Virginia Hunt | Pembroke, MA
Virginia Hunt is a hiker, educator and national park supporter.
Why does wilderness matter to you?
Open spaces of beauty speak to everyone. The quiet of nature, the challenge of hiking on a trail, the visual wonders of a landscape should be preserved and protected for all the ages. People through the past centuries knew this and acted on it. As Teddy Roosevelt said of the Grand Canyon, "Man can only mar it." Words to that effect. He rightly took measures to ensure our wilderness areas would remain intact "for the benefit and enjoyment of all the people."
Why does wilderness matter to your community?
Drive through any busy metropolitan city and you get overwhelmed. But most city planners saw the value of creating open spaces and setting these places aside. As a country, we have larger tracts of space to enjoy that have also been set aside. In my one community, we have several areas with trails and a good hike makes one feel rejuvenated. Not all trails are handicapped accessible, but there are some and that's a bonus for those who cannot hike easily.
Share a story about a special experience you have had in wilderness.
I rounded a corner in the road Scenic 12, I believer, and the Grand Staircase Escalante Monument was spread out before me. I had the ah-ha moment then that I didn't have at the Grand Canyon earlier in my trip. White, salmon and crimson rock extended everywhere I could see. Closer along the road, the slot canyons and oases of trees and streams, and trailheads appeared. I have visited this monument three times and had the same experience. To misuse the Antiquities Act in reverse to reduce this monument and hand it over to out of country and in country businesses, as I understand may happen, is a travesty to our people. Once mined and drilled, the beauty is gone and marred, like the mountain tops of the Appalachian mountains. Business takes and fails to restore. People who visit our wilderness monuments for pleasure have to work harder to preserve and protect this places. How can one person or company destroy all this?
What are your hopes for the future of wilderness?
Congress needs to reassign the monuments into national parks so one person does not have the power to destroy them. Millions of people visit these wilderness places. Keep them. Support them. Drilling for oil and mining will only destroy them and once gone, that's it. Those processes need to be tempered. Other forms of energy can be developed. In addition, any places belonging to Indigenous People need to be preserved and Protected as well.
