This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
In retrospect, now that the dust has settled, I suspect that the Public Lands Initiative proposed by Reps. Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz was well intentioned from their point of view. The problem is that their standard of correctness was based on old notions that are no longer compatible with the future of Utah.
The future economic success of Grand and other counties, gifted with incredible natural beauty, will not be based on drilling for oil, gas, open pit coal mines or any extraction industry. It will be based on tourism. This land, where we hike, hunt, bike ride, 4-wheel and float, is public land open to all visitors. People who are drawn to the natural beauty of our national park, Forest Service and BLM lands in the Moab area eat in restaurants, shop at markets, stay in motels, rent bikes and stimulate our local economic growth. They also pay taxes that support our local community.
They don't come here to see drilling rigs or open-pit coal mines. These industries have their place, but not near areas where tourism is the predominant source of revenue. It is time for our leaders to put old economic concepts behind them and move on to the reality of a tourism-based economy.
Tom Mader
Moab