Taking hikes and joining in Service projects in Gold Butte for many years has left me with fond thoughts and images I hope will never leave me. Until recently I lived for eleven years in Logandale, and whenever family or friends visited always tried to introduce them to the Gold Butte area. The area is absolutely breathtaking with its unique desert beauty.
The views of the red-orange and sculpture-like sandstone formations that rise from the rolling desert valley floor, itself spotted with contrasting green creosote and sage, fragmented by the washes that continue to shape the very land itself, juxtaposed to the majestic towering Virgin Mountains against the horizon – these all simply inspire a sense of wonder and joy that is almost unparalleled.
I was sad to learn about the new damage in Gold Butte, though with that much acreage and so little law enforcement presence, it is not surprising. The question is, “When and how can we stop or minimize the damage?
Unfortunately, there were harsh assessments in The Progress that missed the point of the damage report (Local Advocates Dispute Whether Damage Report Merits Gold Butte Federal Designation: Progress, Aug. 26, 2015). The damage report is not political; it was put out to raise awareness of the need to protect Gold Butte. As much as you can criticize the report or volunteer to fix damages others do to Gold Butte, it is always better to prevent the damage in the first place (the old “fence at the top of the cliff versus the ambulance at the bottom of it” argument). The permanent protections federal designation will bring will assist to do just that. That’s the “how” in my opinion; after eleven years of seeing more and more damage to Gold Butte the real question to me remains “When?”
Par Rasmusson
