Goodbye to beauty

One of my favorite vacation trips I ever took was a driving excursion through southern Utah, which I maintained is the most beautiful part of the U.S.A. that no one knows about. I drove from Dallas to Cedar City, Utah. I woke up early my first morning in Cedar City to see Cedar Breaks National Monument. From there I went to Bryce Canyon National Park and then made one of the most spectacular drives of my life along a highway that took me to Capitol Reef National Park. Right before I arrived at Capitol Reefs I stopped at a gas station/general store and among the items for sale in that store was a video of that drive. To this day, I regret I didn't purchase that video.

From there, I circled back around to the southwest toward St. George, before heading back east to Zion National Park. From Zion I drove along the Utah-Colorado border until I came to the highway that would take me south to the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. I had been to the Canyon, one of my favorite domestic destinations, many times, but usually on the south side. I hiked down the canyon to spend the night at Phantom Ranch once. I took three rafting trips through the canyon, a 5-, 10- and 15-day rafting trip. But I had never been to the northern rim. It was out of season so the Park's lodge was closed and I had the place practically all to myself, which was unusual for a Canyon visit, at least one of my Canyon visits. The views, frankly, were not nearly as spectacular as those from the South Rim, especially those from the southeast area of the Canyon at sunset, but at least I could now say I had visited the North Rim.

From there I headed back northeast to Monument Valley, a place I love to revisit because it's almost like a religious experience to spend time in the place where John Ford shot so many of his great western films. From there it was due north up to the majestic Canyonlands National Park and I completed my tour of the great southern Utah beauty spots with a day at awe-inspiring Arches National Park. From there, it was a quick jaunt north up Highway 191 to Interstate 70, which led me on a quick three-day trip home.

I took many pictures of that trip and I'm really glad I did so I can show my granddaughter "This is how it used to look before President Bush ruined it."

This past Tuesday, the Bureau of Land Management announced it would soon be selling oil and gas drilling rights in these areas of southern Utah. Without even consulting the National Parks Service, the bureau plans to auction two dozen leases adjacent to Arches National Park and close to Canyonlands, risking the air and the water at those parks and destroying the beauty of the lands around them.

This is a despicable act. According to the Energy Information Administration, Utah has only 2.5 percent of this country's known gas reserves and less than 1 percent of its known oil reserves. Why destroy the scenic and recreational value of these lands for such a paltry return?

It's as if President Bush wanted to leave one more scar on the environment before he left office. Hopefully, one of the first acts President Obama take when he assumes office, is to reverse this decision. I want my son and granddaughter to see these lands in all the majesty I did only 10 years or so ago.