Boulder, Utah. Population 250. Sitting in the heart of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, this small town of ranchers and settled-down dirtbags prides itself on staying out of the spotlight. It’s the right amount of quiet here. The ranchers ranch. A few small businesses cater to hikers and wanderers. Visitors come and go. Boulder was thrust into the spotlight in 1996 when President Clinton declared the monument. And in 2017, Boulder again found itself at the center of the debate when President Trump issued an order to cut the size of the monument by nearly half. For this installment of Endangered Spaces, we traveled to Boulder to capture a snapshot of a community thrust into a fight they did not choose. A fight they may have little influence over. And a fight about how to protect public lands and who decides. The outcome of that fight will have lasting implications not just for Boulder, but to all communities who rely on public lands.
For a population of 250, Boulder had a lot to say.
Case Status: Wilderness Society et al. v. Trump et al.
NRDC summary
Washington Post article about GSENM
Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Land Legs by Andy G. Cohen • Manly Nunn Steps Out by Doctor Turtle • Hillbilly Hayduke by Jason Tyler Burton • To the Rise by Jason Tyler Burton • Belly of the Whale by Jason Tyler Burton • Primary Colors by Ken Christianson
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive or with permission from the artists.
I thought the lawsuits were just fundraising scams without any real legal basis. The power to designate is the power to de-designate. The best strategy would be to challenge individual process at the administrative level until
the Democrats regain the White House.
As one of the owners of the Boulder Mountain Lodge in Boulder for the last quarter century, I guess I’ll claim the “local” label, though certainly not all my neighbors would agree. I actually think that if the issue was left up to locals, we would find a mutually agreeable solution. Unfortunately, and this point does not come out in the story, the political powers that control Utah understand that this conflict fuels a larger purpose, a decades long campaign (currently supported at the national level) to minimize the federal role in public land management in support of the long term goal of the transfer of federal lands to private interests. The idea that the public lands of the West should be managed for the benefit of all the citizens of the United States rather than for the benefit of special interests in under attack, and the fight over Grand Staircase National Monument is just a component of this larger campaign. Ultimately, the citizens of the nation, will have to make the decision. Maybe a subject for another podcast. Thanks.