Attention all lovers of public land! We're looking for hikers, campers, mountain bikers, river rafters, and climbers alike to share words and photos about what public lands mean to you.
Please send your photos and quotes to Ellen Heyn at eheyn@grandcanyontrust.org. We'll post the submissions we receive to our Instagram page, and select a few of the best to include in the Fall/Winter 2016 issue of The Advocate. See below for some examples of what we're looking for!
I have spent the best days of my life with my family exploring the vast and incomparably beautiful public lands of the Southwest. My daughter Brynn has already found a joy like no other strapping on a backpack, splashing through desert streams, and wondering at the stars above. Without these lands our lives would be monochrome. With them they are technicolor.
—Ethan Aumack, Flagstaff, Arizona
Nothing like spending a Sunday morning gettin’ a little religion with a priest and a couple of nuns on America’s public lands…
—Dave Erley, Castle Valley, Utah
Public land has saved my life. Being able to row my boat for a week on a desert river, hike up a mountain or backpack across Grand Canyon, drive down a forest service road with my pup at my side, or ride my bike in the company of centuries-old ponderosa pine trees—that's what keeps me sane in a world where we are consumed by cell phones, deadlines, noise and chaos. When I'm out on the land, I can slow down, listen to the natural world, and find the answers I need, because it is the only place I can hear.
—Emily Thompson, Flagstaff, Arizona
America’s public lands are a globally unique inheritance we all share. They are the finest thing about being a Westerner.
—Bill Hedden, Castle Valley, Utah
If we lose our public lands, something will be very much out of balance in the West! I grew up in a state with more public lands than any other and I cannot imagine living without them.
—Ed Grumbine, Flagstaff, Arizona
Some of us grew up close to the land and know our places of belonging the way many know lovers or friends. In no small measure, the continuation of that relationship involves telling our intimate stories of home—light remaking stone, springs reborn and gone, the darkness of the night sky. It is a generous and necessary gift to speak of the land—there are so many who are so hungry to know and be known by something larger than themselves.
—Sarah Hedden, Castle Valley, Utah
Having a place to play, to float through, to hike, to photograph, and to leave unspoiled for future generations are what public lands mean to me. They are not just our birthright, they are a blessing. Their use is something over which we as Americans all have a say—the ultimate expression of democracy. More than that, we Americans hold our public lands in trust for the people of the world.
—Tim Peterson, Durango, Colorado
I come from a region of China where there are no public lands and no snow. I love the fact that northern Arizona has so much of both! Public lands make America special compared to many other places in the world and we should fight to keep them.
—Li Li, Flagstaff, Arizona
This is one of Arizona's best kept secrets. I have hiked Havasupai Falls 8 times and it's always amazing, this should be on your bucket list and—yes, the water is really that blue.
—Christine Sweeter, Flagstaff, Arizona
A great thing about public lands is that you get to participate in how they're managed for everyone - the residents (e.g., hawks, aspen, water, giant Sequoias, insects) - and all the human visitors.
—Mary O'Brien, Castle Valley, Utah
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