In the Denver Post yesterday, Robert Redford wrote:

We have few places left that represent the raw beauty and the history of our American West like Desolation Canyon, in my home state of Utah.

It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1968 for good reason. John Wesley Powell explored Desolation Canyon a century earlier, one of the last uncharted places in the lower 48 states. For thousands of years before that, the region was home to American Indian tribes including the Hopi, Fremont and Ute people. Their pictographs and petroglyphs still line the canyon walls; silent reminders linking us to the most fundamental roots of civilization.

Yet now, much of that is at risk.

The Interior Department is on the verge of approving a Denver company’s proposal to drill nearly 1,300 gas wells in northeast Utah.

Denver-based Gasco Energy wants to drill more than 200 of these wells in the Desolation Canyon proposed wilderness area alone. It wants to put more holes into the surrounding plateaus that until now have remained unthreatened for all of history.

Think about the consequences:

Scenic roads throughout the region would suddenly be clogged with diesel trucks and drilling equipment. Debris from drilling and construction of pipelines and service roads would threaten tributaries to the Green River. Sounds of drilling would replace the last vestiges of natural silence and would be heard at Sand Wash, the put-in for recreational river runners vital to Utah’s tourism industry. One of the most remote places in America would be despoiled.

Is this what we really want to do to our country? Certainly, it’s not what most Americans want.

Read the rest of his op-ed by clicking here.

Then, join Robert Redford’s call to protect Desolation Canyon by signing our Change.org petition and spreading the word!

For Utah families, life is filled with questions about the future.  How is my child doing in school?  Is he/she getting enough individual attention?  How do I save for college, for retirement, for that vacation we’ve dreamed about?  How do we get quality time together in a world with endless pressures and demands?

Utah families don’t mull these questions and conclude that the answer is to rip apart Utah’s wilderness with tens of thousands of bogus road claims. Only Governor Gary Herbert does that.

Tell Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that roads to nowhere are not a family value!

In a jaw-droppingly tone deaf press conference on Tuesday, Utah Chief Deputy Attorney General John Swallow claimed that the thousands of gullies, cow paths and dry washes Utah has claimed as highways “. . . do go somewhere and we need to make sure they are safe enough to provide access to Utah’s families and resources.”

Families?  The State of Utah is prepared to spend millions litigating faint desert tracks through Utah’s wilderness, but it would blanch at the thought of spending that money on education.

Tell Sec. Salazar to defend our land against Utah’s bogus road claims!

If these Utah politicians really cared about families, they would know that now, more than ever, we need our wild lands protected.  They are places where we can reconnect with our children, away from the lure of technology – places where we can tell stories around a campfire and try to name the stars.

Utah seeks these rights-of-way to prevent wilderness from being protected.  It’s that simple, and that awful.  They are seeking to destroy our children’s wilderness heritage.  We can’t let that happen.

Tell Sec. Salazar that paving our last great wild places is not good for families.

SOUTHERN UTAH WILDERNESS ALLIANCE * NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL * SIERRA CLUB

For Immediate Release: May 7, 2012

Contact:
Stephen Bloch, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, 801.428.3981
Bobby McEnaney, Natural Resources Defense Council, 202.289.2429
Mark Clemens, Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, 801.467.9294 x.102

(Salt Lake City):  National and regional conservation groups applaud tomorrow’s planned signing of the Greater Natural Buttes Record of Decision by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.   http://www.suwa.org/2012/04/05/suwa-announces-landmark-conservation-agreement/.  The decision to allow the Anadarko Petroleum Corp., to drill some 3,500 natural gas wells in a heavily developed area in northeastern Utah, to be announced Tuesday by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Tuesday, shows how competing interests can be balanced in a way that is a win-win for all sides.

“We appreciate Anadarko’s willingness to meet with us, listen to our concerns, and adjust its project to eliminate and mitigate impacts,” said Stephen Bloch, energy program director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.  As a result, the company’s final proposal eliminated several locations in the White River proposed wilderness area.  In addition, Anadarko acquired private lands along the river corridor for conservation purposes and is taking other steps to mitigate or eliminate the sight and sound of development for families and river runners on the White River.  “These kinds of compromise agreements confirm that Utah can have a robust energy sector while at the same time protect its wildest public lands.”

The Interior Department’s approval of the Greater Natural Buttes project stands in stark contrast with its support for the controversial Gasco natural gas project.  That project, which has been heavily criticized by conservation groups and in the New York Times, Akron Beacon-Journal, and Salt Lake Tribune, would permit Gasco Energy, Inc. to drill more than 200 new natural gas wells in the Desolation Canyon proposed wilderness, an area recognized by the Interior Department and conservationists as being wilderness caliber. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/07/opinion/a-win-win-deal-on-natural-gas.html?_r=1, http://www.ohio.com/editorial/editorials/drill-protect-and-preserve-1.301196, http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/53802589-82/gas-plan-wells-blm.html.csp).

“The Interior Department’s apparent willingness to support Gasco’s project and its devastating impacts on the Desolation Canyon proposed wilderness is bewildering,” said the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Bobby McEnaney.  “Rather than follow in the footsteps of several recent compromise agreements between conservation groups, the oil and gas industry and state and federal agencies, the Interior Department is turning its back on this type of collaborative approach.  That’s just not acceptable.”

“There’s a stark contrast between the landmark Anadarko deal and the Gasco proposal.  Hundreds of new wells, as proposed by Gasco and supported by the Interior Department, in rich habitat for elk, antelope and gamebirds, and within the sight and sound of the river would spoil opportunities for hunting, wildlife viewing, and river rafting,” said Mark Clemens with the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club.

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Saturday, April 21^st brought sunshine and smiles to Moab, Utah as hundreds of people came out to Swanny City Park for the 1^st Annual Moab Earth Day Bazaar: An Ode to Greater Canyonlands.  The day-long event offered local art, craft and food vendors, performances by local musicians and educational opportunities on topics such as the proposed Green River nuclear power plant, tar sands and oil shale development, and an overview of SUWA’s Greater Canyonlands campaign.

For our part, SUWA staff spent the day discussing the Greater Canyonlands campaign with the local community, including conversations about the existing and foreseeable threats to the region (such as oil, natural gas and potash exploration, mineral leasing and off-road vehicle use), what SUWA’s doing to help increase protection for the region and how individuals can get involved to help raise awareness of Greater Canyonlands locally and nationally.  The message was well received and those present expressed vast support for additional protections for this awe-inspiring area that we all know and love.  We’re looking forward to keeping the drum beating on Greater Canyonlands and hope that the noise carries all the way to the White House.  Speaking of President Obama, he even showed up to the event and graciously took photos with Greater Canyonlands supporters all afternoon (well, it may have been a really life-like cardboard cutout).

Check out the Protect Greater Canyonlands Facebook page for more photos, and mark your calendars to come and celebrate sustainability, community and Greater Canyonlands in 2013!