Earth First! shakes up the Durango conservation scene
by Amy Donahue, The Durango Telegraph, 9/3/09
Well before Ed Abbey put the sands of Utah on the map, the Southwest has been a magnet for outdoor enthusiasts and wilderness aficionados willing to fight for the places they love. However, the very richness of the natural resources that bring these nature-lovers to the Four Corners also brings those interested in resource extraction. Thus, it often is a place of conflicting concerns and priorities.
“The Southwest is a designated national sacrifice area, and as the nation begins to look deeper for energy sources, we will be the focus of the onslaught in the coming decades,” said Nathan Coe, who recently co-founded a Durango chapter of Earth First! “We’re going to get hit harder and harder for things like oil and gas extraction, shale oil, uranium and infrastructure. These are all issues that mainstream groups have fought for years and have effectively stalled, but the projects are still moving forward.”
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Coe and fellow Durangoan Travis Custer attended an Earth First! conference in Tucson in February. Along with attendees from Grand Junction and Denver, the two decided to revitalize an EF! presence in Colorado under the name High Country Earth First!. The Denver chapter already has begun campaigns against the expansion of I-70, but the chapter here is still in the developmental stages. Custer said that before a Durango chapter of EF! can establish itself, it is important to look at how the group may fit in with the already-strong activism here.
Southwest Earth First! 