Happy New Year from all of us at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.  Thank you for your strong support in 2010.  Now let’s get to work in 2011!

2010 ended on a bright note with Secretary Salazar’s new wilderness guidance that could give needed protection to 6 million acres of Utah’s redrock wilderness.  Thanks to all of you, this action reverses the Bush administration’s “No More Wilderness” policy, which left these lands vulnerable to off-road vehicle damage and inappropriate energy development.

Only with your activism and support can we seize this opportunity to secure these lands the protection they deserve.  Wilderness opponents are already promising to block this policy: the oil and gas industry and off-road vehicle advocates are fuming, and politicians like Utah Senator Orrin Hatch are declaring they’ll do everything possible to stop us.

To blunt this opposition, newly minted House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Ed Markey (D-MA) is already circulating a letter to members of Congress asking them to thank Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for the new policy.  Please take a moment now to ask your representative to sign Mr. Markey’s letter!

For Utahns:  Please take a moment now to ask let your Utah Congressional representatives know that you support Secretary Salazar’s action.

This type of action will encourage the Obama administration to continue issuing conservation-oriented policies for public lands by demonstrating broad popular support.

Thank you!

P.S. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of supporters like you, we met our year-end goal and won a matching gift of $100,000! Your financial contributions are absolutely essential to the important work of protecting America’s redrock for current and future generations.  Sec. Salazar’s new wilderness guidance demonstrates that your support is yielding results!