That was the sentiment of a handful of residents from Kane County who spent Bastille Day on Wednesday tearing down barbed wire fencing and replacing it with a wooden pole fence on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

The new fence will allow pronghorns to reach water and still keep them separate from grazing cattle, said Mike Satter, interim treasurer for the newly formed Friends of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

It is just one of many projects the group plans with the Bureau of Land Management, which is in charge of the 2-million-acre monument in southern Utah.

After working on the fence, about a dozen volunteers met for fund-raising and a barbecue on the small farm and vineyard of Jean Levanger in Orderville.

A strong supporter of civil liberties, Levanger thought the holiday commemorating a Parisian mob storming the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789, would be appropriate for improving the monument.

It has been a politically contentious property since it was designated by President Clinton in 1996.

Levanger jokingly said Wednesday was a day for mob rule.

"It's a day of freedom, to be free and enjoy oneself," said Levanger. "A day of no security, or background checks or finger- printing."

Jack Gisler, the Friends' interim president, said he remembers driving through the tiny town of Orderville shortly after creation of the monument and seeing an effigy of Clinton hanging from a motel marquee.

The Friends group is not political, he says, but wants to change the monument's negative image and raise money to supplement its tight budget.

The group hopes to get contributions and grants to develop interpretive and education programs about the rugged and wild area.

"It's a treasure trove for archaeology, paleontology, geology and botany," said Gisler, who, for a fee, was one of the first at Wednesday's gathering to hug a cottonwood tree.

Arlea Satter, who helped create the group in response to the negative perception of the park, said overtures from national environmental groups to help raise funds have been turned down to avoid political complications.

"We want to have a moderate board of directors embracing a variety of views," she said, adding, "people against the monument have the right to think as they do, and we can think as we do."

mhavnes@sltrib.com