The Good News: There are several places in Utah that are being considered for designation as Wild and Scenic Space. Sections of the Green River are included in that consideration. This would prohibit any future oil drilling/digging in these wild and remote havens. Desolation and Grays Canyon on the Green possess mass deposits of shale oil in the rock. Because of the difficult process needed to obtain petroleum from the rock (it's not liquid, it's stone) and the remote location of the oil, these canyons have so far been safe from major exploitation. However, knowing our nation's fierce addiction to all things petrol, Deso and Grays will only be safe for so long. That's why achieving this designation is so vital. It will permanently protect the area. For some reason that is beyond me, there is no Wild and Scenic wilderness in the state of Utah.
The Bad News: There is also a proposal to open this same general area of the Green River to increased ATV access, oil companies' prospecting, and unrestricted chaw spittin'. I've ran the Deso/Grays stretch of the Green River about 20 times. It is a place unlike any place. It is in the largest chunk of roadless land in the lower 48 states. It is closer to my heart than most places. I wrote this letter to the Souther Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) to use in their campaign to protect the Green River. I post it here so that you can feel the importance of a place that is important to someone who is important to you.
Please, for the love of beauty, peace, unique surroundings, respect of spirituality, and responsible stewardship, do not open these holy lands to the use of gasoline guzzling, plant and environment destroying over-using machines. I am all for equal usership and fair access. However, I have grown up and lived in Utah for the last 20 years. I have found solace and peace in the perfect Utah desert when I couldn't find it anywhere else. It has offered me (and a huge number of others I personally know) a place to find answers and questions and light and freedom when I most needed those things. It does it in a way that nothing man-made can. I hope you have experienced this even to a slight degree. Please try to understand what I'm talking about, think of times in your own life when you have needed and found. The Utah desert is NOT an empty wasteland, it is full of life, energy and wisdom. My main concern isn't even the ATVs. I can handle seeing an occasional 4-wheeler or snowmobile in the backcountry. I would love to not cross the paths of those machines while trying to escape noise and smog and cement. But I understand and accept the fact that others love the excitement that comes from flying through the mountains at a million miles an hour. My greatest fear is that these sacred places will fall victim to the petroleum-addicted corporations and government that take without replacing, destroy without replenishing, and are willing to do anything in the name of development and prosperity. The Money Without Morals groups have enough power to rape, pillage and burn our homelands without any substantial opposition. It scares me to death. I hope this letter can somehow help counter the destruction of the things I and others love the most.
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