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Letter: We could be up against the most anti-public land administration in American history

Recently, I stood on the steps of the Capitol. Despite snow and a humidity uncharacteristic of Utah winters, I wasn’t alone. Hundreds of fellow Utahns rallied for public lands on the eve of potentially the most anti-public land administration in American history.

Attempts to devastate Utah’s land aren’t new: while Trump drastically shrank Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments early in his first term, the movement dates to the 1970s, when some of the West’s oil drillers, mining executives and cattle ranchers tried to take 500 million acres of federal land for private, commercial use. Anti-federal management advocates argue national monuments stifle industry and keep Americans from their land. It’s the reverse that’s true.

I spent a lot of this fall in the Staircase. I hiked with friends, slept under stars, and worked with BLM rangers to protect native plants. I walked riverbeds with Salt Lakers and fixed campsites with Oregonians; I bought ice cream with Pennsylvanians and learned about pre-settler Utah from Hopi and Diné. As we breathed the land, we found communion with it and each other.

When the government leases land to extractive projects, we the people lose our rights. Land once ours is slashed with retention ponds and shiny “No Trespassing” signs. People no longer visit to camp or eat out, so communities like Bluff and Escalante lose tourism dollars. This doesn’t factor in Indigenous or ecological losses.

Standing with activists and students, locals and transplants, Indigenous people and settlers at the Capitol, it was clear Utahns value our national monuments (recent polls from the Grand Canyon Trust tell you the same thing). Still, our politicians refuse to listen, instead pursuing privatization and destruction. To paraphrase Wallace Stegner, “Utah would lose its song if we removed the rocks.” Let’s keep our home singing.

Peter C. Eckhardt, Salt Lake City

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