Utah’s Book Cliffs exist as one of the largest expanses of land in the lower 48 states without a paved highway. The BLM, however, is considering a project that would change that. Uintah County’s Seep Ridge Road Paving Project proposes paving over an existing road, which would allow greater recreational (and other, including hunting and oil and gas exploration) access. The proposal states that:
“the road is currently composed of dirt or native material and several segments of the existing road do not meet current federal and state road design standards for public safety. All projections indicate a continued substantial increase in light and heavy vehicle traffic on the road, primarily associated with energy development in the Book Cliffs area.” (UT-080-08-0238 section 1.2)
By Ariel Schwartz •
April 1, 2009
You might think that renewable energy developers have few problems convincing towns to let them move in. But things can get surprisingly tricky when it comes to wildlife protection, according to a new map from the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Audubon Society. The Google Maps mash-up shows which renewable energy project locations are likely to provoke a fight based on the location of wilderness areas, areas where roads are banned, national parks, wildlife refuges, areas under consideration for wilderness protection, and areas that lack legal protection but contain endangered species.
By Scott James •
March 26, 2009
The Friant Dam on California’s San Joaquin River, built in the 1940’s, is slated for removal as part of today’s Congressional designation of wilderness status and federal protection to 2 million acres across nine states.
Included in Congress’ largest expansion of the wilderness system in 15 years is an ambitious river restoration effort on the San Joaquin River. The legislation authorizes the federal government to carry out an $88 million settlement won by environmentalists in 2006 after a court battle that spanned two decades.
By Sonya •
February 17, 2009
The current slow economy can actually bring children and their parents closer to nature, says REAL School Gardens. It suggests parents slow down, take a deep breath, and step into the backyard or a local park with their child.
“Connecting with nature calms and soothes both children and adults, and it is something that both children and adults can do for a wealth of benefits, for free”, says REAL School Gardens.
By Becky Striepe •
January 13, 2009
The Senate passed a bill on Sunday expanding wilderness protection more than any legislation in the past 25 years.
[Creative Commons photo via rjime31]
It’s actually a collection of 160 bills and covers over two million acres in nine states. THe land ranges from the Sierra Nevadas in California to Mount Hood in Oregon and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. It also includes areas in Virginia, Idaho, Michigan, Arkansas, and Utah.
By Caroline Savery •
September 12, 2008
Dearest Sustainablog!
Thank you for welcoming me back after an extended hiatus travelling our great American countryside. Burned out from the stresses of the Sust Enable project, my partner Scott and I took off for the great wilds of U.S. National Parks in early August. I haven’t written a blog since, as my adventures swept me far from the reaches of the Internet, for the most part. Now I am back in Pittsburgh, not living sustainably, yet still reeling from the life lessons reaped from the past four months.
I anticipated having a slew of breathtaking photographs to offer you, alongside commentary from the trip in which I reflected on our often-severed connection with nature, and the deep wisdom such a connection provides. Instead, one night while we camped in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, our video and digital camera were stolen from the glovebox of Scott’s car. In the middle of a peaceful campsite, in which the sense of goodwill invoked a dozen campers to leave their car doors unlocked that night, a band of thiefs took advantage, slipped in after dark, and robbed 
a handful of people… not only of material possessions, but of their precious trip memories.
I wept inconsolably when I learned that the camera which held our trip photographs had been taken from us. I cared little for the money-cost of these items, but I couldn’t stop hurting from the void that the thief left in me–having robbed me of the potential for life-long memories.
Memories surely live on in one’s mind… but as an avid student of the sciences, psychology easily reminds me that minds distort experiences. I was hoping to use the photographs from our trip as a guideline for revisiting the feelings and sights that this wonderful trip stirred in me. That hope is gone now, exchanged for a fleeting handful of cash to another.
And so, in the middle of my meditations on how the entire human race might be unified if we each and all had the opportunity to pause in the arms of nature’s bounty… I was sharply reminded with a single malicious act… that we have much further to go before then.
By Jim DiPeso •
August 13, 2008
Just as the authors of the Wilderness Act intended, protecting the Wild Sky Wilderness was a great American cause beyond the dividing lines that crisscross American society.
Not that it was easy to accomplish. For wilderness, it never is. From the day that local activists first drew the Wild Sky’s lines on maps until the day that President Bush signed his name to the authorizing legislation, nine years elapsed.
Bill picks up strong bipartisan support
[UPDATE: The Senate version of the Conservation Act passed overwhelmingly today, by a vote of 91-4]. The House of Representatives has voted to pass H.R. 2016, the National Landscape Conservation Act, by a tally of 278-140. The bill will give legal recognition to the National Landscape Conservation System, a Clinton-era program that oversees some 27 million acres of federal land mainly in 11 Western states and Alaska. Joining the 238 Democrats in support of the legislation were 50 Republican members of the House [follow this link to see how your Representative voted].
