I'd like to be able to say that I anticipated the staggering changes that were about to turn Moab, Utah upside down when I started the Zephyr in 1989. I'd like to say I was a prophet but I can't. I didn't really see it coming.

After the defeat of a proposed toxic waste incinerator in Cisco in 1988, it looked as if Moab might become a sort of peaceful oasis in the red rock country. We had some tourists, about 400,000 a year at Arches, up about 90,000 from a decade before, but not enough to seriously disrupt the town. We had a few river running outfits that made a comfortable living for its owners and great summer work for a lot more. There were plenty of rental opportunities for all those part time summer employees---at one point in the late 1980s, almost one in every five homes was empty. The played out uranium boom seemed over once and for all.

But we should have seen it coming. With the birth of mountain biking and its almost explosive popularity in Moab, lycra-clad yupsters from Colorado and California and Beyond began to show up in ever increasing numbers. And they came to do more than challenge their own skills on the Slickrock Bike Trail. They came to buy.

It was a standard line at many real estate offices in the late 80s: "Tell us," the Aspenites would grin, "How many houses can we steal today?" Quite a few was the answer. Sometimes visitors to Moab arrived empty-handed and left town a day later, the owner of four Moab homes, and still had change from their $100,000.

That's how it began. But Old Moab was still hanging on and in the first few years, in the early 90s, some of Moab's biggest 'controversies' focused on old issues and old ideas.

What follows are a few flashbacks; from Day One and Ground Zero, this is how Moab got from there to here...

1989: BIRTH OF THE ZEPHYR & THE BOOK CLIFFS HIGHWAY

At about the same time the Zephyr was taking shape, so was the Grand County Special Services Road District. Lame duck commissioners Jimmie Walker and Dutch Zimmerman, recently defeated in the 'Toxic Incinerator Overthrow' and incumbent David Knutson created this autonomous governing body, appointed Dutch and David's father to be board members and hired Jimmie to be the paid administrator. With mineral lease money funded to the counties by the federal government, the new road board had a grandiose plan: Build a paved highway from I-70 over the rugged Book Cliffs to Vernal. The road board received a $6 million loan from the Community Impact Board and hired the engineering firm of Creamer & Noble to start the engineering work.

From the beginning Creamer & Noble's role in the project had raised eyebrows. Creamer & Noble had lobbied the legislature to release mineral lease monies to the counties; now they were lined up to receive a lion's share of it. In September 1989, Commissioner David Knutson spoke freely with the Zephyr about the road board's relationship with the engineering firm...

"Basically we told him that if he could find the money for Grand County to do this project, he could do the engineering on it. It was more of a gentleman's agreement."

But later the engineering contract was put out for bid. According to Knutson, the bidding process was a farce...

"It was pretty much of a given who's going to get it. And it was. There wasn't any intention of even seriously considering anybody else. Steve Creamer was the one who got the money, who pushed it through. He had all the contacts. That was a gentleman's agreement in the first place. For all intents and purposes, the decision to go with Steve Creamer had been made a long time ago. Right or wrong, it had."

The next day, Knutson's comments in the Zephyr appeared on KTVX News in Salt Lake City. A bewildered Steve Creamer was interviewed on camera and shakily denied any wrong-doing. It was the first crack in the Book Cliffs Highway scheme.

1989: THE FIRST 'LEGITIMATE' BABY OF THE YEAR AWARD

As The Zephyr approached the end of year #1, a Moab citizen pointed out some fine print to

Leonardo da Vinci was a great artist and inventor. Sarah Bernhardt was a great actress. Alexander Hamilton was the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. What does this diverse group of people have in common? Their parents were not married when they were born. To use the antiquated vernacular, they were 'illegitimate.'

If they were born in Moab, and if their birthdays fell close to the first of the year, all of them would be disqualified from the First Baby of the Year Contest, sponsored by almost two dozen merchants. Each year these sponsors award a variety of presents to the baby and the parents of the newborn. But the contest rules are explicit. The fine print reads: 'Winning baby must be legitimate.'

The Zephyr urged the organizers of the contest to re-evaluate their position; after all, why punish the baby? And we proposed that if the contest rules were not changed, a group of Zephyr advertisers were prepared to award the prizes anyway, if the first baby born in 1990 was to an unwed mother. The contest organizers did re-evaluate and the "illegitimate" disqualifier was removed.

Score one for Leonardo.

1990: THE NEXT BONEHEAD IDEA: THE KOKOPELLI THEATER

This is the state that gave us cold fusion. But in the summer of 1990, we caught wind of a project that rivaled it. From the August 1990 issue...

Recently the University of Utah, in conjunction with the BLM, announced plans to construct a $9.5 million theater complex on the Sand Flats Road adjacent to the Slick Rock Bike Trail. The multi-phase project includes an outdoor amphitheater, an outdoor theater in the round, a theater of the stars for astronomical programs, and an enclosed year-round performing arts center. The price tag would be paid for by $6 million in federal building funding and the remainder from non-government matching funds.

For a while it looked as if this project might proceed. Senator Garn introduced legislation calling for $6 million in appropriations to build what some were calling 'Wolftrap West.' Stories of even more grandiose plans began to leak out, including a massive roll-back roof for the theater. Scoping meetings were called for August.

But somewhere along the way the University lost interest in the project and in Moab. Plans by the U to establish a campus for the arts in Moab also dissipated like August clouds over the mountains. By 1992 the Kokopelli Theater was just another goofy idea that had come and gone like a 24 hour bug.

1990: THE COUNTY ATTORNEY IS DEFEATED

BY HERSELF

In 1986, Elaine Matthews Coates was elected to serve as Grand County Attorney, upsetting the longtime incumbent Bill Benge. Four years later, she was up for re-election and it appeared that she would run unopposed. But a newly amended law threw a wrench into that scenario. From the June 1990 issue...

The newly amended law allows citizens to vote 'yes' or 'no' to a county attorney candidate running for election...if the county has three or fewer active or licensed attorneys residing within the county.

At the time, Grand County had four attorneys but one of them had been suspended by the Utah Bar for six months. I almost made a nuisance out of myself calling the Utah Attorney General Office trying to get a ruling on the applicability of the law to our county. Finally the AG's office determined that Grand County indeed only had three attorneys at the time of the filing deadline. County clerk Fran Townsend determined that Elaine Coates would have to run as a yes/no candidate. In November Elaine Matthews Coates was soundly defeated by herself.

1991: A PEOPLE'S PARK?

OR MILL CREEK CONDOS?

From the June 1991 issue...

The Moab City Council has an opportunity to do something visionary. Moab has always been blessed with a lot of green space. We've taken for granted the fact that within the city limits and right around its perimeter, we have orchards and alfalfa fields and pastures---sights that we've grown accustomed to. But all that is likely to change as more and more out-of-town speculators buy up relatively cheap acreage.

One such piece of property is a six acre parcel on 400 East, across from Mill Creek Drive. The owner has recently proposed to lease this property to the city with an option to buy after 10 years...It is one of the loveliest spots in Moab.

But if a developer gets hold of it, I doubt if it will be for the purpose of turning it into a wildlife sanctuary. Condos loom just over the horizon.

It would cost each Moab citizen about $2.75 a year for a decade to preserve and protect this valuable 'green space.' That's nothing...This could truly be a People's Park---a piece of yesterday that we've set aside. Talk to your councilperson; there's still time,but one of these days that land will be sold and then it will be too late to do anything except kiss it goodbye."

The city council did nothing. Four years later we "kissed it goodbye." Today it really is called Mill Creek Pueblos.

1992: THE ZEPHYR JOINS THE 20TH CENTURY

After three years of scribbling on yellow legal pads for transcription by weary typists, The Zephyr finally embraced the technological age. I purchased a computer, thanks in great part to a donation by the best-selling author Robert Fulghum and his wife Dr. Lynn Edwards. Fulghum also joined "the staff" as Roving Reporter for a couple of years, covering (or uncovering) everything from streakers on graduation day to backcountry toilet etiquette. Thanks guys.

1992: THE CITIZENS REVOLT!

In 1990 David Knutson and Manuel Torres won landslide elections as Grand County Commissioners. With their election, The Zephyr observed what it thought was a growing arrogance by its elected leaders. Some citizens began to talk about referendums and revolts. Here's how it played in March 1992 after Knutson informed me he and Torres would no longer participate in Zephyr interviews...

...Didn't he think the interviews were a public service, I asked? To the contrary Dave replied that they were a detriment to the citizens. He believed that the 1990 election gave them a mandate to run the county as they saw fit. Annoying 'media' like the Zephyr merely confused the voters and made their jobs tougher. So I asked, did he think we should just pack up and go home, let them 'do their job' and check back in 1994?

Always the candid commissioner, David grinned and said, 'Something like that.'

What can be done? A possible solution lies within the Utah State Constitution. The law provides specific ways of re-structuring local government to make it more responsive to the citizens it serves. And the citizens have the opportunity to decide which re-structuring options suit their needs best. It is the best example I have seen of government BY the people.

Incredibly, Moab and Grand County citizens did it again. For the second time in four years, a petition drive was created. Enough names were obtained to put the issue to a vote: Did Grand County want to scrap its current three-person county commission in favor of a seven-person county council? After a long and hard-fought campaign, the referendum won with 56% of the vote. The next February a special election was held to fill the seven new county council spaces. It felt like the dawning of a new day. It proved later to be our high water mark. And years later, I found myself missing Dave Knutson's candor, even if I thought he was wrong.

1992: MOAB MOTEL MANIA

In the winter of 1991-92, seven new motels were built, almost overnight it seemed. Old landmarks like the Canyonlands Cafe vanished in a day. It was a watershed moment for Moab...we've been tearing down and bulldozing under ever since.

1993: THE NEW COUNCIL IS ELECTED

From the March 1993 issue...

A year ago I ran an agitated diatribe about the latest shenanigans of the Grand County Commission...which ultimately led to mutiny by the general public.

What followed is the stuff of political legend. From the proverbial straw came the Citizens for Better Government, a proposal to change our government, a spirited debate and then a vote by the people.

A frazzled County Clerk Fran Townsend proceeded to put the mechanics in motion to fulfill the mandate set by the people. We endured the primary, culled the number of candidates from 24 to 14. And finally, on February 9, we completed our long journey with the election of the first Grand County Council.

The new councilmen are: Peter Haney, John Hartley, Charlie Peterson, Ken Ballantyne, Paul Menard, Bill Hedden and John Maynard.

With their election came the death of the Book Cliffs Highway. The road had a lot of public support in 1989 when it was first proposed. But four years later, public opinion had shifted as Grand County citizens wondered if there weren't better ways to spend the mineral lease monies. The road board insisted that the funds could only be used for roads and warned that the revenues would be lost completely if the new council tampered with it.

The council tampered with it anyway. The project was killed and the mineral lease funds diverted to other areas of need in Grand County.

Before its "death" the Special Services Road District spent almost $500,000 on the Book Cliffs Road. Creamer & Noble were paid handsomely for its engineering work on a road that would never be built.

1993: EASTER MADNESS...MADNESS!

From the May 1993 issue... "New West Blues"

I had been doing so well. After last spring's overwhelming tourist onslaught, I was determined to improve my attitude. It was time to put an end to all those dismal apocalyptic editorials about the end of civilization as we know it. After all, I convinced myself, this madness only lasts six to eight weeks. I could survive that.

And then I was run over...flattened...in mid-Bliss by Easter Weekend. I have never seen anything like it in my life. It surpassed anything anyone in this town has ever seen. In spite of my pledge to the contrary, do you know what we all witnessed?

Yes, that's exactly right. It really WAS the end of civilization as we know it.

Did I once complain about Don Holyoak's cows?

1993: CHICKEN LITTLE WAS RIGHT ("Incoming!!!")

From the June 1993 issue...

The United States Army wants to launch missiles from Green River and drop their boosters over Canyonlands near Hatch Point, scenic helicopter flights have started operation on both ends of town, the state office is about to lease the old airport to a company that will provide...guess what...more scenic flights.

You just can't have too many scenic flights over the canyon country.

Yes you can. Where did I put my Stinger Missile Launcher?"

Eventually, the Army backed off, helicopters were restricted and the old airport is still just sitting out there crumbling. Proof that good things could still happen in Mob, Utah in 1993.

1993: THE RECALL ELECTION

From the December 1993 issue...

All six council members who faced recall were retained, with an average 60/40 margin of victory...It must now make hard decisions on the future of the hospital, planning and zoning, possible consolidation of some city and county services, the threat of ever-increasing property taxes, and a community that seems to be growing and changing at a speed that hasn't been seen since the uranium days.

And that broader concern, uncontrolled and unlimited growth, is the council's greatest challenge. Can the council...WILL it be able to help maintain the small-town values that make Moab such a special place? Is it willing to take action to keep north and south Highway 191 from turning into another 'Strip' of fast-food chains and modular motels? Is it willing to protect home-grown businesses from invading Wal-Marts? Does the council have the vision or even the right to shape Grand County's future in such a way?"

1993: TRAM RIDE TO GLORY?

From the November 1993 issue.

You say exploding tourism, nine new motels, a McDonald's, JB's and a water slide have left you in a state of shock? You haven't seen anything yet.

The Portal Recreation Area, Inc. plans to build a 2200 foot aerial tram to the top of the sandstone cliffs just south of the Colorado River that will forever alter that spectacular view, and it doesn't appear there is a thing anyone can do to stop it.

According to the business document, 'initial plans call for the 2,200 foot low profile quad chairlift, a paved parking lot, giftshop and snackbar facilities, amphitheater and stage, trails, shaded look-out points, and night time illumination of the majestic red rock rims.'

Hey! I know...let's move the water slide from the east side of town to the west, right along side the chairlift. You can take the tram up, grab a bite at the snack bar, take in the view of the Atlas tailings pond from the gazebo, and ride a wave down. More and more, we're looking like a town for the 21st century, aren't we?

Eventually, the tram went broke. It was bought up for pennies on the dollar and the new owners went broke as well. Finally, The Nature Conservancy bought the property and removed the tram altogether. Shocking good news!

1994: MOAB SWINGS LIKE A PENDULUM DO...

From the December 1994 issue...

I used to believe in the cyclical nature of things. I'm not sure I feel that way anymore. Change almost seems like an erratic kneejerk reaction to whatever happens to be alienating citizens on any given election day. Look at Grand County...

Every two years, for the last five general elections, we have 'thrown the bastards out.' There is no ideological curve to it. In fact, this community looks more like a bunch of schizophrenics than anything else...

And I am not sure that it really matters. While a more 'reform-minded' governing body has been in office these last two years, it has still been, for the most part, 'business as usual' in Grand County. A recently passed subdivision ordinance will make development a little more costly and a little more organized.

Anything one governing body chooses to do can be undone by the next. We give new meaning to the word 'gridlock.'

1995: I CAN'T

REMEMBER

A THING

1996: A BIG CHANGE...A BIG GAMBLE

From January 1996...

This is the 76th issue of the Zephyr. Since I took Volume 1 Number 1 to the printer on March 14, 1989, this newspaper has experienced a number of changes and evolutions...Now it is about to change dramatically.

This is the last monthly edition of the Canyon Country Zephyr. Exactly seven years after its first press day, this newspaper will be published bi-monthly and distributed FREE in the Moab area, with additional distribution in Salt Lake City and several southern Utah communities.

...So that's it. I'm crossing my fingers that this works. But regardless of what happens in the future, thanks for your kind and generous support.

The April/May 1996 issue also included the first in depth report on the global effects of runaway population and consumption, in the United States and around the world.

1996: SHOULD WE DRAIN LAKE POWELL?

From April/May 1996 ...

There were always those who hated the dam. Ken Sleight, Phil Hyde, Eliot Porter, Katie Lee, Kent Frost, Buz Hatch, Al Quist, Ed Abbey. There were others, many others of course, who floated the river before the dam was even a project to be seriously considered (and feared). And more who joined the ranks after construction began, including David Brower, who was devastated.

In the thirty four years that have passed since Lake Powell began to rise behind the dam, thousands of people, tens of thousands, who never even saw Glen Canyon have added their voices and their anger to the once lonely chorus of dam haters.

...It may well be that someday, a decade from now, or five decades from now, that intelligent minds will come together and agree that Glen Canyon Dam no longer serves a useful purpose (as if it ever did). That it has become a liability more than an asset. The decision to drain the lake may well be made for "economic reasons."

And they may be right. But for me, the economics has nothing to do with it. It's what was lost, what lies beneath the water... all that beauty. That's what motivates me.

It's time to restore a masterpiece.

1997: THE NEW GRAND STAIRCASE/ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT

From the December 1996/January 1997 issue...

A state geologist predicts that coal reserves inside the new national monument "could supply our needs for the next 400 years." Now think about that a minute. The coal would keep us supplied until the year 2396 AD.

Does anyone with half a brain think that this planet is going to still be depending on a coal as a basic energy resource in 400 years?

Let's look at that concept in reverse. Imagine someone in the 16th Century proclaiming that he had enough leaches for bloodletting until well past the year 2000.

Do you see what I mean?

But in that same issue, The Zephyr warned that the new national monument and the "amenities economy" it might create could alter forever the rural quality of that part of the state and create impacts and changes never imagined by the people who supported it.

1998: THE DEATH OF JOHN DINSMORE

From June/July 1998

Our entire community was up in arms over the price of garbage collection last year. Tempers boiled over at packed public meetings. But the use of deadly force by the police against a suicidal man in a confrontation that lasted all of five minutes and ended with the flash of a 12 gauge shotgun generated a mild flurry of objections and by Christmas, the matter passed into history.

...Dinsmore was shot to death by the shotgun because the officer who fired somehow felt that five police officers with handguns against one drunk man with a kitchen knife was not an adequate response. John at least deserved some more time.

The officer who fired the fatal shot was awarded for his actions and still serves on the Moab police force.

1999: BIKES CAUSE IMPOTENCE!

...imagine my excitement when one of my Zephyr readers sent me a recent article from Newsweek magazine. In it, Dr. Irwin Goldstein, an impotency specialist from Boston University, issued a grave warning to men who regularly ride bicycles.

When men ride bikes with a standard seat (you know, where you look at it and can't decide if it's really a seat or a banana gone bad), his weight flattens his main penile artery. This artery is essential for an erection. And from a man's perspective what is more important in Life than that?

SO LET'S ALL RIDE BICYCLES! With penile arteries being flattened like prairie dogs on Interstate 70, can population stabilization and even decline be far behind? We shouldn't be fighting the Radical Right over free distribution of contraceptives. Planned Parenthood shouldn't be wasting its time passing out free condoms; instead why not issue complimentary bicycles to all males over the age of 16?

1999: A WONDERFUL LIFE

My friend Herb Ringer died on December 11th, 1998; he died on my birthday. It was a death in the family.

(For more on Herb, see page 28)

Bad Times Coming at Big Water

For decades, the state of Utah and the federal government have been wrangling over the disposition of state school trust lands. Within each township in Utah are four state sections. Those sections were supposed to generate revenue for the state, but because of the random distribution of those sections they often wound up in the middle of national parks. Utah claimed that the landlocked nature of those state sections limited their ability to be developed and exploited. At one point Utah actually threatened to turn one state section at Arches National Park into an RV campground.

A couple of years ago, Governor Leavitt and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt worked out a huge land swap. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Recently, however, Utah acquired an enormous 44,000 acre parcel of land in southern Utah as part of the trade that could forever change this isolated and...colorful corner of the state.

It's called Big Water and right now it's not much to look at. But if the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration has its way, life is going to change dramatically. The state agency wants to develop the land for its tourist and retirement community potential---Sun City Utah-style---and projects that in the decades ahead, "tens of thousands" of people will build homes there.

MOAB: Cash killed our Cachet

This seems to have been a bad summer for a lot of Moab merchants. Many Main Street businesses are reporting drops in sales. There is genuine concern out there that tourism is falling off, although visitation increases at Arches would hardly support such a notion. At the same time, Moab has been getting some negative press lately.

Rob Schultheis, in Inside. Outside, wrote that "Moab doesn't look like it fell off the back of a truck anymore; now it look like it fell off a thousand trucks. It's Big Sprawl instead of Little Sprawl. And boy are there a lot of people there. People and stuff. Too much of both."

For the purely economics-minded, profit/loss, bottom line type, the problem in Moab lately is that there is more stuff than there are people to buy the stuff.

And most importantly, we have lost the weird, funky charm that made us an attraction in the first place.

October/November 1999

So it was with uncharacteristic hope that, in the last issue, I spoke of an opportunity that many believe could make a positive difference here in southern Utah. Briefly, a group of citizens in Moab decided to create a Sierra Club Group...to be called the Glen Canyon Group. Working under the umbrella of the Utah Chapter, this group would become the only grass roots Sierra Club organization in the canyon country. Among its priorities are the passage of a decent Utah wilderness bill, an increased effort to stop efforts to turn southern Utah into a toxic/nuclear waste dumping site and...the restoration of Glen Canyon.

It was difficult to imagine that the third priority could cause us much of a problem with our fellow Sierra Clubbers. After all, in 1996 the national board of the Sierra Club voted to approve the decommissioning of Glen Canyon Dam and restoration of the once splendid and currently drowned canyon that lies behind it. The new group felt there could not be a more noble goal than to support efforts to right a terrible wrong--truly the damnation of Glen Canyon is one of the worst environmental tragedies of this century.

Of course, we had all heard the rumors--that the Utah Chapter opposed the national board's position, and that they would fight us, tooth and nail, to prevent the Glen Canyon Group from pursuing this third priority. But I don't think anyone took the rumors seriously.

We were dead wrong. What has emerged in the last several weeks is as ugly and disturbing...and heartbreaking...as any environmental battle I have ever been a part of. And this struggle is with adversaries who are supposed to be our allies. It is unbelievable.

2000: BEING INTOLERANT OF INTOLERANCE

From April/May 2000...

If you do not live in Moab, and certainly if you reside outside of Utah, you are probably unaware of an ugly incident that occurred here on New Year's Eve. Two young local men allegedly assaulted an interracial couple with racist epithets and one of them was charged with a third degree felony, based on Utah's new hate crime law.

A few weeks after the incident, stories of an underground white supremacist subculture in Moab persist. They are fueled in part by a circular that recently made its way around town in defense of Mr. Robison. In part the inflammatory rhetoric from the National Alliance in Hillsboro, West Virginia proclaims:

"...The Leftists are celebrating the fact of the Nonwhite America in the future. The so-called right-wing is ignoring it. But it is coming, and we are all going to die like a bunch of dumb grasshoppers, if we do not get White America fired up soon. When I was growing up, there was a television commercial, where there was a cartoon bear who was promoting fire safety. The slogan was, Smokey Bear says, 'Only you can prevent forest fires!' However corny that sounds, it is fundamentally true. Only you, collectively and individually, can prevent the Winter slaughter of our race. You CAN prevent it. You must prevent it! "WE MUST SECURE THE EXISTENCE OF OUR PEOPLE AND THE FUTURE FOR WHITE CHILDREN."

On the one hand, such vitriol seems incredible in this day and age. And certainly we have come a long way in the last four decades. I am old enough to remember when incidents like the one that occurred here on New Year's Eve were so commonplace as to be un-noteworthy as a news story.

Now, in the first months of the 21st Century, we find ourselves confronting the same mean-spirited demons that have always haunted us. So while we can pat ourselves on the back for the strides we've made in the arena of human rights, we are still a primitive and intolerant species.

From August/September 2000

I have a question: Is there anyone out there under the age of 30 who gives a damn about any of these issues? Are there any of you Gen X/Yers who regard yourselves as environmentalists? I know there are plenty of "recreationists" in this town. But I'm not talking about that vast Moab sub-culture that plays extreme sports and sees every rock as a climbing challenge and drinks a lot of espresso. If you're out there, and I suspect you are, albeit in small scattered numbers, please contact me. I'm serious. I want to know who you are. It'll make me feel better and more importantly, I want to introduce you to each other. You may have kindred spirits in this town that you don't know exist.

You guys could form the activist core of a group with a lot greater interest in Moab's future than I have. After all, you're going to be here a lot longer.

Call me. Email me. Stop by the house. Do something.

THE RICH WEASEL FACTOR IN THE 'NEW WEST'

John Hendricks is the CEO of cable television's Discovery Channel. He says he has passionately loved the West since he was a kid. Hendricks' father once told him that the most beautiful place on earth was a seldom-visited redrock paradise called Gateway, Colorado and so John Hendricks bought it---lock, stock, and barrel. John Hendricks is rich. His attorneys made offers to local landowners that were hard to resist and by last year, he had accumulated more than 6000 acres of property, some of which he intends to put into conservation easements. Now, with the kids off to college, Hendricks is building himself a little cottage where he can survey his holdings. At last report the Hendricks home will have just enough space for John and his wife to feel cozy---about 27,000 square feet.

Be it ever so ostentatious, there's no place like home.

The John Hendricks Castle is just the most grandiose (that I've heard of) acquisition in a frenzy of western land buying by America's wealthy and elite in the last decade---rich weasels. They seem to be everywhere and, for the life of me, I can't figure out where all these people are finding all that money.

The question is: How bad is the Rich Weasel Factor and is there anything we can do about it?

October/November 2000: CLOUDROCK: The Drama Continues...

It is indeed a rare occasion when I ever wish this publication could go back to its old monthly format, but last month, when a copy of Cloudrock's confidential proposal to the Utah State Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) fell into my hands, I could scarcely contain myself.

THE PROPOSAL...

"Our intention is to create a world-class wilderness destination resort community in the American Southwest for people who enjoy the natural beauty and cultural legacy of this region...The centerpiece of this community is Cloudrock Desert Lodge, an intimate luxury wilderness lodge that will set the tone and standard for the entire development. Our initial marketing efforts will focus on establishing an international awareness of Cloudrock and its location in Southeastern Utah...We expect our guests to return time and time again, finally deciding that this is they want to own a second or third home (sic). The high-end positioning of the lodge and its associated service amenities will serve to deliver top prices for the homesites and condominiums...We plan to spend the time, money and creative energy necessary from the inception to create real estate development that will deliver top prices.

"REGIONAL MARKET: We will use a highly targeted approach, planning intimate get-togethers at the homes of our friends and initial clients, as many second-home real estate purchasers are often as interested in who their eventual neighbors might be as in the property itself. (NOTE: And now a Zephyr editorial opinion: WOW. Read THAT one again. Did he REALLY say that?)"

Almost a decade later and the plan moves toward Reality, with limited opposition and certainly not the groundswell of outrage that was needed to kill the project early on.

2001: THE CONTRADICTIONS OF OUR LIVES

From April/May 2001

We live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Many of us moved to Moab years ago, or decades ago, against the advice and approval of our friends and elders who said, "How in the hell are you going to make a living out there in the middle of that desert? Pretty sunsets don't pay the rent, boy!"

But we moved here anyway, took our chances, downsized our expectations of material wealth, and took pleasure in those precious intangible assets that many others failed to see.

Now we sit in a new century, and my friends and I are part of the Moab Establishment. We own homes, businesses, some have families, and almost all of us are connected, in some way, to the very same tourist economy that we've also come to loathe.

It is a strange and troubling contradiction. A love-hate relationship that often tears away at the very principles and values we hold most dear. We came here 20 years ago, embarrassingly self-righteous and blinded by the black and white simplicity of idealistic youth. We came here to save the canyon country.

We in the environmental community essentially declared war on the traditional abuses of public land--grazing, logging, mining--the extractive industries that have honestly wreaked havoc on the red rock country for a century. There were so few of us here then, just a handful by today's standards, that our own impacts on the land--our non-motorized recreational activities--didn't worry any of us.

But it should have. We should have seen what was coming and we didn't. We were simply the vanguard of a staggering demographic shift and a cultural and recreational revolution. Our hip little Moab Minority helped pave the way for what has happened since. Across the West there are other Hip Minorities who did the same for other small towns in what we now call the New West.

In 1950, the population of all the western states, save California, was 17 million. By 2000 the number had jumped to more than 50 million. The population of the U.S is projected by some to reach 400 million by the middle of this century and the growth will not be equally distributed. Indeed, the New West sits on the verge of an explosive change that is almost beyond our comprehension and we must deal with it.

To me, we environmentalists have failed to come to terms with the changes and grim promise of a very crowded future. We must be willing to come forth and say:

WE ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.

October/November 2001

NOTHING SEEMS APPROPRIATE...SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

We all share the same images. The world we know was suddenly and horrifically ripped apart by acts of unprecedented violence, stunning and staggering all of us beyond our ability to express it. We are numb with grief and shock, confusion and anger, fear and denial. Our instincts for survival make us reach for the 'rewind' button on the remote, wishing we could turn back the clock and do it over. To alter and obliterate the images that we've just seen but cannot absorb or assimilate.

Words fail. It is simply beyond belief.

THE SECRET PLACES

What makes anything special? It's not just its beauty.

Dandelions are beautiful, but most people despise them. If dandelions only grew along the rugged shoreline of a remote and distant island off the coast of Newfoundland, the little yellow weed would be cherished and revered by people world-wide for its delicate beauty and perfect symmetry. Picking them would be a crime. We would celebrate Dandelion Appreciation Day.

But because they are so prolific, most humans only tolerate them at best, and millions spend countless dollars and endless hours digging them up and pouring poison all over their lovely golden petals.

I think it's the uniqueness of the place and the experience that gives it a special feeling. In Nature, what often provides that uniqueness is its remote and unknown (to most) location. In a land of 285 million humans, those Secret Places are dwindling at a rate that is difficult for many to fathom. For those of us who have lived here for 20 years or more, there was an assumption that most of these desert gems could depend on their remoteness for protection far more than any wilderness designation or government legislation might. Simply leaving them alone was the greatest gift to them. And not talking about it

2002: EATING CORN

June/July 2002

So, when Dan and Ellen showed up, I wondered if he was still on the cutting edge. He is. One night, while eating corn on the cob, he observed that while most people either scroll their corn or eat it corn typewriter-style, Dan had discovered a few who ate their corn haphazardly, taking out a chunk here and another random chunk there.

"I find this disturbing," he concluded. "People like that have problems."

Later, intrigued by the notion, I started asking, and I've discovered that most men eat corn on the cob in true typewriter fashion, while women scroll. Only Moab artist Serena Supplee bites chunks, but they are always connected to each other by a shared edge. So there is a method to Serena's corn eating and thus, no need to be concerned about her well-being.

But the question must be asked: How do YOU eat your corn? I'd like to know.

October 2002: Martin Murie joined the Zephyr and wrote a few words about his mother, Mardi Murie, one of America's first and most respected conservationists:

A few years ago she wrote a letter bringing us up to date on her latest journey to speak for wilderness, including a brief account of a forced landing in Alaskan wilderness and signing off, "your adventuring mother." I keep thinking of those many people who go away from her home in Moose, Wyoming feeling as though they've been to a shrine. I hope that they will not stop with the feeling good phase. I hope they see themselves as adventurers, people of a certain contrariness, who will fight for wilderness or endangered species or the rights of workers, the rights of women ... whatever cause lies closest to them

FromApril/May 2003

As for the Native Americans, according to the historian Robert Utley, "For the United States, these cultures had nothing to contribute to American Life and their only salvation lay in extinguishing them altogether." The United States Congress declared, "...the heathen idols shall give way to the Christian alter. The tribal organizations shall be broken up and the individuality of the Indian encouraged. The lands unnecessarily reserved for them shall be opened to the pioneer." Native Americans were required to abandon their religion, their customs and culture, their dress, even their language.

But always--always--for "their own good."

More than a century later, has anything changed? In 2003, isn't that what this global conflict is really all about? The strategy may be more sophisticated, and in some ways more deceptive, but it's still the same arrogant world view that America cast upon this continent so many years ago. George Bush can't imagine a soul on Earth who wouldn't want the same wealth of material benefits that Americans appreciate each day. Bush sees another society without the huge infrastructure of America and he sees "squalor." He observes a nation without interstate freeways and he sees "poverty." It is not his choice, or his government's, to impose American affluence on the rest of the world population.

A global growth economy requires an ever-expanding access to the earth's natural resources (including but not limited to oil), an expanding affluent population to buy the products made from those resources, and a docile and easily manipulated Third World population to produce those products at a price the rest of us can afford.

Beyond the rhetoric, beyond the 21st Century fears of terrorism and instability, beyond the heroic calls to "free" the oppressed peoples of the world, the United States' unstated desire to fulfill its manifest destiny on a global level cannot be ignored. This, more than any other motive, is the power and the inspiration behind our government's world strategy. Whether they think it's "for their own good," only makes that strategy more disturbing.

April/May 2004...THE AMAZING

JENNIFER SPEERS

Over the years I have made disparaging comments about wealthy people. If I recall, I called some of them "rich weasels." Repeatedly. I've even been annoyed by the "benevolent rich weasels" who try to assuage their consciences by making large donations to their favorite environmental group while simultaneously building obscenely extravagant, absurdly consumptive dwellings for themselves, hoping for recognition in Architectural Digest and Sierra magazine, all at the same time. And considering the compromised, money-hungry attitude of most enviro groups these days, such dual recognition is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Then along comes Speers.

I've never met this woman, but I will, right here, right now, get down on my knees and grovel for forgiveness. I will lash myself with wet leather straps. I will allow you to bury me in sand, pour maple syrup on my head and cover me with fire ants. I'm sorry.

Here is what Jennifer Speers did. First she bought Proudfoot Bend Ranch, north of Dewey Bridge on SR 128, to assure its cow pastures and open space would never be condominiumized. That was good enough, but she didn't stop there. And this is where we enter the realm of The Unheard Of.

Adjacent to the bridge itself is (was) the Dewy Bridge subdivision. A developer bought the river frontage land several years ago, put in a road and services, and carved up the acreage into expensive lots. Then he built a $600,000 home on the banks of the Colorado River to, I would guess, prime the real estate pump. But nobody was interested. The "development" languished for the last few years, until Jennifer Speers came along. She bought all the lots, the whole damn subdivision. And then...

She tore down the house.

Ms. Speers sent in contractors to salvage what could be removed and reused–doors, windows, the huge wooden beams–anything that could be recycled. Then she had a bulldozer knock the adobe walls down and cleared the premises of any debris. There is not even a hint that a monstrous, out-of-place abode mansion, just across the river from a public campground, ever existed.

I hope that Jennifer Speers becomes a role model for other wealthy people. Even if she owns other large homes elsewhere, this is precedent-setting. If all rich people would tear down just ONE of their mansions, I will sing their praises as well.

And to Ms. Speers, even though by all rights you should pick up the check, if I can ever buy you dinner, it's on me.

2004: KEEPING SECRETS

From June/July 2004: Trying to keep a secret is almost impossible these days, but rancher Waldo Wilcox kept a good one for half a century. Last month, when his secret was finally revealed, it became the second biggest global online news story of the day. Since 1951, Mr. Wilcox has protected one of the most remarkable archaeological treasures ever found in the American Southwest——the Wetherills would have been impressed. He protected them simply by not telling anyone. Like Wilcox said, "The less people who know about this, the better."

Strung along 12 miles of a mountain creek, deep in the rugged Book Cliffs of southern Utah, is a series of prehistoric Native American villages that have remained untouched and virtually unseen by anyone for a thousand years but Wilcox and his close friends and family.

I am convinced that, for very un-selfish reasons, rancher Waldo Wilcox protected this priceless treasure for half a century. For those who will argue that he did it for the money, remember that he sold his land for less than $600 an acre—not exactly ranchette prices. Also consider how many government bureaucrats, at how great an expense, and with what degree of success will be required to perform the job he did alone.

To all of you reading this...please...take comfort that the Book Cliff sites are there and forget about it. Just leave it alone. Do it for the Fremont and do it for Waldo.

2005: GREENING OF WILDERNESS and other stuff

News from the Future:

THE BATTLE OVER UTAH

WILDERNESS CONTINUES....April 2025

It's difficult to believe but both opponents and proponents of a Utah BLM Wilderness bill have been fighting over legislation for more than 40 years, and some wonder if this impasse will ever be overcome.

But Scott Groene, longtime director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) said today at a sparsely attended press conference, that SUWA and the Utah Wilderness Coalition were on the verge of a major breakthrough by finally offering a wilderness bill acceptable to Congress.

"We believe that after our latest citizens' inventory, we have a real handle on the wilderness that's still out there."

Groene told a stunned audience that the inventory reveals more than 86 million acres of available wilderness in Utah. "Yes," Groene replied to questions, " I am well aware that the number is more than the total amount of acreage in the entire state, but we really don't believe that should be an impediment to this bill. We simply included properties in other states that are owned by Utah residents."

Rod Decker, the senior correspondent for KUTV in Salt Lake City asked if it was true that SUWA includes Temple Square in its wilderness inventory.

"That is mostly true," Groene said guardedly, "but we are going to allow some cherry stemming of Temple Square sidewalks and we are fairly certain the Temple itself does not have all the components for wilderness....we just don't think there's enough solitude in the Celestial Room."

Meanwhile, anti-wilderness advocate Brian Hawthorne, former director of AccessUSA and the leader of the Blue Ribbon Panel for Open Access offered his organization's own proposal at a similarly near-empty press conference in Cedar City.

"Our people have been out there on their ATVs and we've gone up one side of the state and down the other, and we've been able to locate 317 acres of real wilderness. That's what our inventory says."

Hawthorne identified the inaccessible pinnacles of numerous rock spires and monuments throughout the state, including several well-known climbing rocks near Moab, Utah as "possibly having wilderness characteristics ...we couldn't get our ATVs up them, so they must be wilderness. Otherwise we stand by our count."

In the early 1990s, pro- and anti-wilderness forces lined up along respective acreages of 5.4 million acres versus 1.3 million acres. Today that gap has clearly grown significantly. Has this gap inflamed the public?

A Dan Jones poll in the Deseret News says not. Of the 1345 Utah citizens polled over the wilderness issue, 76% replied, "Don't care," "Don't know enough to answer," or "Never heard of wilderness."

June/July 2005: RE: The Greening of Wilderness." This issue included the groundbreaking (for me) story about money and the growth of mainstream environmentalism. It was succeeded, three years later by Greening 2. But I had these words of conciliation for my friends that I had chosen to openly disagree with:

I mentioned at the beginning of this story that I was angry with environmentalists. I was. I'm not any more, which is why I have finally been able to finish this long piece and feel comfortable with it. I believe the environmental community is composed of good people trying to do something noble, but that their strategy is backfiring on them. Even worse, I'm not sure many of them realize just how adrift they've traveled from the path we were all following a few years ago.

And specifically, I want to make it clear to my friends at SUWA that while I've quoted them more than any other organization in this issue, it's only because they are the largest and most vocal group in Utah and frankly have been more forthright and open about their wilderness strategy than any other Utah environmental group. As you begin to read the story, you'll see that it's not a 10,000 word diatribe, but a heavily documented story that draws much of its material from past issues of SUWA's newsletter, "Red Rock Wilderness." In many cases, it's their words more than mine.

The Cathedral Re-emerges

By this spring, Lake Powell had dropped another 60 feet; according to Glen Canyon Institute's calculations, Cathedral in the Desert should be completely out of the water——Rich Ingebretsen and I decided to take another look.

Two weeks ago, we traveled again to the Cathedral via motorboat, the very form of transportation that would become obsolete if the reservoir ever runs dry, and both Rich and I noted the contradiction. The lake has made it almost impossible to explore much of Glen Canyon by any other means. So there we were, in a $20,000 rented motorboat, spewing a spray of lake water in our wake, trying to grow accustomed to the smell of 2-cycle motor oil and the roar of the outboard engine (I brought ear plugs), in order to see one of the most stunning sights on Earth, and one that no one had viewed in almost 40 years.

Oh the irony.

And in 2005, NED MUDD joins The Zephyr in style...

Of all the euphemistically-called "modern" nations, America has one of the more flaky records on file. Anyone not engaged in cyclothymic denial is forced to acknowledge the squirrelly underbelly of our questionable heritage, starting with abuse of the local inhabitants, land rape, thievery, manslaughter, carpet bagging, brainwashing, graft, corruption, greed, and general ole shitty behavior. And, so as not to be awash in the Truth, our media panders to those that own them [advertisers] while the sheep sit at home nibbling pizza and worrying about whether to snag that new Toyota Land Cruiser or the Chevy Suburban.

2006: POPULATION

October/November 2006...300 MILLION AND COUNTING...

According to the Census Bureau, the population of the United States will reach 300 million on October 17. That figure probably fails to include another 10 to 20 million illegal migrants. Does anybody care?

Four decades ago, the U.S. Department of the Interior published and widely distributed a remarkable glossy, full-color, 80 page booklet called, "The Population Challenge: What it means to America."

With great insight, Secretary of Interior Udall's forward stated the challenge that awaited us and I fully expected the next 78 pages to bravely weigh the crisis ahead and to examine the choices we needed to make.

But visionary thought ended with Udall's forward. The rest of the publication failed miserably to deal with over-population and over-consumption. It failed to offer ways to re-discover the "richness in simplicity" that Udall longed for. Instead it offered a list of untapped natural resources that could be exploited and used to meet explosive future water and energy needs.

Udall had railed against the "blind pursuit of immediate objectives;" yet the recent construction of Glen Canyon Dam was hailed in "The Population Challenge"as a great accomplishment that offered cheap hydro-electric energy while conserving water. Technology, it seems, would solve all our problems without any sacrifice. Nowhere, except in the title of the yearbook series, was the word "conservation" seriously discussed.

The Secretary had captured the essence of the crisis when he said, "Our highest aims can be realized only if we face squarely the fact that we must have adequate resources if we are to have a quality existence. But now we must define the word 'adequate.' We are beginning to see that it includes purity of surroundings, an opportunity to stretch, a chance for solitude and quiet reflection."

Yet many politicians and scientists and even social scientists fail to see the real danger. They believe that population no longer poses a significant threat to our future survival.

But is merely "surviving" a noble goal here?

"Experts" in a TIME magazine article advised that world population would peak at somewhere between nine and fourteen billion, a number they believed to be completely manageable.

Even my liberal friends fail to attack the issue head-on. They talk about increasing fuel efficiency standards and embracing alternative energy technologies, but always with the promise that these changes would actually expand the economy——it's a self-defeating goal. The more expansive the economy becomes, combined with an exploding population, the greater the demand for products——for stuff——becomes. No one talks of trying to live a simpler less materialistic life.

For a moment consider Moab. What do the more "progressive" elements of Grand County advocate? They praise the wind energy program, in affiliation with Rocky Mountain Power; yet Grand County, with its stunning and seemingly never ending construction, must be the largest consumer of natural resources of any county in SE Utah. They promote recycling, and light ordinances and bike paths, but aren't these just band-aids? Let me put it this way, if Grand County could use alternative energy sources like wind and solar that allowed its population to double or triple, while keeping energy consumption at current levels, most "progressives" would consider that a success.

If there is a personal silver lining to all this, it''s the comfort of knowing I''ll be long-gone by 2050. But if you''re reading this and you''re under 35, you should be scared to death

2007: BONDERMAN COMES TO MOAB

August/September 2007

WORLD IN CRISIS

Despite water and energy conservation efforts, population growth will still cause urban, suburban and exurban sprawl. Turning down your sprinklers ultimately only assures more lawns. Cranking down the thermostat only guarantees more air conditioners. Does anyone out there in the environmental community advocate smaller homes? Or fewer gadgets? Of course not. How could they? Environmental groups are funded by some of the most consumptive billionaires on the planet.

Take a drive past the Moab hospital to see David Bonderman's latest 15000 square foot mansion. Bonderman, one of the most successful corporate raiders in the world, also sits on numerous environmental boards and has been called "the greatest conservationist in America today," by one of his donor recipients, the Grand Canyon Trust.

As sprawl consumes more habitat, what chance does wildlife have by the end of the century, if population growth is left unchecked?

As the demand for controlled adventure recreation grows, as a population so disconnected from its natural past, yearns for distractions, ''theme park Disneylands" will continue to proliferate across the country.

And so..we're supposed to CONSERVE, so all this can come to pass?

Are we insane?

If we truly want a better future for our grandchildren, is this the path to take? If I thought Bonderman's greedy habits and those of his pals were intended to bring all this madness to a precipitous end, I could almost admire them. Maybe that's why the Grand Canyon Trust gushes such praise. Somehow though, I doubt it.

Instead, even the allegedly most enlightened among us, the leaders of the environmental movement, continue to convince us that we can save the planet by using energy efficient shower heads and buying a Prius.

THE BRIGHTER SIDE OF GLOBAL WARMING

Guilt is a terrible thing to endure. It's why, even now, some kindhearted enviropreneur has invented the Terra Pass. (www.terrapass.com). You can calculate your carbon contribution, whether by car or jet, and then make a payment to...well to somebody, so you won't feel bad about it anymore.

According to NEWSWEEK, even parts of last year's otherwise chilling report on global warming shined some happy light on the issue. British economist Nicholas Stern reported, "In higher latitude regions, such as Canada, Russia and Scandinavia, climate change may lead to net benefits through higher agricultural yields, lower winter mortality, lower heating costs and a possible boost in tourism."

In the end, it's clear to see, there are no crises ahead. Everything is going to be just fine. Don't think of the future in catastrophic terms. Just think of the money that is about to be made. Ultimately, not only will we get what we deserve...we'll get what we want as well.

2008: "IDEALISM NO LONGER APPLICABLE"

April/May 2008...Harold Shepherd of Moab's Red Rock Forests proposes that, in order to save the relatively quiet Abajos Mountains, they need to be promoted and developed for the tourist potential. I wrote:

It escapes me how Mr. Shepherd and the mainstream enviropreneurial movement in Utah can still, even now, fail to grasp the connection between the amenities economy they promote and encourage, an economy that demands the massive consumption of oil just to get here, and the search for and development of oil and gas reserves, both here and across the North American continent. An industry they blatantly condemn. Who do they think uses part of that oil? Do they stubbornly believe it's only consumed by fat Republicans waiting for the Rapture?

Is it still lost on you guys?

I will at least give Harold credit for sounding as if he''s not totally sold on the plan himself when he writes, "...perhaps, in this 21st century, idealism just no longer applies." Indeed. Thanks Harold, for saying it out loud.

In these early years of the 21st Century, idealism and mainstream corporate environmentalism stand at odds with each other. Mr. Shepherd''s honesty is appreciated, if not exactly admired.

June/July 2008: DEWEY BRIDGE: IN MEMORIAM

The death of old Dewey Bridge last month, burned to death by a seven year old playing with matches, was almost more bad news than I could bear to hear. As one relic after another of the rural West's past vanishes, this was one remnant I thought would survive. It was just a few years ago that Jennifer Speers, the millionaire with a soul, bought up the adjacent Dewy Bridge subdivision from a developer, plowed under the roads, dismantled the infrastructure and tore down a $600,000 home in order to restore the area to the way it had been.

It was a rare place of Hope. Now this.

THE WEALTHY MAN WHO SAID 'NO' TO $5 BILLION.

Jeffrey Lee resides in a small corner of this great park. He is a 36 years old Aboriginal, and the sole member of the Djok clan. He is also the senior custodian of the Koongara uranium deposit, a piece of land surrounded by the park but not a part of it. The French company Arvena wants to mine 14,000 tons of uranium and claims the deposit is worth $5 billion.

But years ago, then Australian prime minister John Howard announce that no new mine would be approved in the Northern Territory without the consent of the traditional owners.

And so, Jeffrey Lee, who stands to become wealthy beyond his comprehension simply said "no."

The Sydney Morning Herald asked him why. Here, in part, is what he said:

"This is my country. Look, it's beautiful and I fear somebody will disturb it. There are sacred sites, there are burial sites and there are other special places out there which are my responsibility to look after. I'm not interested in white people offering me this or that …… it doesn't mean a thing....I'm not interested in money. I've got a job; I can buy tucker; I can go fishing and hunting. That's all that matters to me."

Not a bad note to end on. Now get ready for the NEXT 20 years...it's going to be a very bumpy ride.