While I lay under the stars last night enjoying the beautiful back country of Gold Butte, I couldn't help but feel a peace that can only come while sitting among the hills and sage. It was a beautiful night. There wasn't a hint of a breeze, nor a trace of a cloud and the moon was hours from peaking over the Grand Wash Cliffs so the stars were dense and brilliant. Laying in my bed roll next to my boys in the back of my truck, it would have been hard to feel any more still, however the shutter on my camera tells a different story. It reminded me that things are always in motion.
With the shutter wide open for much of the night my camera captured the motion of the night sky with the star trails glittering by. It is the same with the political landscape of Gold Butte as well. Last week on February 10, 2015 Dina Titus introduced legislation to designate Gold Butte as an NCA. Albeit that is is not the first, second or third time this bill has been introduced it still muddies the waters and undercuts anything positive that could be done for public lands in Southern Nevada.
These bills are not what they seem. It is easy to read into the rhetoric and get caught up in the feel good hook that these wilderness bills convey. The hidden barb that sinks in after these bills get passed are the stories, the history and the landscape that gets swept clean to create a landscape to fit this agenda. These bills are unable to encompass a wide enough perspective to capture a complete picture of our public lands and the stories they hold. Instead they focus on one point in time and disregard any evidence that detracts from this one vantage. It is my history, one of cattle ranching, mining and pioneering that often gets swept aside.
As I travel the back roads of Gold Butte the history emanates from the hills and springs, corrals and mines. There is a story of many people who have passed through this country. It is not a simple landscape that can fit within a narrow agenda nor be captured by a philosophy watered down by money and ego. I will continue to work for protection with access for our public lands and work to conserve every aspect of history that has played out on our public lands.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr856
H.R. 856: To establish the Gold Butte National Conservation Area in Clark County, Nevada, in order to conserve, protect, and enhance the cultural, archaeological, natural, wilderness, scientific, geological, historical, biological, wildlife, educational, and scenic resources of the area, to designate wilderness areas, and for other purposes.
Introduced:
Feb 10, 2015
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