Your senator just may be trying to take places like this away from you, right now. Bob Wick/BLM photo.

Last spring, I kayaked down the rarely-run Escalante River that flows through the heart of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Protected in 1996, Grand Staircase-Escalante serves as a potent symbol for the kind of natural treasures that have been the subject of land wars that, for many years, have raged throughout the American West.

Paddling through its cavernous gorges, hiking up some of the most beautiful slot canyons in the world, it was hard to believe that this place was in such a state of peril. Hotly contested between the BLM and the State of Utah, Grand Staircase-Escalante sits on one of the richest mineral energy deposits in North America, and the state fervently wants to strip these nearly 1.9 million acres of some of the most amazing desert landscapes in the American West, along with some of the best dinosaur excavation sites worldwide, of their legal protections and sell the access to the billions of tons of coal underneath to the highest bidder, locking the public out in the process.

Back in the '60s, power companies tried to open this place up and build the largest coal-burning power plant in the world, but were successfully beaten back by opposition from Native American tribes, environmentalists, and public sentiment. But history is repeating itself in 2015 to an exasperating degree.

The Escalante River flows spectacularly for 90 miles through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Bob Wick/BLM photo.

During my float on the Escalante River, I knew that it was potentially the last time I was going to be able to enjoy the canyon. The feeling was bittersweet, but I was fortunate to see such stunning beauty. Looking up, inhaling the scent of native cottonwood, my eyes had difficulty defining the reds, yellows and purples that stared back at me from the beginning of time. I followed the ribbons of color climbing the rock walls of the canyon as they climbed, then back down, watching the rock age back hundreds of millions of years. As the miles blended into each other, the pristine silence of that place was the only constant among a revolving onslaught of visual and sensory miracles.

The thought of a coal mine or an oil refinery droning away in all that silence, the scars of excavation tearing at this natural marvel made me want to vomit and cry all over my kayak. It still does.

I knew that it was impossible to quantify, to measure the feeling evoked by that place—no dollar amount can be allocated to peace, serenity, and wonder. I also understood that a very real monetary value could be applied to the deposits buried deep underneath me.

It’s hard to defend something that is mostly intangible, like a feeling, versus an action that has a monetary outcome, like mining.

After the trip, as my crew and I exited Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, I turned and stared back at the entrance gate. The fear is always palatable that, with places like this in the American West, the next time I return the gate might be locked.

What Just Happened?

Public land paints a sea of red across the entire western U.S.–and your senators want to sell them to private interests. Wikimedia Commons Photo.

That gate isn't locked quite yet, but just last month, 51 U.S. Senators voted to begin a process of selling off our public lands to enrich private interests and puppet politicians. Guess who probably won’t benefit… you.

Politicians love euphemisms, hence with the amendment in question, sponsored by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, is known obscurely as Senate Amendment 838, or “Disposal of Certain Federal Land.” Backers will tell you that the intention is not to take away your access to the American West, but they’d be lying. The house of democracy is not destroyed in one sitting, but brick by brick. This amendment aims to begin that process.

This isn’t a liberal problem, or a conservative problem—it’s an American problem.

History & The Sagebrush Rebellion

Because of how the feds actively encouraged settling in the West–and how they scooped up enormous tracts of sparsely-populated lands in the Mexican-American War, Louisiana Purchase, and other contracts–almost half of the land in the American West is owned by the federal government.

As settlers moved west and territories began to take shape in the 19th century, land grants were negotiated with the Federal Government. As a part of the deal, in exchange for generous land deeds, the new states would include a clause in their constitutions guaranteeing the existence of public land within the states’ boundary.

This example is from the Nevada State Constitution:

(The clause makes clear) “That the people inhabiting said territory do agree and declare, that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within said territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States...”

So for all the haters out there who argue that the Federal Government is the real bad actor in this situation, just remember that the states, in order to form in the first place, wrote a deal into their constitutions promising the existence of public lands. The breaking of these agreements is not only a bad idea, it’s unconstitutional for the states to do so. Only Congress has that power.

In 1932, President Hoover even tried to deed over Western Federal land to the states, but at the time, balls-deep in the Great Depression, the states couldn’t afford to take over the management of public lands, so they simply said no.

Jumping to 1976, the feds passed the Land Policy and Management Act, formally ending the age of homesteading, as well as officially normalizing the federal management of Western public land in the United States. This legislation enraged Western landowners, amongst others, and set off the so-called “ Sagebrush Rebellion.”

"Cowboy"/actor/President Ronald Reagan was a fervent supporter of the Sagebrush Rebellion, which ultimately failed to move land to state control.

To quote the Talking Heads, the battle that we see coming in 2015 and beyond is “the same as it ever was.” Over the course of ’76 to ’83, the nationally ascendent Conservative coalition, under the banner of Ronald Reagan (a self-described Sagebrush Rebel), made a big splash with their anti-government rhetoric and resentment.

The Sagebrush Rebellion effectively roused conservationists and sportsmen into action and opposition, and by 1983, Reagan and his coalition of ‘outraged rebels’ were successfully beaten back by an enormous public outcry. Now, roughly 30 years later, it’s time to do this shit all over again. History, to nauseating effect, does repeat itself.

What is Happening?

Many state legislators are arguing they aren't getting enough revenue from federally-managed lands in their states, even though they can't afford to manage the land themselves. Bob Wick/BLM photo.

In today’s political discourse, it seems that if you say something loud enough repeatedly, it becomes true, regardless of the content of your message. This tactic is being applied throughout the U.S. to garner opposition to the Federal Government.

Leading the charge, legislators from Alaska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, New Mexico and Nevada are once again calling for the feds to turn over land management responsibilities to their states. When you look at a map of federally managed public lands throughout the west, it’s easy to see why these specific states are pushing for reform in management. Governors and representatives from these states argue that they’re not getting a fair share of the revenue generated on these lands, and they want the freedom to cut out the middle-man.

But here’s the thing—managing land is expensive. The argument that states would do a better job managing our public lands is disingenuous. In fiscally conservative, spending-averse Republican state legislatures, there would be very little political will to put money towards actually managing these lands as the Federal Government has. It can cost over $100 million to fight a wildfire. Forcing state taxpayers to eat such a cost is not only unrealistic, but foolish.

The truth is, the states have no interest in managing the land itself, they just want the right to sell off and privatize it. Guess who'll get a piece of that action… not you.

The author, somewhere in the Gros Ventre Range, enjoying his public lands. Amy K. Photo.

Here in Wyoming, we enjoy amazing access to our public lands. You can literally start a backpacking trip or a backcountry tour from the town of Jackson. If the potential of Senate Amendment 838 is realized, the open access that we all enjoy could be fundamentally diminished. What is today a beckoning gate to the Gros Ventre Wilderness could someday become a 'No Trespassing' sign, tagged by some energy corporation’s fine print. Fuck that!

And we’re not even talking about the negative environmental impacts that would accompany a business-friendly land management policy. I don’t want some old greedy bastard who cares nothing for the environment, or his or her community, to own our public lands. You shouldn’t either. Period.

In a bizarre twist of fate, such a divisive issue may ultimately serve to bring liberals and conservatives together under a common cause. There is a ton of overlap—no matter what you do in the outdoors, whether it’s drinking a Bud on a drift boat or smoking a joint on a chairlift, we all love the land and having access to it.

John Gale of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers advocacy group, argued for keeping public lands public, and federal, in Colorado this April. Peter Marcus/Durango Herald photo.

The reaction amongst sportsmen has been immediate. Already this year in Colorado, regional groups and organizations have stepped up their opposition, holding rallies and mobilizing local activism. Recently the conservation director for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, John Gale, sat down with the Durango Herald to detail his organization’s position.

In the interview, he said that “We want to stand strong for the wild country and protect and safeguard that birthright of those unborn generations. These ill-conceived land grabs are not only an assault on our personal freedoms, but an attack on the sporting heritage and the public lands legacy that defined our way of life here in Colorado and around the West.”

To piggyback on Gale’s sentiment, it seems that the same challenges confront all American citizens. The arguments that separate us are manufactured to create noise and draw attention away from the real bad actors in our society.

Why Care?

The people who want to kill protection for public lands would prefer you just stayed out of this, and went and played instead. Ryan Dunfee photo.

As a passionate outdoorsperson, I’m scared—I’m scared that we’re all too distracted. Most people that live in the mountains are in pursuit of a certain type of bliss, also known as flow state.

All this fun and shredding pow and ‘sending it’ doesn’t leave much mental bandwidth for shit that matters. Have we as a people, in the pursuit of ‘crushing it’ and ‘being stoked,’ forgotten that there are forces in this world that are actively trying to diminish the things we care about? Does ‘living the dream’ in fact contribute to our own social apathy?

If you’re reading this, whether you frequent tetongravity.com, or not, you probably care about clean air, water, access to land, and the ability for all of us, including our children, to share in these things. I do.

Surveys consistently show that a majority of Americans oppose the land grab. American Progress photo.

I’m writing this today, not to piss people off, but as a public appeal. Please care again. I know that our world today is tailor-made for distraction, but if all of us are not paying attention, who’s going to defend the things that need defending?

Power wants you to take that bong rip on the couch; to log onto Facebook; to turn on the game—and to shut the fuck up. If all of us, or even some of us, returned to civic engagement, it would drastically affect not only the future of our children, but the future of our world.

Just stay on that couch, and let others push to sell off places like this to the highest bidder. Bob Wick/BLM photo.

In 2013, in response to the economic impacts of that year’s government shutdown, Black Diamond CEO Peter Metcalf wrote an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune. In it, he detailed how during the shutdown he watched as ‘Sagebrush Rebel’ politicians learned the true cost of their belligerent messaging and policies.

“This kind of grandstanding is not harmful in the abstract—it’s harmful to real people. Real people, it turns out, who live in Utah and depend on public lands for their very livelihoods.” Metcalf wrote. “If allowed to function, the federal agencies that manage these lands are more than capable of facilitating this vital sector of the economy. And if they’re not—well, you just witnessed it. I think ‘devastating,’ was the word used by Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert.” Since then, Metcalf's continued to fight on behalf of Utah's $5.8 billion outdoor industry, and its 70,000 related jobs, to maintain public access to the state's wild lands.

"It takes more than money to satisfy the human spirit." BLM photo.

Politicians often speak of ‘American Exceptionalism’ and use the term to insinuate that something sets us above the rest of humanity. Most of this is rhetorical ego stroking, but America is exceptional in some ways. When you travel abroad, you quickly realize that many other nations have not been good stewards of their land. Many developing places, under more autocratic governance, have been mercilessly exploited for economic development.

America is exceptional in that we’ve had visionary leaders throughout our history that recognized it takes more than money to satisfy the human spirit. These men and women, seeing that our nation was fair and pristine, and teeming with wonder, set up a system to conserve the land for future generations.

America is exceptional in that we’ve had visionary leaders throughout our history that recognized it takes more than money to satisfy the human spirit. These men and women, seeing that our nation was fair and pristine, and teeming with wonder, set up a system to conserve the land for future generations.

There is indeed no sleep for the wicked—and we’ll be fighting these battles against greed and corruption for the rest of our lives. That sounds exhausting, I know, but the alternative is just so much worse.

What you can do:

If this issue deeply affects you, and you'd like to do something, start by signing this Wilderness Society petition. After that, click on your state from the list below and look into writing, emailing, or calling your congressional representatives and state leaders. They'll even tell you themselves that it's by far the most effective way to get them to change their mind, since they hear from so few... will they hear from you?