In her \u201cLast Words\u201d interview that was broadcast after her death, Jane Goodall talked about her calm in the face of \u201cthe dark times we are living in now.\u201d She devoted her life to battling for conservation but attributed this serenity to the time she spent in the forest with the chimps. All those weeks and months and years of quiet observation.<\/p>\n
Such quiet is a rare gift. I haven\u2019t been in Goodall\u2019s Tanzanian rain forest, but recently shared Utah\u2019s Capitol Reef National Park with a 25-year-old cousin visiting from urban America. Once in the canyons he kept pausing to say, \u201cit\u2019s so peaceful, so still.\u201d He was astonished and renewed by that quiet.<\/p>\n
This canyon country stillness is under attack. The assaults come in waves powered by motorized vehicles, engines revving.<\/p>\n
First, the Trump administration proposes abandonin<\/a>g the 2023 Bureau of Land Management travel plan for Labyrinth Canyon. This 300,000-acre Utah wildland along the Green River just north of Canyonlands National Park is a gem — a fretwork of slickrock canyons along the river. Labyrinth preserves quiet for rafters, hikers, and bighorn sheep. No death-defying rapids here on this lazy, looping stretch easily paddled by families in canoes.<\/p>\n In a model compromise, the current Labyrinth plan<\/a> maintains access to more than 800 miles of off-highway-vehicle (OHV) routes, closing only 317 miles to vehicles. In the surrounding Moab region, more than 4,000 miles of routes remain open. OHVs have plenty of room to roam.<\/p>\n But moderation is never enough for Utah politicians determined to motorize every inch of our public lands. They are pushing to reopen 141 miles of closed OHV routes at Labyrinth and hoping for even more. You can comment here<\/a> before October 24.<\/p>\n