Why We Need a Bold Vision for Preserving Our Wilderness
Why does wilderness matter right now? It matters to me personally because I believe that our last public wilderness areas, with their rugged beauty, uncharted terrain, and ability to test human strength, are essential symbols of the American spirit.
But it also matters legally. According to the Wilderness Act of 1964, once a landscape has been altered by human development--including natural gas pipelines, oil drill heads, or roads for seismic thumper trucks--it can never become a protected wilderness area.
This is exactly the cynical calculus the Bush administration used to convert America's public lands into money-making ventures for a few energy companies.
Unlike any administration before it, the Bush White House claimed it had no legal requirement to protect wilderness lands, and so for eight long years, it refused to do so. Millions of acres of wilderness-quality lands were stripped of protection and opened for energy development.
We lost so much ground during the Bush administration, and we are still feeling the aftershocks: leasing, drilling permits, and off-road vehicle plans continue to be approved and destroy wilderness lands in my beloved Utah and elsewhere (see threatened areas on this map).
Secretary Salazar can change this. He can craft a new vision for preserving and managing the public's wilderness. I am hopeful that Salazar can take this step. He has spoken many times of his commitment to America's "treasured landscapes," but I encourage him to single out and prioritize our wilderness areas.
Because unlike other pieces of our national heritage--monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial or documents like the original Declaration of Independence--America's wilderness is not complete or set in stone. It can be added to, and deciding which landscapes should be preserved for posterity is an ongoing process.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-red鈥?/a>
http://www.essayforum.com/writing-feedba鈥?/a>
No comments:
Post a Comment