It was the midnight hour for wilderness in America last night, literally. In a late-night debate over the Department of Interior’s budget, congressmen clashed over the meaning, and uses, of the nation’s wildest places.
At the center of the controversy, lies a debate over roads. Build a road in the mountains, or call an old horse trail a road, and it’s an invitation to bulldozers, say environmentalists. They want to keep wilderness areas road-free. Advocates for industry, snow-mobilers and ranchers, along with the Bush administration, say public land belongs to the people and should be left open for all to use and enjoy.
As the clock ticked 12, the House voted to allow road building in national forests and many other wild places. This land is whose land?
Guests:
Rick Bass, nature writer and novelist, Congressman Mark Udall, Democrat from Colorado
Del LeFevre, owner of the Seven Bar X Ranch in Boulder, Utah