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More monuments, less developments

Last week, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced he will ask President Bill Clinton to declare as national monuments sites in four states, including Arizona. Although his proposal has received some criticism, many environmental organizations and politicians have applauded it as well. Clinton should do the right thing and accept Babbitt's request.

The areas Babbitt has requested be protected include some of the last American wilderness unspoiled by human development. The proposed Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington state would protect stretches of the Columbia River important as spawning ground for salmon. Oregon's Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument would contain a diverse trove of animal and plant species.

Ironwood Forest National Monument, situated northwest of Tucson, would protect expanses of 800-year-old ironwood trees. In Colorado, the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument would preserve more than 20,000 archaeological sites threatened by increasing tourism. By making these sites monuments, Clinton and Babbitt will help ensure their safety against ruinous exploitation and development.

Environmentalists in the four states, as well as citizens, have voiced support for the plan. One Oregon activist noted that Babbitt's protection plan is in response to "thousands of citizens, not only in Oregon but around the country who are asking for better protection for BLM land."

Better protection is something critics of the Babbitt's proposal fear. Vested interests like the ranchers of the Jackson County, Oregon, Stockmen's Association complain that their grazing privileges would be affected. Republicans like Arizona Gov. Jane Hull and Sen. Jim Kolbe argue that the monuments are another example of the federal government dictating how localities can and cannot use their land.

With all due respect to politicians and special interests who probably feel they are defending their own and their states' best interests, perhaps localities do need to be told how and how not to use their land.

So far, Arizona has yet to demonstrate any sensible plan for protecting the environment and halting the sprawl blighting the landscape. The Growing Smarter plan pushed through by the Arizona Legislature is little more than a ruse that allows the same developers that have run roughshod over the state's precious resources to set weak guidelines controlling their behavior. The hunter-dominated Arizona Game and Fish Commission hopes that this November voters will approve a proposal requiring a three-fourths vote to approve any future wildlife-related initiatives.

For too long, the governing rule in the West has been that all development is good, and a healthy environment something to be avoided. Land is "real estate," empty space on which to erect strip malls or gated communities or parking lots. Hull, Kolbe and their ilk argue that jobs are more important than protecting the environment, but refuse to consider economic plans that would create jobs that don't rely on despoliation. They would much rather stick with the current system that ignores the inherent value of the environment and animals with which humans share the planet - one that valorizes office buildings and cookie-cutter housing subdivisions over open space and a sense of community.

In short, they value money over anything else. Where environmentalists would create free monuments to our humane connection with the natural world, conservatives would erect metal monuments to human avarice and domination over the environment. Despite the mounting evidence that urbanization necessarily brings with it increased levels of crime and spiritual malaise, conservatives would prefer to turn the entire West into Los Angeles, simply because they can make more money that way.

Thankfully, Babbitt and Clinton can prevent this from happening. Although most of the land in the proposed monuments belongs to the Federal Bureau of Land Management, some of it belongs to the particular states and to private parties. That land will need to be bought by BLM or exchanged for other BLM property before the monuments can open. But Clinton has indicated he plans to honor Babbitt's request, so we can expect the money or exchangeable land to be found and the monuments created. Here's to hoping they can find more land to make monuments to the beauty of nature before they become monuments to the blight of development.

Deron Overpeck recently received his Masters in Media Arts. He can be reached at Deron.Overpeck@wildcat.arizona.edu.