Just 200 years ago, the West as we know it now was inhabited by Indians of many tribes and buffalo herds on the plains along the RockyMountain range as far as the eye could see. Within the next 50 years, the buffalo were to disappear, the Indians' lifestyles were totally destroyed, and a great surge of settlers was moving west.
In 1872, our forefathers established the first national park in the world, Yellowstone, followed by many others in the early 1900s. It was realized that this pace of settlement could cause us to lose a valued heritage, our wilderness and all its beauty and its "beasts."
Now, just 200 years later, the West we know has California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana! Millions of folks live here. Millions come here. Will our millions of endless tracks leave any wilderness for tomorrow or 100 years from now?
" Hidden Gems" is a very thoughtful, selective, definitive land-preservation plan for lands that are still today wilderness and roadless. They are lands to be attached to existing protected federal roadless wilderness. Lands that are still untouched by roads, mineral development or significant human presence. Lands that contain significant watershed and riparian areas. Lands that still offer pristine native vegetation that can be preserved for the millions yet unborn, who in this next hundred years will then be able to treasure the peace, tranquility and spaciousness that wilderness offers as we know it today.
We cannot be so selfish as to think this effort would not be the greatest gift we could give these future generations. We cannot be so self-centered as to think we do not have enough area now to use for our present activities. Surely we all need to focus on the future and save the Hidden Gems for tomorrow's millions to know, see and experience. There is no more land. There is no more water. There is no more air.
Please write and support Hidden Gems. It's the least we can do.
Nancy Rondeau
Vail
