Dear Editor:
The U.S. House of Representatives is considering the Colorado Wilderness Act. Please contact Congressman Scott Tipton to urge his support for that bill, H.R. 2546. Among other additions to the Wilderness system in Colorado, H.R. 2546 will extend the southeast boundary of the Flat Tops Wilderness and add other wilderness islands in the Flat Tops region. It will also designate a portion of the Grand Hog Back as Wilderness.
Our Flat Tops was an inspiration for the original wilderness system. The preamble to the 1964 Wilderness Act establishes its purpose.
“In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.” (U.S.C. Title 16:23 1131)
President Johnson, at the signing ceremony, stated the rationale.
“If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.” ~ Lyndon B. Johnson, former President of the United States.
Many others have eloquently spoken the inspiration.
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.” ~
John Muir, ”The Mountains of California.”
I worked on the original wilderness studies, RARE I and II. In the intervening years, the Western Slope of Colorado has been overrun. We are losing our natural heritage. Please help to preserve what remains of our wild lands.
Bob Dorsett, MD
Meeker, CO
