The landscapes are very different than those of us who have always lived in the East know, but they are spectacular. The ground sacred to Navajo and Ute peoples known as Bears Ears and the area known as Grand Staircase Escalante, a sedimentary erosion the size of Delaware, were declared National Monuments in 1996.
The original monuments were significantly reduced in size in 2018 for coal and gas exploration but Interior Secretary Haaland has asked President Biden to reinstate the area for protection. Shards of pottery and dinosaur bones can be found on these grounds and without federal protection many items have been taken.
The stark landscape reminds us of the variety of God’s creation. Ancient peoples built pueblos into the rock, left wall paintings that indicate their culture, and prayed to the Creator there. Against the deep blue sky the colors of the monuments are spectacular, varying with the part of the areas where one stands. Indeed, God’s creation is as infinite as beauty itself.
Prayer for the Day
Creator God, you have given us an infinite variety of beauty,
From the forests of the Northeast to the ochre red hills of the West;
You created the lynx of Maine and the condors of Bears Ears
Which have inhabited those areas from time immemorial.
May we respect the variety of your creation you old in your hand,
And help us to care for all your creatures, large and small.
In the name of him who looked at the birds in the sky,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Conservation of any endangered species must begin with stringent efforts to protect its natural habitat by the enforcement of rigid legislation against human encroachment into parks and other game sanctuaries.
Dian Fossey, forest protector (1932-murdered 1985)
Living wild species are like a library of books still unread. Our heedless destruction of them is akin to burning that library without ever having read its books.
John Dingell, Member of Congress from Michigan (1926-2019)
And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the waters hat were gathered together God called the Seas. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1: 9-10