UTAH'S REDROCK WILDERNESS: A NATIONAL TREASURE THREATENED

"THESE WILD LANDS DO NOT BELONG SOLELY TO THE PEOPLE OF UTAH, OR TO THE WESTERN STATES--THEY ARE PART OF THE NATURAL LEGACY THAT EACH OF US INHERITS BY THE VIRTUE OF THE SIMPLE FACT THAT WE WERE BLESSED TO BE BORN IN THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA."

- Ray Wheeler, Utah citizen

Colt Mesa, View east of Deer Point across Capitol Reef to Mt. Pennell on horizon. © RAY WHEELER

ESCALANTE CANYONS. Bordering Capitol Reef National Park, the glorious salmon-hued, serpentine canyons of the Escalante are among the last vestiges of Glen Canyon, now drowned by Lake Powell. H.R.1745/S.884 would omit from wilderness protection over half of the roadless land within the Escalante Canyon country, including over 70,000 acres within six BLM roadless areas contiguous to Capitol Reef National Park. Utah Governor Mike Leavitt has proposed the development of an "Escalante Eco-Region" to include golf courses, a jet port, hotels and interpretive centers. Such commercialization would lead to the paving of existing dirt roads and the erosion of wilderness qualities in surrounding BLM roadless areas throughout the region. Still more destructive development may occur within the Circle Cliffs amphitheater, where proposed tar sands mining would ruin 49,000 acres.

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