This Land Is Your Children’s Land

President Clinton has designated 1.7 million acres of Utah’s red-rock wilderness a national monument under the Antiquities Act of 1906. Standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon, Clinton invoked a 90-year-old law to create the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument without congressional approval.

Utah Republicans, who wanted to open the land to exploitation by mostly foreign interests, acted like this was their fiefdom, saying only they know what is best for it. In truth, every American has a stake in the matter, since the land in question belongs to the people of this nation, not the politicians of Utah.

From almost the first breath of this Republican controlled Congress, this land has been on the auction block. Every conceivable legislative maneuver was used in an attempt to open the heart of this land to irreversible damage. If not for public outcry from across the nation, the deed would have been done.

A Dutch-owned company still holds leases for a huge coal mine in the now-wild Kaiparowits region. The president’s action will help protect this incomparable land from destruction. Stunning beauty aside, fossils in this region are a virtual biography of life on Earth. Its rock formations contain 4 billion years of geologic history. It is home to countless species and hundreds of archeological sites representing the largest pre-Columbian Indian population in the region.

If the mine goes forward, the picture changes dramatically. About 22 miles of paved highways subsidized by more than $100 million in Utah taxes will slice through what is now virgin wilderness. And, for at least the next 40 years, along a 200-mile corridor, 92-foot long, 129,000-pound double tractor-trailer trucks full of coal will pass any given point more often than every three minutes. Imagine living in proximity to this route--be it human species or other.

The costs to the natural environment are more than evident. What is not so evident is the detrimental cost to the economic environment. This short-sighted “boom and bust” approach to economic development in the West is no more viable today than it was in the past. And the public health and safety implications of what’s left in its wake will take both a human and financial toll of grave proportions.

Utah politicians put forth a dubious economic argument in favor of exploiting these lands, but the facts told a much different story. Utah is the second fastest growing state in the U.S., with an economy that is among the strongest nationwide and unemployment at a 42-year low. A highly educated workforce and business-friendly government deserve credit. But so does the fact that new businesses bring long-term jobs, because employees want to raise their families in proximity to the region’s pure, open spaces. They’re there because it’s there.

Further, tourism is Utah’s most important industry. A 1995 Utah state government study reported that tourism contributes more to the state’s economy than agriculture and mining combined. The tens of millions of people who visit these natural wonders each year pump about $4 billion into the economy and generate more than $200 million in taxes. Some 60,000 jobs are dependent on tourism, and the benefits are not limited to urban areas.

Rural economic growth in the past 15 years is due primarily to an unprecedented increase in tourism. The economies of the counties that are home to the protected lands are a case in point.

In Kane County, when poor economic conditions of the past decade caused the closing of a uranium mine and timber mills, growth in the service sector more than made up for it. In 1993-94, personal income grew 15.5%. Kane County’s growth is not related to mining or timber, but to tourism and goods and services to new residents drawn to the area’s spectacular natural resources and the cultural features spawned from them.

National monument status protecting these 1.7 million acres of land from future whims of any political party makes environmental and economic sense. This land would not have been truly safe under any other scenario.

Nothing like this land exists anywhere else on Earth. Our spiritual continuity as a nation, which comes with experiencing these natural treasures, is something we owe to our children and theirs. The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument could well be a defining legacy of the Clinton presidency.