Dispatch from San Juan County - No. 3

Although many predicted it, Senator Bennett’s defeat in last Saturday’s Republican Convention still came in a cloud of disbelief.  Even those of us who have lived here forever and have grown used to Utah’s political antics were shocked.  We’ve heard from friends from other places who are worried that the closing of our borders is next on the agenda.  There is no way to fully appreciate all the ramifications associated with losing our three-term Senator.  Regardless of who eventually replaces Bennett in November, his loss will affect our work in San Juan County as well as our efforts to protect and preserve all of Utah’s Red Rock Wilderness.

We see a number of possible scenarios.

1.       The Senator could decide that he wants to leave a public lands bill in San Juan County as a legacy.  This would mean trying to push something very complex through an unwieldy system in unprecedented time.  This scenario might indicate that the process in which we’re currently involved is window dressing—that many of the decisions have already been made.  This explains much of what we’ve been sensing-- different comments made by County Commissioners (although they’ve been working on this for months they don’t have anything concrete to add to the discussion), perceived lack of interest on the part of commissioners (they had conflicting schedules last week, and none attended the Thursday session) and the difficulty that Bennett’s people have focusing.

2.       Or, the Senator decides that he has more important things to do during his last few months in office.  Would we push to modify and then complete this process?  Given the current political climate are our chances for getting designation of big, important Wilderness better now or if we wait, moving into an uncertain future?  Rumor has it that the San Juan County Commissioners are afraid that without Senator Bennett to block it, the Red Rock Bill might have some new legs.

3.       Without Senator Bennett as an obstacle, could Obama/Salazar (or Obama without Salazar) decide to create new national monuments in Utah in order bolster national environmental support? (This makes some sense right now in light of the criticism they’re getting over the oil spill in the Gulf--“Obama’s Katrina”—and there are a number of Tea-bag-type Republicans who would surely blow a gasket on hearing the news).

Can you think of any others?

We're busy making plans for the next meetings, which so far, are still scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday.  Our focus will be on motorized "access" - driving the discussion to address, specifically, the legitimate roads and the excessive number of routes left open by the Bush-era travel plans, including ghost and redundant routes. This weekend we'll be meeting with some of our best grassroots activists who are excited to help us fine tune our strategy during this important time.  We’ll keep you posted.

Comments

[Fred Swanson]

Brooke, Liz, and everyone--thanks so much for representing us at these meetings--your presence and knowledge makes all the difference! For those of us who can't attend, there can be a sense of helplessness as we watch powerful entrenched interests try to drive home their agenda. Keep us posted on what we can do.

Apropos of the wild country in San Juan County, you might be interested in what a Blanding author had to say about the country west of Clay Hills Pass in an obscure cowboy novel he wrote in 1936. Forgive the length of this excerpt, but it does suggest that one of San Juan County's pioneer citizens could find something worthwhile in open, silent country -- and without all the "access" that seems to be necessary today:

"Often in the evening when the camp-fire smouldered low, when the men had gone through their conversational string of talk and reached that quiet interval before bed-time,--after Josh had found inspiration to sing the only song he knew,--Ben would look into the dying embers and, half sleeping and half awake, seem to hear something call to him from the great wild solitude hidden in the darkness all around. . . .This something called again and again from the cliffs and forests, till Ben grew to expect it and wonder what it could be, though he never ventured to talk about it with anyone. . .It was no doubt the same still whisperings of the vast wilderness that had given him such a dreadful scare the time he rode old Buck, but now, strange to say, that silent voice had no sound of terror at all. . .

"Then he discovered that in the gray dawn of morning, this intangible something was as rich as any other time. It seemed to get into the fresh morning air and the first burst of the wild bird’s song; it rode on the scent of the flowers that blew in from the hills; it sparkled in the dew in the grass. . . .It bore him into a world of fancy, leaving his weary, thirsty self, to struggle with a heavy task until he should return.”

Albert R. Lyman, "Voice of the Intangible," Deseret News Press, 1936

Thanks again--Fred Swanson, Salt Lake City