For the past 60 years I have been enjoying the luxury benefits from the ingenuity and hard work of my father, grandfather and those before them. I have no desire to return to the “good ole days” of my prior years of trekking to the outhouse, hauling water for the common drinking bucket, a once-a-week common bath by the potbellied stove, and cutting ice off of Narraguinnep reservoir to store for the icebox to keep our food cool in summer.
What luxuries am I talking about? Having electricity for our many uses, such as lights, heat, refrigeration, communications, even cars now, and the list goes on. Water piped to most of our houses that is clean and flushes toilets Water for irrigating fields for food and recreation. Nice houses, well insulated for comfort. Vehicles to transport us safely in all kinds of weather. The list still goes on.
Which one of us would wish to return to life in the 1880s in Southwest Colorado? I dare say no one! Most of the readers today do not regard the above items as luxuries but rather as necessities! We have these today only because our ancestors had a vision and were willing to work hard to achieve their vision. Most importantly, they did not have government bureaucracies preventing them from living and doing.
They entered the wilderness of the Montezuma Valley, seeing a dry, dusty land of sagebrush and juniper, flanked by higher forests with streams. They set out to develop and use the natural resources to achieve a future here. With their visions and “we can do it” attitude, we now have the green irrigated fields, water, increased wildlife, good rangelands, more trees, more recreation, a better economy than existed before.
We take it all for granted. For some time now, we have been living on and benefiting from the life and economy our forebears, with their blood, sweat and tears, developed for us. We have pretty much consumed our “inheritance,” basking in luxury benefits, becoming complacent and lazy, and have now decided we “can’t” do anything to leave it as good or better for our grandchildren.
We have decided that we have to lock up the natural resources and prevent their use to “preserve” them for future enjoyment. that is the apex of ignorance, as we cannot “preserve” the natural resources as we see them today.
Virtually every day, trees are dying and falling over, rocks are falling from bluffs, streambanks are eroding, wildlife are dying and being killed by other wildlife. Nothing in the environment is stationary; all is constantly changing.
We cannot stop this process by locking up and saying on paper than an area is a “wilderness,” banning man’s use and therefore keeping it like it is today for our grandchildren. It cannot and will not happen.
As a people, we have been duped into believing that a “designated wilderness” is preserving our “heritage of an undisturbed natural environment.” I would allege that our Creator gave us all natural resources as our “heritage,” to tend to, develop, manage, enjoy and use to the best of our ability, for the betterment of all men. To do anything less is shirking our duty to our offspring and an affront to our Creator, who gave us the intellect and ability to use and develop what he gave us.
The concept of preserving “wilderness areas” is nothing more than a romantic impossible idea perpetrated by ideas who have no interest in America maintaining its economy for future generations, and no idea of the dynamics of environmental ecology and forces of nature.
What a “wilderness” is to one person is totally different to another. I recall a trip I was on in northern Arizona after the Wilderness Act was passed. The local wilderness society was along to show us what should be “set side.” At a stop for lunch, we asked, “What does a wilderness look like to you?” They answered that where we had stopped for lunch was a “perfect example” of what it looked like.
To their dismay, it was pointed out that particular area had been harvested two years prior, utilizing more than one-third of the trees. Few people realize that areas that are left unused over time result in less forage for wildlife, less water for streams, less diversity of vegetation, more susceptibility to insects and disease, more susceptibility to devastating wildfires and subsequent erosion and water degradation. In the process, the resources are wasted for use for the betterment of mankind.
Some even suggest that having a “wilderness” improves the local economy. That is a myth. A recent study by Utah State University showed that counties with wilderness have lower household incomes, lower total payrolls and lower county tax receipts than comparable counties without wilderness.
All land areas are going to be managed, either by natural forces or by man. Nature manages land and vegetation by catastrophic events, insects, disease followed by fire. Man has been given the ability to utilize the resources and manipulate the vegetation for future benefits. Have we become a nation of “quitters” and “I can’t” people? With this attitude, we are putting the future of our resources at risk, promoting the ruination of our economy, and placing our national security in jeopardy!
We must wake up and begin once again to manage and use our resources for their benefit and our nation’s future, not lock them up!
Dexter Gill is a retired state and tribal forester who lives near Lewis.