There was a time many years ago when I raced northwards in my Volkswagen Jetta, along the highways of the Great Plains to get away from the pain of a heart lanced. Omaha was too loud – or was it my mind? It was too loud, regardless; a cacophony of resplendent memories of a woman in a field of flowers. Those memories turned rancor. Hours north turned into a dozen west; roads carved down like a knife into risen dough were set between the rolling hills of vast northern grasslands. 

And then from the mists of the horizon faded forward titans of somber stone and rock, with gleaming white, skywards teeth which tore and ripped through the clouds in that blue sky impartially. The gnawing pain inside grew quieter as the pressure exuded by those great western Rockies increased. My phone lost its signal, and then the stresses of work and being always reachable by bosses were replaced, as were all the mistakes I had made, with the feeling of boundless freedom. 

There was but one road in the Shoshone Wildlife Preserve that allowed me back and forth up the side of a red and angry colored mountain, and then down and down into the sleepy vale of Little Sunlight. There, among the trees and the gentle grasses, I passed by others who had set up tents, who had found solace away from pollution and buildings and the chaos that can exist in anyone's life. Under the shadow of the mountains, where a shadow cast from miles high hides a chill with a bite, where a lone ray of the sun which had found a gap between peaks lances down and carries the warmth of heaven; peace was found by me and those few others who were scattered as daisies down the length of the vale. 

Blessed are we in America that our forefathers saw the repugnant habits of industrialists and mankind when it comes to the human desire for “more," and gave us national parks. Places where the roads leading you into mountains would be just one thin strip, and even then, sometimes not even as much – ending at the start of a trail which will lead your feet to unspoiled sights which will be a feast for your heart, and a healing silence for your soul. 

But right now, if those of us in the United States who have known the peace of unspoiled mountains and forests don’t make ourselves heard, then what we are removing from future generations is a magic they will never get to know. Recently, in the news, there have been troubling reports; the first such is that the Trump Administration is considering trading federal land inside pristine Yosemite to a private company, Kingsbarn Realty Capital, which owns land just outside the park. The company’s CEO, Jeff Pori, has donated to Trump’s campaign fund in prior years. 

It is reported that the private land that Kingsbarn owns is going to be turned into hotels and parking lots. Thus, a part of pristine Yosemite (federal land) is going to be traded and used to increase the value of a private corporation to the benefit of some rich guy, to the detriment of the nature of the park, and all of us who love to be scattered like daisies through the mountains. On the National Park Service’s own webpage, they have a quote by John Muir about mountains that reads,

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

Nowhere in that quote or any other that I could find says “let’s add more roads for more development crisscrossing over pristine, reserved, ancient land for more cars that bring more smog.” 

When I last camped with my brother in Zion National Park on top of Wire Mesa last May, there were no lights but for a thousand stars in the sky above us. Awestruck by the sight, he began a conversation where he told me that he had heard in Big Bend National Park that it was the clearest place in the whole of the contiguous forty-eight states to see the night sky, and that he would like to take me someday. 

But this year the Trump Administration decided it needed a border wall through what the National Park Service had described as the clearest sky of any national park in the 48 states with the least light pollution. The Administration pushed almost all environmental regulations to the side for the project and has included “lighting" along their road in that project. (Customs and Border Protection themselves found that illegal crossings in Big Bend account for only 1.3% of illegal migrants). I suppose now myself, and all those with wanderlust in the generations which follow me, will never get to see the regal heaven of Big Bend in all its glory. 

The Trump Administration is also reducing the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante Park from about 1.87 million acres to just 200,000, and Bears Ears Park from 1.36 million acres to only 100,000, so that the rest of the land can be used for logging, drilling, and mining. The same administration also changed the rules on mining, drilling, fracking, and logging near National Parks, allowing them to happen much closer to the parks themselves; all of these things can change the water table and have a much higher chance of poisoning all the rivers, streams, and lakes with heavy metals, oils, and gas. 

“The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness." John Muir wrote, and I hope that at least somewhere, there isn't just one lone forest left and only textbook pictures of places like Zion or Shoshone Wildlife Preserve. Can a person say that they love America’s forests and mountains and support this administration? Wouldn’t it be more accurate for those people to say, "I love the ‘memory’ of the forests and mountains and the Trump Administration.” Even if a voter doesn't approve of everything that the administration is doing, the voter approves enough that their chosen government is still allowed to cut up, section, drill, cut down, and trade away our preserved wilderness so that the voter’s other, temporary policies may continue to exist. “I love our National Parks, but not more than I love the Trump Administration,” is a more accurate statement for those voters who still stand by them. 

Those other policies- immigration, homosexuality, abortion, birthright citizenship- are all policies that can be changed with the stroke of a pen in a following administration – but once they or you allow for policies that spoil the very earth? That trades the land away to private enterprises? How many decades of ruin of those parks would have to be endured before billions would have to be spent to clean them up? How many generations of children will never be able to breathe in true forest air and gaze at the hidden heaven above Big Ben? All for temporary policies, and temporary loyalty that will wane with the years.  

I will let the very John Muir quotes on the National Park’s website bring about the end of this plea,

“The world we are told was made especially for man–a presumption not supported by all the facts.” and “The Battle for conservation must go on endlessly. It is part of the universal warfare between right and wrong."

Austin Petak is an aspiring novelist and freelance journalist who loves seeking stories and the quiet passions of the soul. If you are interested in reaching out to him to cover a story, you may find him at austinpetak@gmail.com.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.