LaVarr Webb, the Deseret News' former managing editor, writes in his political newsletter "Power Base" that this state has experienced a shift in its attitude toward the environment.

The headline says it all: "Utahns are becoming more environmentally sensitive; candidates will ignore conservation issues at their own peril." Then he lists indications to back up his premise, including a 1991 poll by the Wirthlin Group that found the environment is the fifth most important issue to Americans.Only the economy, poverty-hunger-homelessness, drugs and unemployment rated as higher concerns.

Webb concludes that from his own perspective, based on observing Utah society and politics for many years, "I sense a real shift. . . . Young people today are much more environmentally sensitive than their parents or grandparents."

It's good he is starting to recognize some facts of life. But a healthy concern for the environment is not new for Utahns. Poll after poll sponsored by the Deseret News and other organizations over the years, including several while Webb worked here, established that residents are strongly committed to protecting the environment.

In fact, an environmental issue that he slights - wilderness - is supported most ardently.

Webb's thoughts about wilderness are reflected in his comment, "Owens has been defeated twice (for statewide office), perhaps partly because of his strong environmental views. Owens has won only in Salt Lake County, where many residents view public lands as a playground to be preserved, not developed."

The statement that people see public land as a "playground" is disturbing. From hunters to photographers, outdoors people I know have a deeper and more personal feeling for the land.

They see wilderness as the final preserve where the American countryside remains as it was originally - true to its eternal, primeval, innocent nature. It is where you may feel Earth's heartbeat if you have a sensitive touch.

In March 1989, a Deseret News poll showed that only 24 percent of Utahns think the size of Bureau of Land Management wilderness designations should be 1.9 million acres or less.

This year, the Legislature supported a resolution to limit BLM wilderness to no more than 1.4 million acres. Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, supports a bill to set aside that much wilderness. That is certainly a minority position in Utah, to say nothing about the land's other owners.

The '89 survey showed that 32 percent of residents didn't know how much wilderness should be designated. However, the remaining 43 percent supported more wilderness than the rural-dominated Legislature and Hansen want.

Put another way, among people who knew what was going on, a whopping 64 percent wanted more wilderness than the Legislature, compared with 36 percent on the other side. That's a much bigger margin than Hansen's victory over environmentalist Kenley Brunsdale last year.

Two years ago, the highly respected Lou Harris polling organization conducted a worldwide survey for the United Nations Environmental Programme. In America, their cross-section covered 1,253 adults, weighted according to the actual demographics of age, sex, race and education.

"The public favors `stronger action by the government of this country to stop pollution and prevent the loss of land, clean air and water' by 93-5 percent," Harris and Associates reported.

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Concerning a question about economics vs. environment, they wrote, "Observation: Anti-environmentalists argue that while the public is willing to pay lip service to environmental concerns, in truth, they are unwilling to trade jobs and jobs for a cleaner environment. The results of this question - both in the United States and around the world - demonstrate that just the opposite is the case."

Another observation by the Harris group is, "The American public is not just paying lip service to the problems of the environment. In a put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is test, the public demonstrates an overwhelming - and quite non-partisan - willingness to pay for programs to stop the destruction of the environment."

The country's public lands belong to all of us. Nobody has a right to silence anyone in the debate over use vs. protection - we should listen carefully to what all sides have to say - yet Webb's remark accusing pro-wilderness people as seeing public lands as a playground belittles a valid position. It is beneath the caliber of discussion that the issue deserves.

Those who advocate wilderness should not sense any need to apologize. They're not babies wanting to dig in sandboxes. They are American citizens hoping to preserve a national treasure, these last untrammeled parts of our magnificent landscape.

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