When President Obama created “Bears Ears National Monument,” it was an accepted fact that with the designation would come massive development studies, master plans, draft management plans, and ultimately, the approval of multi-million dollar visitor centers, improved roads, and other…
In large part, my personal opposition to a large new national monument in San Juan County was always based on a straightforward risk assessment of the likely consequences under “monument” versus “no monument” scenarios. On the one hand, it seemed…
For months advocates and opponents of a proposed Bears Ears National Monument debated the pros and cons of such a designation. It appeared all but certain that President Obama’s administration would embrace the plan and monument proponents appeared to have…
From The 2004 Zephyr Archives EDITOR’S NOTE & REQUEST: BIanca Dumas of helper, Utah submitted this essay to The Zephyr back in 2004. It has always been one of my favorites and we’re happy to re-post it. Her observations are…
From a 1988 ‘debate’ in the EARTH FIRST! JOURNAL… INTRODUCTION by DOUG MEYER What does this quarter-century old debate from US environmental history tell us? Very simply, honest environmentalism would have played only one role: that of counter-cultural force to…
“Although it is generally said that mountains belong to the countryside, they belong to those who love them.” – Zen Master Dogen, 13th century Seventy miles north of San Francisco Bay. Even on a bright day, from several miles inland…
Not long ago, a barn that had stood in my Colorado hometown for 90 years was demolished, but not before a land developer tried to purchase it for his new ranch. An old red barn. A wealthy real estate magnate.…
How Silence & Tranquility Became Antiquated Notions in the Brave New West… I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion. ~Henry David Thoreau When Thomas Jefferson…
This article was originally published in 2004… When Aldo Leopold saw fierce green fire in the eyes of the dying wolf his life was changing; years of living in wolf country were driving those moments, years of paying attention,…
On January 11th, 1908 Theodore Roosevelt used the powers granted the President by the Antiquities act to create Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona Territory (Arizona did not become a state until 1914). Using these words, and the stroke of…