Early this month a collage of musicians and speakers were assembled in continued solidarity for our National Monuments and Parks. Kyle Knapp organized the evening as an extension of a concert held in Cleveland, OH by our friend Jon Guggenheim. Other events were held around the country on this same weekend. Jon has been one of many, many people concerned about the move on the part of some government persons from the highest level down to state and local officials who are seeking to at least reduce the size or minimize some of our National Monuments. In June I joined Jon on the last leg of a video/interview gathering trip in multiple states documenting a few of the parks and monuments in those states (story here). The editing is ongoing and when finished will be one more voice in raising the banner to inform and alert us to what we have in these public lands, and what is at stake if we lose them. There are certainly varied interests, concerns and rationales pertaining to these areas, but one thing we should all be united in is that fact that we have only one chance to preserve these areas for us and future generations to appreciate and enjoy. Wise thought should be exercised in their use and care, which hopefully will result in not abusing these resources. Once gone, they can never be fully restored – if at all.
