As public lands are increasingly threatened by wrongheaded industrial development projects, Earthjustice continues to represent hundreds of conservation and community groups across the country in efforts to prevent the irretrievable loss of these wild places.
It may come as no surprise, then, that recently, when the Forest Service announced its plans to lease more than 20,000 acres for oil and gas drilling in Utah's Uinta National Forest, Earthjustice began working with a coalition of conservation groups in Utah -- the Wasatch Mountain Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, and Trout Unlimited -- and submitted, on behalf of the coalition, a letter stating its opposition to developing roadless areas along the Wasatch Front.
What may be a bit surprising, however, is the fact that this coalition includes a for-profit company, outdoor equipment manufacturer, Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd.
Since its inception, Black Diamond has maintained a strong commitment to preserving the wilderness experience, and has developed products and operated the company in accordance with this ethic. In 2003, the company made headlines when Peter Metcalf, Black Diamond's CEO and president, wrote an Op-Ed piece in the May 4, 2003 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune criticizing the backdoor settlement between then Utah Governor Mike Leavitt and Interior Secretary Gale Norton that stripped wilderness protections on nearly six million acres in Utah.
Black Diamond has further demonstrated its commitment to wilderness through its role in the Outdoor Industry Association's advocacy group, Business for Wilderness (B4W) -- an outreach program established to engage businesses in actions that will help protect wild places as well as demonstrate that conservation of public lands is good for both the environment and the economy.
Black Diamond, on its own and through Business for Wilderness, has been active in the struggle to preserve the Roadless Rule and wild public lands in Utah and the rest of the U.S. Part of its campaign is to publicize the number of individuals recreating on public lands and highlight the tremendous economic boon such recreation provides for the Western States. Read the Business for Wilderness's Roadless Rule Web page.
It is not so surprising, after all, that when announcing the letter to the Forest Service, Black Diamond's Metcalf stated, "Oil and gas development in these roadless places would ruin exactly those qualities that our customers are seeking when they backpack or hike into these wild and scenic areas... Recreation generates, in a long term and sustainable manner, over 80 percent of the economic value of these lands, yet the Forest Service gave no consideration to Utahns who recreate in the great outdoors or to the outdoor industry when it signed off on these leases. It's bad policy and a bad deal -- bad for people, bad for the outdoor industry, and bad for Utah's economy that is better served by sustainable recreation than one-time drilling."
Earthjustice is excited that for-profit businesses are partnering with the conservation community to protect public lands.
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