Ttw Letter Web

Autumn, 2009

Dearest Friends of America’s Redrock Wilderness,

This is a love letter, plain and simple, for the beautiful, broken country we call home in the redrock canyons of Utah. I write to you because of my deep affection for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. This is an organization not only close to my heart, but singular in my respect for the integrity of their work and vigilance in watching that these wildlands remain wild. With SUWA, we have a responsive voice in local, state, and national Utah public lands issues focusing on wilderness. With SUWA, we had the first hearing in the United States Congress on America’s Redrock Wilderness Act. With SUWA, Secretary of Interior Salazar had the necessary legal and collective support to withdraw the 60-plus oil and gas leases activated by the Bush administration. With SUWA, I can be an informed citizen regarding the rights and sovereignty of these beloved desert lands, how they can be protected, and what they hold for us as a living legacy of wild beauty. It is the one conservation group I have fully committed myself to over the past thirty years. Call it a fidelity of support. Why? Because SUWA continues to demonstrate brave and spirited leadership in identifying and protecting Utah wilderness. Because SUWA continues to challenge the courts and change not just the laws, but the conversation occurring around wilderness in Utah. Because SUWA is creating surprising partnerships within local communities that are helping to broaden and deepen this conversation about conservation and its importance in the cultural and economic life of cities and towns adjacent to wilderness. Because SUWA is showing how global warming is becoming local warming on the Colorado Plateau, making the case that wilderness is an essential safeguard against increasing periods of drought, dust storms, and flash floods. Because SUWA has a large family of advocates across the United States who understand that part of the power of the redrock wilderness is that it belongs to all Americans as part of our natural heritage. There is a long tradition of support for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Edward Abbey always sent his annual “tithing check” with a letter of gratitude for their fearlessness in the face of

political timidity. Wallace Stegner agreed to write the forward to “Wilderness At The Edge,” both a visionary document and practical handbook to America’s Redrock Wilderness. And hundreds of women have recently participated in the creation of “The Wilderness Quilt” through the art of storytelling that is now touring the state of Utah in museums and libraries, illustrating an ethic of place. We can show our support, once again, in difficult times. The stakes could not be higher as we watch and witness the wholesale assault of America’s Redrock Wilderness Act by the pressures of energy development, off-road vehicle abuse and the continuation and propagation of roads in sensitive wild areas. We can offer our solidarity and gratitude to a staff of incredibly gifted individuals who are doing the work for the future of public lands, our public commons, for all of us. SUWA may be feared and criticized for its relentless defense of Utah’s fragile lands by those who are prone to compromise our wildlands and develop them, but for those of us who believe too much wilderness has been compromised already, SUWA’s leadership and active vision keeps showing us through intelligent grassroots advocacy not only what is possible, but what is necessary— right here, right now—with great heart and joy. Recently, Brooke and I walked the boundaries of a wilderness study area near Comb Wash in San Juan County, checking to see if there were any roads infringing on its character and integrity. A flock of horned larks flew up from the sage like an unexpected wish granted. I thought about the mystery of Everett Ruess and the bones that may or may not be his that were found not too far from here, and how our imagination continues to be sparked by those who came before us. I thought about the Procession Panel in a canyon close made by the Ancient Ones that speak to the migrations of our species through time. The sky was lapis blue. The rocks pink. And the signatures of rice grass were being written in the sand with the help of an autumn breeze. The simple elegance of this day seemed like a luxury. And the wish I had, in that moment, was that it not be an extravagance, but a common place where the stillness of the desert fills us with grace. In the spirit of all we hold dear, I am asking you to join me in supporting SUWA with a financial gift. Your generosity is a gesture in the name of days spent in desert splendor, where we walk down washes and follow the tracks of a ring-tailed cat or coyote knowing this is where our sanity as a species is being saved. Thank you for being part of this vision. Supporting SUWA is supporting these wildlands.

In Beauty,

Terry Tempest Williams