Why I'm fighting to preserve The Grand Canyon.

4 days ago, Laura posted an article on my Facebook wall about a National Park. She does this from time to time, knowing how much I love the parks, but she knew ahead of time that this was not going to be one that I enjoyed reading. This one's headline read "Navajo Nation eyes Grand Canyon for development".



My heart raced, my jaw dropped, and I went straight to youtube before I even finished reading the article. Here was my instant reaction, which I made to help rally people in supporting what I see as a fight to stop this development.



When I caught up with Laura online, I think it was her who suggested going to Change.org to start a petition. I did exactly that, and set up the petition to go to several parties. Those parties include The Navajo Nation, Arizona politicians, the US House and Senate, and the President Of The United States.

So why am I fighting?

The answer is simple. I don't wanna see this…………
















.........turn into this…………….



Stone Mountain





Pigeon Forge



Niagra



Vail



"These temple-destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar." - John Muir.

"Leave it as it is. You can not improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it." - Theodore Roosevelt, as he stood at the rim of the Grand Canyon.

I fight because I hate touristy towns, I hate gaudy money traps designed to further the status of a few by exploiting the beauty that should remain unmarred for the enjoyment of the many. I fight because to see the Grand Canyon defiled by a "gondola, a restaurant, a half-mile river walk, a resort hotel and spa and RV park" would be akin to painting a mustache on the face of the Mona Lisa.



The Grand Canyon, and Nature as a whole, is a vast work of art that we cannot improve! We can only exploit it for our own commercial gain, which then leaves the following generations wishing we'd left if be so they could enjoy it's peace and serenity.

I also fight this for other damaging reasons. It's bad enough that the developments would be ugly, but bringing tourism to the Grand Canyon on that scale driven by the almighty dollar would cause irreparable harm to the ecosystems within the Canyon. Let's explain.



The Colorado River flows from East to West through the Canyon. The Navajo developments would be on the eastern edge of the Canyon, so any contaminants from tourists would directly affect the canyon itself. Imagine camping in the heart of the canyon by the shores of the Colorado and seeing garbage debris floating by? Imagine what contaminants you CAN'T see wearing away at the rocks and killing the species that live in the Canyon.

There's too much risk that I can see for me to sit by and let this happen without a fight. I may lose this fight, but I will not give up. I value these wild places so much more than developed tourist traps because they provide peace, serenity, calm, clarity, relief, fuel for the soul, and a sense of rebirth. Seeing what wonders awaited in the American West instilled a sense of pride that we could have such landscapes in our midst, and a sense of duty to protect them.

Fortunately, I'm not alone. I started a petition, which I linked above, but I'll post it again for good measure…..

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-president-of-the-united-states-stop-plans-to-develop-the-grand-canyon

As of this blog post, there are 88 signatures, including mine. My goal is for as many as possible, I've capped it at 1,000,000. I've got a long way to go. Fortunately, some Native Americans in the west who are much closer to the canyon than I am have taken this petition and shared it online. I've had signatures from across the country, which is flattering. I'm not looking for glory with this fight, but some are sharing it and mentioning me by name. It's flattering, and very touching, but the important part is that the petition is being shared, and signed, across the country.



It's been shared on Facebook, twitter, and on SaveTheConfluence.com. When I found the Save The Confluence website, I saw that there were many who opposed this as much as I did. Some Native Americans have found me on Facebook and added me or followed my feed. On the Facebok Page for Save The Confluence, it shows where people have shared the link to the petition. As word gets around, I can see this spreading, and I'm humbled and flattered by this.

This fight is one I am passionate about. I do not want one of our most beautiful natural treasures to fall victim to the almighty dollar. I do not want to have the Grand Canyon be segmented off into two areas (The Beautiful part, and the Touristy part). I do not want the history of the Grand Canyon to be written in terms of "Before the development" and "After the Development".

I want people to remember John Muir's fight to save the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite. He lost, but it was a valuable lesson when we realized WHAT we lost.

Hetch Hetchy Before it was flooded.....



Hetch Hetchy AFTER it was flooded.....



"Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man." - John Muir.

Please, sign my petition, and find another way to fight. We must protect these lands for the many by keeping them from being profitable by the few. These are OUR lands. This is OUR Country. Whether you're Native American, or your ancestors migrated here, this country AND this canyon belong to ALL of us!

Leave it be.

Geology of The Rockies....

NERD ALERT!

I took a Geology Of National Parks class at Ohio State a year ago. I found it extremely fascinating, as I'd never really paid attention to how the features of Colorado that I loved so much were formed.

I'm gonna geek out a bit. Last night, I was showing Laura a bunch of places in Colorado that I wanted to visit on our June trip, and today I was looking at my Google Earth iPhone app. I noticed some erosion patterns on Mount Evans that I hadn't noticed before, and I'm getting a glimpse into how it was formed. So if you don't like geology, tune out now. This is gonna get nerdy.
Here's an overview of Mount Evans.



In it, you can see the big red A, which is the summit of Mount Evans.

Here's a pic of me sitting on that summit, which is 14,264 feet above Sea Level.



West of the summit, you see Abyss Lake, and north of the summit, you see Summit Lake. I've never seen Abyss Lake in person, but a photo of me standing by the shores of Summit Lake is my blog photo icon on the upper right. Here it is below too, for good measure.



I can see some erosion patterns happening here as this area gets buried under multiple feet of snow for 9 months out of each year. As that snow freezes, forming a sort of temporary glacier, it digs out the mountain when the spring thaw causes it to retreat. This is very evident when looking at Abyss Lake.

Here's an over head of Abyss Lake.



And if you want a clearer picture of what's going on, here's a topographic representation of this. (I love Google Maps!)



As you can see from the topographic map, abyss lake sits at the bottom of an elevated area. The snow melt each spring feeds abyss lake. There's a creek running from Abyss Lake leading down into lower elevations, which is labeled as Lake Fork.

Each spring, as the snow melts, it takes away tiny layers of the mountains with it. The canyon Abyss Lake has carved out is essentially getting bigger every year.......although much too slowly for us to percieve without instrumentation. But I predict that in a few thousand years, there will be a deeper gap between Mt. Bierstadt and The Sawtooth due to this erosion.

As the spring snows have thawed over many many years, they've carved out a channel leading to lower altitudes from Abyss Lake. You can see this channel in the overhead shot of Mount Evans.



So now let's look at Summit Lake. This lake is to the north of the Summit of Mount Evans, and is almost 2000 feet lower in altitude than the summit of Mount Evans. Here's the overhead shot showing Summit Lake.



But in order to get a better idea of what's going on, let's look at the Topo of Summit Lake.



You'll notice a ridge to the north of Summit Lake keeping Summit Lake from spilling over into a deeper chasm, at the bottom of which lies the Chicago Lakes. Here's a pic taken at that ridge, facing the Chicago Lakes.



Now let's refer back to the topo, as I feel this gives the best representation of the glacial erosion that has formed these features. If you'll notice, to the immediate west of Summit Lake is a ridge that is starting to be eroded away. This ridge is featured as a visible dip in this photo taken from Summit Lake.



My thinking is that as the snows melt off of Mount Evans, they've slowly carved out the area where Summit Lake sits now, the same way the did to Abyss Lake. The cool thing is that when you look to the east from Summit Lake on the topographic map, you can see where the water flows from Summit Lake down through the rockies! It carved away and eroded the land away anywhere the water flowed.

So when I look at these from a Satellite view, I can clearly see the erosion activities of centuries that have created the awesome stunning sights I love.

Now that you've read this, yeah I know I'm a dork. But if you don't find this kinda cool.......why did you read it?! lol!