Stake Your Claim!
Last weekend, while camping with the Young Democrats of Utah outside of Moab, I witnessed a Las Vegas Uranium Company, quite literally, staking its claim. Apparently, by dropping number wooden stakes out of a flying helicopter, the mining company was “claiming” the mining rights over a piece a public land. On the stakes was a piece of paper that said:
”Notice of Location
Know All Persons By These Presents That
Wave Uranium Holding
5248 Vegas Drive, Suite 228
Las Vegas, Nevada, 89108
Hereby Claims This Ground As A Lode Mining Claim"
Although private interest using public lands is common – be it recreationist, cattle ranchers, oil & gas companies, etc – the process of pounding a stake into the ground to claim a piece of land seems extremely archaic and absurd in our modern age.
In addition, the fact that mining companies are crisscrossing Utah’s irreplaceable landscape in a helicopter, makes me think we need to seriously reconsider the way we govern and protect our red rock wilderness.
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