Over and over again, we show such little respect for our home that we make no distinction between anonymous country and the gems. In the name of ego, adventure or profit we ignore what we know, that the Southwest is filled with wonders and we owe future generations the good work of meeting our responsibilities to protect them.

In his early, insensitive days, conservationist David Brower led the first ascent of New Mexico's Shiprock, before he knew of its importance to Navajo cosmology. The Navajo are still angry about this desecration of the "Rock with Wings."

The commanding presence of Factory Butte rises over a spiderweb of motorcycle tracks where the Bureau of Land Management refuses to manage our world-class badlands as a unique scientific and visual resource.

What do we do with our emblematic Great Salt Lake, wildlands adjoining the San Juan and Green rivers and Capitol Reef National Park, or the archaeological treasures of Nine Mile Canyon? We put them on the block for oil leasing.

Sixty years ago Aldo Leopold wrote in A Sand County Almanac, "Man always kills the things he loves and so we pioneers have killed our wilderness."

I regret that we haven't made more progress toward reverence of our iconic and sacred places.

Stephen Trimble

Salt Lake City