Faculty, students and surrounding residents met in the Lindberg Commons on Tuesday, Nov. 19 to hear Chris Ricardo, Midwest field organizer of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), speak. His talk, “From Red Rock to the Quad Cities; the 30 by 30 Initiative and Your Public Lands,” discussed the importance of protecting Utah’s Red Rocks region.
This event was hosted in collaboration between Augustana’s Sierra Club and Eagle View Group Sierra Club.
SUWA is a nonprofit organization that has been fighting to protect southern Utah’s Red Rock wilderness since 1983. Ricardo works across the Chicagoland area speaking to people about what SUWA does and what people from the Midwest can do to help Utah wilderness.
According to the organization’s website, the 30 by 30 initiative is a goal that 30% of all lands and waters are protected by 2030. Over 50 countries are participating and the United States joined in after President Biden’s America the Beautiful Act. Ricardo came to speak at Augustana to help students understand how protecting the red rocks in Utah can impact the world, including the Quad Cities.
“It’s a science based approach focused on areas of high ecological value kind of like these lands in Utah,” Ricardo said. “We share connectivity between protected areas to support wildlife movement, just like the places in Utah.”
Even though many of the issues SUWA focuses on are happening in Utah, residents from the Quad Cities can still face the consequences. Junior and Sierra Club Secretary Ian Empen understands the potential impact of not saving Utah wilderness.
“Climate change doesn’t care about state boundaries, you know it is universal, it’s going to affect everybody,” Empen said. “So it is important that no matter where we are, we’re working to protect the land that does have the potential to mitigate climate change.”
Currently, Ricardo said Utah is being affected by logging, mining and extraction. In order to mine, the land has to be cleared, therefore removing all the vegetation.
“You’re losing the habitat and this is out in the desert where it doesn’t rain very much,” Ricardo said. “It takes a really long time for these things to grow back so once these lands are starved like this they’re gone for a very very long time.”
Off-highway vehicles, including 4-wheelers, have a big impact on the land in Utah, he said. People take their off-highway vehicles and go off the road that was originally made, which can be damaging to the surrounding land. SUWA is fighting to keep off-highway vehicles on the designated road.
“We don’t want to keep 4-wheelers out, that’s not the idea,” Ricardo said. “The idea is just to keep them in places that are already designated and keep them from going off and damaging the places that are still pristine.”
SUWA has taken several students out to Utah during their Grassroots Leadership Program. This program allowed students to see and learn more about the wilderness of southern Utah. Sierra Club President, junior Emerson Lehman, went on the leadership program in September 2023.
“They’re typically held in September, and it’s invite-only [along with] the regional organizers, so there’s a West Coast, East Coast, Midwest, Southwest and then there’s a few different organizers in Utah,” Lehman said. “They got a certain number of spots, and the Midwest organizer Clayton chose to give Augustana a spot.”
Following her experience, Lehman said she has continued to educate the campus community about the importance of environmentalism and protecting untouched lands through her work with Augustana’s Sierra Club.
“When it comes to protecting untouched land, people are like, ‘It’s someone else’s problem’. But, it’s everyone’s problem, and we need everybody for a solution,” Lehman said. “So, get involved with your like legislators, come to Sierra Club and pick up after yourself.”
