by Steve Brier
Meet Steve! He’s been with us since the very beginning providing invaluable insight during our monthly meetings as we planned and eventually launched Oregonians for Wild Utah.
Oregon has been my adopted home since 1987. I lived the first 20 years of my life in the south Bronx before venturing to Pittsburgh, which at the time I considered the frontier. Then I spent about 15 years in the midwest, before making it to Oregon. Sometime in the 1970s, my bride and I discovered Zion National Park purely by accident when we were driving aimlessly from Kansas to California. Awestruck is the best way I can describe my feelings. I had never before imagined a place of such immense beauty and majesty.
Since that time, my wife and I have spent time in the Redrock country four different times, primarily in Canyonlands National Park. Beyond the variety of needles, canyons, arches, cliffs, petroglyphs, rivers, and vistas that are truly sui generis, is the ability to experience all this without the intrusion of other people. When I am in the Redrock, I feel closer to a religious experience than I’ve ever felt anywhere else.
Although I visit Utah perhaps once every 5-10 years, just knowing that the Redrock is there brings me peace and serenity from afar. What disturbs my peace and serenity is the constant threats to the land, from mining interests and locals who view public lands as a personal playground without regard to future generations. Obviously, the land cannot speak for itself. That’s why I am proud to be a member of Oregonians for Wild Utah as well as the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
Updated November 2, 2020