Title VAA ED speaks out for Public Land Access

Recently, as part of the AAC Climb the Hill, I had to opportunity to talk to Senator Murkowski about protections for public lands and waters. Here is what I said:

“As the only non-climber here, I would like to talk about why this is important to the millions of Americans who are not climbers.

I will start with the rivers. Over and over I have seen this story. There is a river people love for recreation. At some point, someone decides they want to damn it, or put a factory that dumps pollution, or such. The people fight it and defeat it. In a few years it comes back up, and the people fight it and defeat it again, but inevitably, eventually, the people lose. We The People, lose. The only way to ensure the endurance of special rivers for ourselves and our posterity is to put them under national protection.

Now, about access and equality. I was raised on a farm in Oklahoma. My father was a science, geography and history teacher. He wanted to share that knowledge and love with his family. He could not fly us anywhere for summer vacations, but he did load all seven of us in the station wagon, my twin and I in the seat facing backwards. As there was no air conditioner, the red dust billowed in through the windows and the holes in the floorboard, coating everyone with a layer of grit. Since there was no radio, we sang songs from a green, hardbound song book. This is how we drove to Carlsbad Cavern, Painted Desert, and Yellowstone. This is how I experienced a land of amber waves of grain and purple mountains. This is how I learned and loved the country my grandfather, father, brother, and three nephews fought for. Thirty years later, I wanted to instill love of our nation, cultures, and arts in my son. I became acutely aware of differences between rich and poor in the ease of access to such experiences -- juggling work to be off when museums are free, saving for months to take him to Phantom of the Opera. We don’t kid ourselves. We know for most daily things, rich and poor are not equal. We are not equal when we shop for groceries, some at the Dollar Store and some at Wholefoods. We are not equal when we get our hair cut, some at Quick Cuts and some at the Boutique Salon. We are not equal when we go through airport security.

But, when we cross that magic line and step into National Parks, we are equal. On the plane we can’t all be in first class, but we all ride the same Denali tour bus. We will never have the same view of the theatre stage, but we all get the same view of the Grand Canyon.

There is a duty to secure access opportunities for millions of us, and millions in future generations, to equally enjoy our nation's resources.”