Wilderness Commentary

Last year, mostly out of curiosity, we spent several days hiking in the proposed Rock Creek Wilderness Area. The Rock Creek Area is the largest roadless areas and one of the most primitive areas in the Big Horn National Forest outside of the Cloud Peak Wilderness. We encountered stunning canyons, parks with beautiful vistas, jagged rock spires, pristine creeks, and old-growth aspen and pine forests.

During the bittersweet days of September light, when a low-angled sun is unwavering in its withdrawal, I always have trouble saying goodbye. How to shutter the season? How to close the summer home with a memory to last through the dark months?

Growing up, I looked with nose pressed against a mythic window of class at those who played in their waterfront compounds at Hayden Lake in Idaho. And when I came of age, I heard about the Hamptons and Cape Cod, Aspen and the San Juan Islands, where the zip code itself was supposed to guarantee happiness.

In "New tactic in land wars: compromise" (Tribune, Aug. 26), Alta Mayor Tom Pollard said Rep. Jim Matheson's Wasatch Wilderness and Watershed Protection Act of 2010 was "kind of jammed down our throat." This couldn't be further from the truth.

Over the course of two years, Matheson and Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon held more than 15 stakeholder meetings.

We live in the midst of the world's tallest forest. Chances are we will live to see sweeping changes in how it is managed. These statements are both worth examining in detail. Is it mere bragging to say our forests are the biggest? And if it's true that the Pacific Northwest coastal forest ranks as an asset of planetary significance, will we lose all involvement in how it's managed? Will saving trees become even more of an impediment to industrial forestry?

The recent brouhaha over national monuments is certainly creating a lot of attention and a lot more confusion. So much so, that national BLM director, Bob Abbey, recently accepted an invitation to come to Malta next month to help explain the situation.

Sometimes, it's best to stop and listen, to have a conversation instead of a duel.

And as my colleague Chris Smart wrote in Thursday's paper, the bile that has festered for years among land lovers and land users (not mutually exclusive) may have evolved into a more reasonable way of negotiating.

To wit: Sen. Bob Bennett's wilderness bill would preserve 256,000 wilderness acres in Washington County even as it opens a lot of land elsewhere for commercial development.

The great American storyteller Mark Twain once pointed out that they've long since stopped making land.  How we best manage that limited supply for healthy populations of fish and wildlife is a question that should be near and dear to the hearts of every hunter and angler in the state. That's why 15 former wildlife officials and land managers recently wrote a letter to our two senators and congressman urging them to protect some of the best habitat we've got left - the Rocky Mountain Front.

I am in favor of the Hidden Gems Wilderness proposal. I think this is a well-thought-out plan and makes sense as we go into the future. Now is the time to set aside this valuable land.

I have been a back country user for most of my life and am convinced people need more of this type of recreation. It is the driving force for the economy in the mountains. It is also a necessity for the animals that inhabit our land. The Hidden Gems Wilderness proposal appears in large part to setting side roadless areas that are buffer zones to our existing wilderness.

Dear Editor:

As a Vail Valley business owner I support all of the Hidden Gems proposal and Congressman Jared Polis' efforts to designate some of these lands as Wilderness. Wilderness is good for my business, good for our valley, and good for the state.

To the editor:

I am writing in support of the wilderness act proposal recently explained in a public forum Aug. 6 at the Cañon City Abbey. The areas include land in the rugged parts of Grape Creek, Beaver Creek, Badger Creek, and McIntire Hills.

I was born in and grew up in Colorado along the Front Range. My wife, JoAnn, and I moved to Cañon City in 1984 and have been here ever since. We plan to retire here as we appreciate the good climate, proximity to the mountains and conversely the big city activities nearby.