Dear HCN,
Your headline, “Counties
May Shrink Utah Wilderness’ (HCN, 3/20/95), sounds downright
cheerful. A more accurate headline would have read, “Counties Will
Obliterate Wilderness.”
Here in Iron County,
Commissioner R.L. Gardner told the press before the first hearing,
that “I personally feel that there is no need to set aside more
land.” He was not familiar with the wording of the Wilderness Act.
County Commissioner Pug Urie was so befuddled that he told me Utah
Governor Leavitt wanted him to “take away everything from the Act.”
At our two local hearings citizens were split
nearly evenly on the issue: about 20 for wilderness, 24 against.
Yet the commissioners said they’d go ahead and send the governor
their own recommendation, without first showing it to citizens:
Hence, the hearings were meaningless. People against wilderness
said they were worried about outsiders, Indians, water rights and
bureaucrats.
What bothers me most is that the
public spent $10 million doing this 10 years ago. BLM started
inventory and scoping in 1982; the Utah BLM Statewide Wilderness
draft EIS came out in 1985; the public commented at 17 hearings and
in 4,500 letters; the final EIS came out in 10 volumes in 1990.
Yes, that environmental impact statement was deeply flawed:
Countless wilderness study areas had been dropped because
developers didn’t want wilderness. Yet I honestly expected that
they would be restored and that a fine Utah Wilderness Bill would
be presented to the President. I am such a fool that it never
crossed my mind that the EIS process, which must have cost
taxpayers several million dollars, would end up under a wet
Sagebrush Rebellion cow-patty.
The bottom line
is, Utah’s incomparable red rock wilderness belongs to all of you
Americans out there. Don’t leave its fate in the hands of county
officials.
Valerie P.
Cohen
Cedar City,
Utah
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Utah counties aren’t wilderness-friendly.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
