Bear's Ears National Monument is a magical place. It is a place of mystery and vast vistas, a place of sacredness to many people. It is one of our country's most precious treasures. When President Obama accepted years of negotiation and work by "stakeholders" in the region and established the monument in 2016, I rejoiced. But I knew that the victory would be fleeting because of the election of rapacious vile people who only understand dollar signs. Bear's Ears National Monument is under an existential threat by Secretary of the Interior Zinke, Trump, and certain local officials. Trump recently exceeded his authority and tried to shrink the monument by 85%, and the matter is now in court. New documents suggest that Zinke used recommendations by Canadian uranium mining companies to redraw the boundaries, which just happened to remove monument protection from potential uranium ore-bearing formations. It is a "land grab" of breath-taking proportions, and not in a good way.
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| Monument Valley from the edge of Cedar Mesa at Muley Point |
Pareidolia is a very human tendency to perceive faces and significant forms in unlikely places, like on oddly shaped potatoes and burnt tortillas. It is what allows us to see the "Man in the Moon". It's hardwired into our brains, and I wouldn't be surprised if it arose out of a need to recognize the eyes and faces of creatures that in a past era would have eaten us.
We journeyed to the region in 2013, and we were headed into one of the more isolated corners of the Colorado Plateau. After traveling through Monument Valley, we turned north into Mexican Hat, Utah, and headed up a gravel road into Valley of the Gods. This was new for me; in a quarter of a century, I somehow had never found the time to explore the 17 mile loop through a series of amphitheaters along the eastern margin of Cedar Mesa. It was a magical place, and in 2016 it was included within the boundaries of Bear's Ears National Monument. In 2017 it was removed from protection.
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| The Sitting Hen at Valley of the Gods, from the back |
I find myself speculating about the connections between magic and science when I am in a place like Valley of the Gods. Science has given us a "creation myth" about how these rock pedestals formed. The cliff-forming unit is the Cedar Mesa Sandstone, which formed in coastal dunes and beaches in Permian time perhaps 270 million years ago. The underlying ledge-forming rock is the Halgaito Shale, which formed in coastal deltas and shallow marine conditions somewhat earlier in the Permian Period. The spires formed from cliff retreat as the softer Halgaito rock undercut the sandstone cliffs (I described the process in an earlier post). Tricks and variations in the erosional process formed the hollows and shadows that give the pedestals their eyes and faces.
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| The Sitting Hen, or as I like to call it, the Rubber Ducky at Valley of the Gods. |
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| The Battleship, right out of Monopoly! |
Does science deny the possibility of aliens carving these exquisite sculptures, or that gods turned miscreant humans into stone? Actually, science doesn't. It does in fact state that these other explanations could be true but that the probability is extremely low, based on the absolute paucity of supporting evidence. The scientific explanation is supported by extensive and overwhelming evidence. Scientists would acknowledge that the presently accepted explanation could be supplanted were new evidence were to emerge. Indeed they expect such changes in the fullness of time.
Compare this attitude to that of someone who has decided on an explanation, truly believes it, and chooses to ignore any contrary evidence. There is no growth, no increase in knowledge in such an person. Belief doesn't make it real, but evidence makes an explanation more likely.
Some might say that science removes the excitement and mystery of a good creation story. I would respectfully disagree. I would say that an understanding of geologic processes leads to more mystery and wonder. Consider the rocks; once one realizes that these rocks were part of a coastal complex, the question arises: where was the ocean and why was it in this place? Today the oceans are a thousand miles away. These rocks were eroded from a mountain range somewhere. Could we find where that mountain range was? Why did those mountains rise? What forces were acting on the crust to cause them to develop? What kinds of creatures lived on these floodplains and deltas? Where did they come from? What happened to them? As it turns out, the world was only a few million years from the worst extinction event ever to take place on planet Earth. Some 95% of all species on the planet vanished 252 million years ago. All these questions invite further study and further growth. Each effort to answer these questions adds to the body of human knowledge. It is a creation story that grows and changes with the addition of new data.
On the other hand, it's fun to play games with these fascinating forms of nature. What do you think they are?
I know this: they are beautiful to gaze upon, even if beauty is a subjective judgement. Did the humans who first saw these desert monuments see them as beautiful? Or were they simply part of a rugged harsh landscape that may or may not be hiding a resource that could extend human life in this tough land?
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| I definitely see a huge mechanical hand rising out of the ground. |
We passed the base of Lady in a Bathtub (picture below) and drove back down to Mexican Hat for one last stop in civilization. We were headed onto Cedar Mesa, another special place that was protected under the monument status of Bear's Ears, and which illegally lost protection under the new directives from the administration.
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| The Lady in the Bathtub. |
The loop road through Valley of the Gods is accessed from US 163 out of Mexican Hat, Utah, while the west entrance is on US 261 near the base of the Moki Dugway. There are no facilities along the loop, which is managed and maintained by the Bureau of Land Management. There is a small campsite at nearby Goosenecks of the San Juan State Park, but no water is available. If you go, bring a camera or sketchpad. Even if you never go, fight for the protection of these lands by contacting your representatives in Congress, and support the organizations who are suing the administration over its illegal actions.
The big issue is what is a significant feature. A lot of Bears Ears along Ut 95 is pretty but no better scenery than for example 95 north of Glen Canyon Rec area. (which includes the east side of the Henry Mountains). Or for another example the view of the rim of the San Rafael swell along UT 24 north of Hanksville. The question is why not just proect the valley of the Gods and a buffer zone rather than the large area. As an example take the national monument included inside Bears Ears, Natural Bridges, which does indeed protect significant features. Or in the area Comb Ridge. But for example 95 south of Natural Bridges does not present significant scenery in general with the exception of Cheesebox Butte. In addition adding the Canyon Rims area really does not protect it a lot more (just south of Moab) but likley means the road to Anticline overlook would never be paved just like the Burr trail pavement stops at the Capitol Reef National Park boundary just where the road gets steep. There is an interesting legal case in Escalante Grand Staircase, that asks if the 1872 law saying that a road once created must remain open, applying to the desire to make more and more of the monument off limits to most folks.
ReplyDeleteValley of the Gods could be made a state park since not to far away is Goosenecks of the San Juan State park. (Also its big brother monument valley is not that far away.
As to the ruins just a buffer zone and you would have to install monitoring equipment at each site no matter if it is in the small or large national monument as patrolling so many small sites will be beyond the budget of the BLM (just like it is today). The Valley of the gods might well compare with Goblin Valley and need just that kind of protection.
Thanks for your considered comments. I have highlighted Valley of the Gods as an example of one of many incredible sights in the boundaries of Bear's Ears National Monument, but the Valley is not the point of my discussion. The Bear's Ears preserves on the order of 100,000 archaeological sites, and the Cedar Mesa/Grand Gulch area is possibly the largest, most concentrated collection of such sites in the southwest. It was cut from the monument by Trump/Zinke. The point is protecting a large region sacred to the five tribes, and which contains the remains of their ancestors. There is also the protection of an intact ecosystem, which is not possible with little isolated areas. The only reason that these monuments are getting chopped up is to expose large parts for uranium mining, and strip-mining for coal (at Grand Staircase). There is no national emergency that requires going after these resources, and thus this land should be protected. I understand what you say about seeing scenery from a highway, but that is not the sole reason for a monument, nor is it necessarily the most important. Preserving the archaeological heritage of the southwest, and intact ecosystems are important. Paleontology is also a critical form of science preserved in such monuments (25 new dinosaurs discovered at Grand Staircase, for instance).
ReplyDeleteWith respect to the coal plant which was cancelled 40 years ago: Consider that the big market was California. Would California willing buy coal power today? Then consider that the plant at Page is on economic tenderhooks about continued operation. New coal plants are currently wildly non economic compared to either gas or solar. So your major market would have to be Az for the power. So what appeared to make economic sense 40 years ago likley does not today.
ReplyDeleteI can't comment as to economic forces guiding which lands are de-protected, but I find it ironic that the current administration was swayed by arguments based on religious texts and somewhat-generally agreed history that Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people yet American soil does not belong to Native Americans. Sometimes ancestral lands are sacred, sometimes not, depending on the direction the political winds are blowing.
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