[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 130 (Thursday, September 11, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S5553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RECOGNIZING CANYONLANDS

  Mr. HATCH. Madam President, thank you for the opportunity today to 
pay tribute to a timeless feature of Utah's beautiful geography: 
Canyonlands National Park. This week, citizens of Utah and friends 
around the United States join together in celebration of the 50th 
anniversary of the establishment of Canyonlands National Park. As one 
of the ``Mighty Five'' national parks in Utah, the Canyonlands 
celebrate a landmark anniversary, and are a source of great pride for 
Utahns and the outdoors community nationwide.
  Canyonlands National Park is located in the southeast of our State 
where the otherworldly cliffs, recesses, and red rock attract climbing, 
mountain biking, and rafting enthusiasts from across the globe. Anyone 
who walks down Main Street in Moab can hear languages from German to 
Japanese to English, as well as accents from all over America. People 
plan and save for years to visit Utah to behold the invulnerable 
landscapes of the Canyonlands. As one stands on the edge of a 1,000-
foot cliff, while seeing hundreds of miles in all directions, nature 
somehow puts life in perspective.
  This perspective gained should not be underestimated. There is a 
story in common between those who visit the park and the land they 
experience. It is a story told in rock layers that echo ancient seas, 
coastal mud flats, braided streambeds, and wind-blown dunes hundreds of 
feet thick. It is the story of time and change, to which all of God's 
creation is subject. Clues to this past lie preserved in stone, along 
the walls of deep gorges where great rivers once roared. The three main 
regions of Canyonlands: the Island in the Sky, Needles, and the Maze, 
were once an environment quite different and more luscious. In what is 
now desert, shallow seas once ebbed and flowed. In many ways the story 
of Canyonlands is a story of transformation, and this is something to 
which we can all relate. We are reminded of the hunter-gatherer peoples 
who once flourished in Canyonlands by the Native American rock art, in 
the ``Great Gallery'' region, that dates back as early as 2000 BC. When 
I consider those painted figures together with the mosaic of colors, 
shapes, and pinnacles of Canyonlands, I, like many others, recall the 
enduring relationship between man and nature. It is this continuing 
legacy that we call our attention to today.
  We owe a debt of gratitude to the people, both elected officials and 
citizens, who possessed the foresight to recognize the value of 
Canyonlands and created the park 50 years ago. These efforts did not 
come without controversy and today much controversy remains. The area 
around the park holds diverse importance to the local community and a 
variety of stakeholders. Many spend their free time exploring over 
2,500 miles of roads around the park in four-wheel drive vehicles while 
others find a special peace in the solitude of the Canyonlands desert. 
These interests may seem in conflict, but the vast lands of Utah amply 
accommodate the equally vast spectrum of pursuits.
  For several years now, the Utah congressional delegation has been 
developing a public lands bill that will bring certainty and balance to 
the areas around Canyonlands and other landscapes in Utah. The land 
surrounding the national park would be protected with designations to 
ensure that our grandchildren can stand on the same red rock cliffs to 
look at the glorious sunsets that our pioneer ancestors saw and view 
vistas people from around the world come to see today. The bill will 
benefit our children by exchanging State lands in areas that do not 
produce revenues, with Federal lands that can be developed responsibly. 
The revenues derived, as a result of the thoughtful development enabled 
by these exchanges, will benefit school children in Utah. Only Congress 
can make these changes to the way our public lands are managed. At a 
time of congressional dysfunction, this is one area of positive 
happenings.
  What better way to celebrate the anniversary of Canyonlands National 
Park than by bringing certainty to a region that has been denied 
stability for one-half century? I am proud to be a part of this ongoing 
process to protect the land surrounding Canyonlands National Park.

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