On July 13, Donald Trump stole three million acres of land from the American public.
Have you ever been the only person in a landscape of canyons, mesas, crumbling sandstone, and rocks of every color — white, pink, orange, red, lilac? At age 67, I bought a travel trailer and a pick-up and began a meandering journey through southern Utah. I fell in love. The road through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument cuts through a deep gorge and climbs to a narrow ridge that falls away in dizzying slopes. I stopped and stood looking out over canyons and mesas that stretched to the horizon, not a single person or car in sight. This land is sacred to several Native American tribes, a vast open landscape where white clouds cast moving shadows under a vaulted sky of cerulean blue.
But if Donald Trump and Utah Sen. Mike Lee have their way, that landscape will soon be crisscrossed with access roads to allow mining and oil and gas extraction.
Trucks will trundle over that once-empty road, filled with ore and coal. Waste piles will leach toxic chemicals into streams and Native American relics will be destroyed. The pillage is set to begin on Sept. 11, in accordance with Donald Trump’s proclamations taking 90% of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments.
If you believe that there is value in land that humans can visit but not disturb, and that Native tribes who lived in these canyons and left their traces in rock and stone should have a say in how they are used, then call your members of Congress and register your dismay.
Speak up to protect all the lands that are now part of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments.
Alison Jones, Los Osos, California