To the Gore/Nader/Bush Debacle Contenders:
     Recent e-mails have included mention of Mountain Tops and Where Was
Al.  He, like me, DID climb Mt. Rainier.  Such does give a person a unique
perspective on nature's wonders.  Another candidate might prefer that a
chair lift be used to go up there.
     Also included was mention of the Grand Staircase/Escalante National
Monument and its possible future.  I am forwarding here some edited
comments I sent to a niece of mine on that subject and about yet another
mountain top.  Nader is an idealist.  The folks trying to protect the Grand
Staircase-Escalante region are in-the-field realists.  Realists, like Gore,
sometimes have to do what they gotta do to get elected.  Was creating that
National Monument (and several others) one of Clinton's specific campaign
promises while running for president?  Did we support him in order to get
that national monument, or was it just an added attraction he came up with
after getting into office?   Sometimes, presidents, once elected, can do
(or undo) things that relate to specifics never really covered by the media
during a campagn.   Daddy Bush had very public quotes about reading his
lips as campaign promises, but many campaign promises do not work out due
to reality.  Nader, an idealist and even if he had been the Democratic
candidate, could never get elected with the demographics we have in this
country today.  Gore, while a compromised idealist, could (at least he came
very close due to electoral system gymnastics...however all that gets
worked out.)    Gore WAS vice president, not president.  Clinton was
dealing with a Republican Congress,,,not a GREEN one.   Compromise was in
order if anything of ANY sort of a decent agenda in our eyes was to get
accomplished.   A PRESIDENT Gore could very likely be free to try even more
worthwhile initiatives than he could while under Clinton's thumb.  The
slight shift in the Senate and House to a more Democratic flavor might
help.            But, enough of that........here's the edoted and added to
note I had included with stuff to my niece:

> Sharon:
>
>     What an election!!  Your parents may get to Florida in time to
> cast some MORE votes for Bush!!!   [Ed:  My brother-in-law is a staunch
Republican.]
   At least, Bush did not get a majority of
> the TOTAL vote.  Add Nader's votes to Gore's and the anti-Bush total is
> even greater.  It appears Bush will pull out an electoral college
victory.
> It is going to be a difficult pill for folks like me to swallow for a
whole
> four years.  The Senate and House Democrats may provide some additional,
> Clinton-like, counter force with their somewhat larger numbers.  It's
going
> to be an interesting time.
>      I am to give a program on Dec. 14 to the local Audubon group about
my
> September, Grand Staircase - Escalante Nat. Monument Sierra Club Service
Trip
> experiences and insight.  That was a controversial Nat. Mon. created in
> Sept., 1996, by Clinton.  The Bush supporters out that way will be
> encouraging (demanding??) Bush to undo that designation.
      [Editor:  ORV types have fired shots as Sierra Club folks camped at
neighboring Coral Pink Dunes State Park near Kanab, Utah,  and into the
home of the ranger in charge of that park after being ejected from the park
due their belligerent response to being told that riding their vehicles on
the dunes after dark was in violation of park rules.  Such events could now
spread into the new Monument which is also trying to limit ORV use to
established routes.  One day of my Service Trip was spent trying to
camouflage illegal trails branching off from major roadways.   These trails
led to unapproved camp-sites where we broke up fire rings and scattered
ashes.  We used rakes to try to wipe out the tracks at the heads of such
routes and placed dead tree limbs and rocks across those pathways to try to
discourage future use.  The Monument Plan calls for the removal of hundreds
of miles of roadways once used by ranchers, miners, etc.  All Terrain
Vehicle use would be limited to only the remaining roadways and approved
routes trying to protect cryptogamic soils and other delicate ecosystems.
How would you like to be out there in  the real world to enforce and
carry-out that plan?!!  When I thought I might have to park my car at a
parking area along a road far from our work-site camping area, I will admit
that realism, not idealism, won the argument and I removed the two "Gore
2000" stickers from my car.  Folks with "SUWA" stickers are even in greater
danger.  SUWA stands for South Utah Wilderness Alliance.  Opposing bumper
stickers read as "SUWA-CIDE"].        Now, back to the forwarded stuff:
          While at the Monument headquarters, we
> spoke with the staff about the possibility of the Monument being shut
down by a Pres. Bush.  They said such had never
> happened before...but we have never had a George "W" as president,
before.
>      Anyway, as part of my program preparation, I contacted the young,
lady intern who supervised our Service
> project (Bill let her out of the White House---NO, NO, she is a student
at
> University of Arizona, I believe, majoring in Outdoor Management or some
> such) for a copy of the Monument Management Plan and maps and such.  We
had
> talked about the grazing issue while out there and how it was being
handled
> now that the region was a national monument.  I had asked for any update
on
> that.  How would you like to be out there in that real political
environment and
> be involved in what she wrote in response?   She wrote:
>       "As far as updates on the grazing issue, I will still have to check
> on a contact for you.  Currently, most of our Range staff is out on the
> Fiftymile Mountain, impounding cows that were supposed to have been taken
> off their allotment in Sept.!!!  Needless to say, this is a major
> operation, with a helicopter, a cook, timekeeper, etc.  The area is
> extremely remote, with no road access on top of the mountain."
>      Will any such, future operations be possible under a Bush
> Administration with a "James Watt" in charge of the Dept. of Interior?
> How will ANY sort of such "remote" activity, such as the ORV
infestations,
> etc., be able to be policed under Bush when it is so hard to try to do so
> even now?  Doing the right thing for the environment is going to be a
VERY
> frustrating challenge.  Who will have the courage to even try to take on
> such a job when the NRA-loving, militia groups are out there doing their
> own "policing"?
>
>     Gotta go.........need to rush off to Florida and cast a few votes for
> Gore.  Maybe I'll still be able to get a few votes in when I'm down there
> Christmas Week!!!!??


       That, with a few Editor editions, is what was included in the note
to my niece.  Whether Bush will be a nice guy due to Nader's raid on this
election is an interesting scenario.  While Nader may have drawn new voters
to the scene, so did Gore because he has gotten more votes than any
Democrat in the past.  Is it better to work from within or from without?
The Sierra Club has held my admiration because it tries to work from within
using legislative initiatives at all levels.  Earth First and Green Peace
try different approaches.  Even Audubon and all others are different than
the Sierra Club.  I cannot deduct contributions to the regular Sierra Club
organization due to its political and legislative agendas.

     I hope we all WILL have the energy and fortitude, while dodging NRA
"bullets", to rise to the occasion and be a strong voice demanding a
responsible Bush in case this fiasco does result in his becoming our
nation's next President.

Sierrally, Dick Worm

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