- Protect the parks: Zion deserves to be preserved - Salt Lake Tribune Editorial
The right of property owners to develop their land as they see fit is important. But it is not absolute. Even the most rudimentary zoning codes will not allow a rendering plant in a residential neighborhood, say, or a strip club next to an elementary school.
The fact that some 3,300 acres of land within Zion National Park in southwest Utah were never held or purchased by the United States of America means that federal, state and local officials have a difficult balancing act before them.
And local and state officials will be doing themselves and their constituents no favor if they allow their distrust of all things federal to stand in the way of a joint effort to preserve the beauty of Zion and other national parks, for reasons both economic and ethical.
As outlined in Sunday’s Salt Lake Tribune, federal officials in charge of Zion are worried that the recent construction of a few trophy houses on private lots within the park’s striking vistas may presage a trend. The hundreds, maybe thousands, of homes that could be built will make that very park less desirable, both for those who can afford such monstrosities and those who merely wanted a soul-cleansing hike in some of the breathtaking lands that all Americans hold in common, and in trust for future generations. [Read the rest...]
Elseweb:
- Border bill unnecessary, puts too much of Montana at risk - Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle Editorial
A federal bill [sponsored by Utah's Rep. Rob Bishop] that would allow U.S. border officials unlimited authority to build anywhere on public lands within 100 miles of the international border is unnecessary and could invite serious abuses. ...
- GOP’s environmental siege: Republicans should remember their party’s legacy - Eugene [Ore.] Register-Guard Editorial
It was Teddy Roosevelt who established the national park system, Richard Nixon who created the Environmental Protection Agency and supported the Clean Air Act, Ronald Reagan who championed the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer and George H.W. Bush who embraced the cap-and-trade program that reduced acid rain.
In recent years, Republicans have done an about-face, staking out the wrongheaded position that protecting the environment conflicts with conservatism, damages the economy and costs jobs. ...
- All in a day’s work: Park rangers and Coast Guardsmen routinely put their lives on the line - Daily Astorian [Astoria, Ore.]
