It’s funny how right-wing radicals get all warm and gooey when they talk about law and order and defending America. Yet when they themselves deliberately break the laws of this country and dishonor the rights of the majority and get away with it, the irony is not the only thing lost on them. So is America.
So it is that Utah state represenative and national embarassment Mike Noel and some other self-important Kane County muckity-mucks led a charge of 500 lawbreakers on their ATVs this past weekend up the Paria River in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to protest the federal government’s prohibition of motorized vehicles in this sensitive and scenic wilderness area. The U.S. Attorney is now reviewing the photos, tapes and other recordings made of this organized assault on our public lands. But if the the feds were doing their job, the time for mass arrests was Saturday. If it was Amy Goodman driving up the Paria River, you can bet she’d still be sitting in Kane County Jail. As it is, the lawbreakers are running- and driving- free.
Though they probably don’t realize it (and likely can’t pronounce it), what Noel and his fellow criminals are practicing is not only crime but ANARCHY. While Noel and his idiot elite support the U.S. Attorney in promising to prosecute BLM land lease protestor Tim DeChristopher, they obviously don’t believe they are doing anything wrong or, more importantly, hurting anyone else.
This is where they are most wrong. The Paria River is protected because IT’S FOR EVERYBODY, NOT JUST THEM. In a democracy, when a few lunatics trample, or in this case drive over, the rights of the majority, IT’S CALLED CRIME. Or as it was more recently known, the Bush Administration. When they drive through this or any public land, they are destroying it. There are already lots of other places in Utah and the American west for these criminals to play with their toys and destroy whatever they want- including themselves.
Which brings me to a solution that may satisfy everybody: At the rate that ATV riders are currently dying in accidents, let’s open up the Paria River and every other public land to ATV traffic. And set a minimum speed limit of 50 m.p.h. Hey, I’m trying to help here…
I agree with you about the ATVs. However, if environmentalists were ‘truly’ concerned about protecting the environment, they would insist that sensitive areas be closed to everyone, not just ATVs. Make it a people-free, wildlife only area. That is the REAL solution.
Comment by Ima Agreeing — May 20, 2009 @ 12:52 pm
Paria Canyon has for the last hundred years or so, been a traditional trail between the pioneer town of Paria and present Cannonville Utah. However, it could never be considered a “road” since the sand and gravel bottom of the canyon is regularly scoured clean by flash floods that occur several times each year. In fact, this is one of the things that made this canyon such a perfect recreation trail for 4 X 4 vehicles, ATV’s and dirt bikes. Vehicle tracks disappeared every time it rained heavy in the nearby mountains.
Until recently the BLM allowed vehicle use even though Paria Canyon was within the boundaries of the new Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument. They probably recognized that there was no damage being done and they even posted signs in the canyon to advise drivers where they could travel. Then an environmental activist group sued the BLM to close the canyon to all vehicles. Since it isn’t hard to find a court to agree with whiny enviornmentalist, the BLM was forced to comply… again.
When the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was created by President Bill Clinton as he left office, promises were made to protect existing mining rights, existing grazing rights and existing right-of-ways. All of these promises were later broken, of course.
I attended the Protest Ride along with several hundred other Americans who were angry that one of their favorite canyons was being closed to them. More than half of the group were in the >50 age group. (Who wants to throw Grandma and Grandpa in jail?)
Two BLM officers met all vehicles and explained that officially they had to advise us that Paria Canyon “was NOT open”. When asked if that meant that Paria Canyon was then “Closed” they insisted that it was not officially “Closed” but at the same time it “was NOT open”. I asked if anyone driving the canyon was going to be stopped or ticketed, they assured us that the BLM would not… yet.
I also mentioned to the officers how sad it was that Paria Canyon was being closed to vehicles and how I could no longer hike the many miles necessary to get into the canyon. One of the BLM officers agreed that it was indeed a sad day because one of his favorite places to take his family was about 12 miles up the canyon. He would not be able to take his family there ever again.
A year earlier I had driven up the canyon with my son. We met a group of Grandma & Grandpa ATV riders. One “grandmother” type stopped to chat and mentioned that this was her 32nd ride up this canyon over the years. She loved it and wanted everyone to know.
Before that trip into the Paria Canyon, I had driven up the canyon and stopped to hike up a side canyon. I was met by a BLM officer when I got back to my vehicle. He was driving a park service pickup and was concerned that I might be hunting. Since I wasn’t even carrying a gun, we chatted and left in two different directions.
What this comes down to is that you are mistaken if you believe Paria Canyon is some kind of wildlife park untouched by human hand. That is propaganda designed to paint certain groups as “evil destroyers”.
Closing Paria Canyon to the enjoyment of the regular visitors, is indeed a sad thing.
Comment by Lynn Sessions — May 20, 2009 @ 1:29 pm
The Paria Canyon Route is one of the oldest RS2477 routes in the State of Utah. Closing it now because some whining environmentalists want to “save” something that cannot in the least be considered “untouched” by human hands is absolutely ridiculous. The option of closing the route should not even by on the table. However, in today’s rush to try to “save” something from somebody, the armchair “touchy feely” do-gooders types who continuously need something the “fight” for are attempting to exert their influence yet again. The irony is, most of them have never even been there, and only know what they’ve read.
The folks who HAVE been there, got there in a vehicle, and know infinitely more about preserving the area than the arm-chair “enthusiasts” who fire up their computers and “blog” away about how the majority of us are ruining a nation most of them have never seen, nor will ever see.
It’s time to put a stop to the nonsense of closing off great tracts of our nation from our people. We pay the bills, we do the work, we want to actually see and experience what the slacker enviromentalist wackos only want to talk about. Any politician who supports the closure of existing roads and vehicular routes should be summarily thrown from office, and any “public servant” who blocks the public from their legal right to travel those roads should be immediately fired (Personally, I’d like to see them jailed). There are always jobs at fast-food joints available for them, and minimum wage is about all they are worth.
It’s time for the people to take back their public lands from the bureaucratic desk-jockeys who only wish to make their jobs easier so they don’t have to leave their air-conditioned offices and actually DO the jobs they were hired to do: Patrol our backcountry and inform our citizenry of the history and natural wonders of same. This cannot be done adequetely from the visitor’s center.
Comment by Cary Nickel — July 5, 2009 @ 1:24 pm