The exchange between SUWA Director Scott Groene and
HCN Associate Editor Matt Jenkins is a fine example of the
strategic dialogue which should be taking place within all Western
wilderness campaigns (HCN, 9/27/04: Utah’s wilderness warriors
reply).
Those campaigns increasingly favor what is best
described as a “Let’s make a deal” wilderness strategy. The
price of that strategy is now clear in Nevada.
The Nevada
congressional delegation recently pushed through Congress
legislation for Lincoln County that considerably raises the price
for modest wilderness designation. The final bill designates
770,000 of 2.5 million eligible acres as official wilderness, but
opens 246,000 acres in wilderness study areas to development, sells
off 100,000 acres of public land, and reserves a half-mile-wide
pipeline corridor to accommodate the push by Las Vegas to
appropriate vast amounts of Nevada’s groundwater (HCN,
9/13/04: A water-and-wilderness bill kicks up dust in Nevada). The
water grab is expected to dry up desert springs in the Desert
National Wildlife Range, Death Valley and other areas critical to
wildlife.
In Nevada, water, not wilderness, is the key
scarce resource and the number-one environmental issue. It is time
for wilderness advocates to wake up and take a clear stand in
opposition to the “Let’s make a deal” wilderness
strategy.
Felice Pace
Klamath,
California
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Take back the wilderness movement.
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