Bates Wilson-Interview with Bates Wilson of Canyonlands -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 2/10/2006
Last Visited: 5/23/2008
Bates Wilson
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Bates Wilson has been Superintendent of Arches National Monument since 1949, (and of Canyonlands National Park since its designation in 1964).In the National Park Service, he is what is known as a "homesteader" because most personnel in the Service can plan on re-assignment every two to four years.
Bates is a country boy at heart.He admits to being a terrible desk man and suspects that may be partly why he has remained in what he considers a "horseback" job at Arches and Canyonlands -- which is a sort of horseback country, with or without Park Service designation.
Not long after his initial assignment to Arches, he was out discovering the canyonlands area for himself, and it was inevitable that his enthusiasm for it became an avocation of National park status for the area.
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Somewhere along the way, Bates Wilson acquired the appellation of "Mr.Canyonlands".It is doubtful that the title could be contested.
Western Gateways: Bates, how long after reaching Arches National Monument in April of 1949 did it take you to start getting involved in the Canyonlands area?
Bates Wilson: My first view of it was that same spring, from an airplane.
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Bates Wilson: It didn't, much, except with us.
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Bates Wilson: Oh, yes!
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Bates Wilson: Well, there had been some limited ones.
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Bates Wilson: Yes, but something else happened in between.Shortly after he took office, The Secretary flew in to address a superintendents' conference being held at Grand Canyon.En route, he passed over the Canyonlands area, and apparently circled several times above the confluence of the rivers.Before delivering his address he sent for me and said, "I understand that you are familiar with the area adjacent to the junction of the Green River and Colorado River?"I replied that I was very interested in it."What can you tell me about it?", he asked.I said that I'd explored the Needles area on the east side quite thoroughly, and had been trying to recommend it, and that I'd been on he north end between the rivers, but not on the west side."Well," he said, "this looks to me like a terrific area for a national park."
I hadn't met him until then, but apparently he knew more about me than I though he did.During his speech he said that he "had just been talking to the 'Old Homesteader' from Arches concerning the land adjacent to the confluence of the Green and Colorado."he said, "I've also just completed a flight over the area and I can see two or three national parks right there."At the time the Park Service was starting to encourage is superintendents to recommend new areas because many of our other areas were just getting jammed with people.So he was brining this out in his talk to the superintendents as a way of recommending the area.From then on, there was real interest.
Western Gateways: And then came the much-publicized trip by the Secretary all through the area.
Bates Wilson: That's right.
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Bates Wilson: Oh, I think so.Of course the size was cut back a lot, and there actually are still some multiple uses on it.One is an oil well on the Island In The Sky.
Western Gateways: Wasn't that particular oil well drilled after Canyonlands became a national park?
Bates Wilson: Yes, but they held a lease at the time the park was set aside.
Western Gateways: If a major oil discovery should be made there, is there any limit on recovery?
Bates Wilson: Apparently no.
western Gateways: Wouldn't a large field create problems?
Bates Wilson: It could.
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Bates Wilson: There are some claims still inside the park, and these people are entitled to access to them, but generally the interest has faded out.The revived market for uranium may cause some development of good existing claims, but you realize no new prospecting or staking of claims is allowed.Just claims that were valid before creation of the park can be mined.
Western Gateways: As long as the assessment work has been done.
Bates Wilson: No, it isn't even necessary for them to do that.
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Bates Wilson: No, not at all!But the reason for the assessment work requirement is to keep the claim valid so that someone else isn't entitled to jump it.Since we protect claims inside he park against new filings, the guy with a valid claim is sitting pretty.He is protected by the park status, and doesn't have to spend his assessment money for annual improvements.
Western Gateways: It's been proposed that the boundaries of Canyonlands National Park be enlarged by the addition of certain lands, including Dead Horse Point.Will you outline this for us?
Bates Wilson: Of course.
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Bates Wilson: I don't know.
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Bates Wilson: Well, as the name implies it's a complex network of canyons, and it does require a great deal of walking or riding horseback to cover it.The canyons are big, long, and twisting.A man could spend two weeks in there on foot and never cover the whole thing.
Western Gateways: How much area is involved?
Bates Wilson: The whole enlargement proposal is around 121,000 acres, of which Dead Horse Point is about 21,000.The rest of it would be made up mostly of The Maze country.
Western Gateways: Must the Maze area be seen from down inside, or are there overlook points?
Bates Wilson: You can get by jeep to some overlook points that are terrific.One from near Elaterite Butte, on the north side is especially wonderful in the morning and evening sun.
Western Gateways: It would be hard to administer an area cut off from the rest of the park by the rivers, wouldn't it?
Bates Wilson: We'd have to establish a district ranger station in the vicinity of course.Maybe at French Springs on top, with a sub-district somewhere near Waterhole Flat.Those are two control points.Water is the big problem.
Western Gateways: What is your appraisal of the proposal to construct a scenic parkway along the west side of Lake Powell and through Canyonlands to connect the Page, Arizona area with the Grand Junction, Colorado area?
Bates Wilson: I think it's good, and one way of letting the visitor get off transcontinental highway to see some spectacular country.Once they get down this way twenty miles they start getting into the red rocks and get interested.Most of what has been done so far is just reconnaissance, trying to figure out what points should be connected, and how to cross the river - - if it's feasible to cross it.
Western Gateways: If we remember correctly, you don't favor crossing the river inside the park?
Bates Wilson: No!
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Bates Wilson: Taking it from the north, it would start at Colorado National Monument, go south through Glade Park and down to the triangle between the Dolores and Colorado Rivers.Then across the Dolores River and down along the Colorado River to the Moab bridge, along the north bank almost to Potash, then out Long Canyon.
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Bates Wilson: There are a number of federal and state agencies involved, as well as private interest groups.We recently completed a trip in the Waterpocket Fold area with a group of conservationist people, he sierra Club, Wilderness Society, Wasatch Mountain Club, and Western River Guides Association to show them on the ground a proposed line for a road across Waterpocket Fold.We had a great number of letters about a plan which was published using a pretty nebulous map, and not one of them had been on the ground, so we made this trip with them to look at the actual terrain.
Western Gateways: Is this part of your job as National park Service Coordinator for the state of Utah?
Bates Wilson: That's right.
Western Gateways: Sounds like what you call a "horseback" job.
Bates Wilson: Yes, I have an office in Salt Lake, manned five days a week by an Information Specialist, and I try to get up there about once a week.All of the state offices and many federal offices are there, and it works out very well as a way of getting things done personally - - much more effective than by letter.It's a job with no set schedule, and that often has to be played by ear.A lot of the work is in he field, too - - such as the trip I just mentioned.
Western Gateways: What's your favorite part of Canyonlands park?
Bates Wilson: I can't really say I have a favorite.
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Bates Wilson: yes, that's very true, even though great numbers don't run the rapids below the confluence.
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Bates Wilson: We're setting one up, and hope we can make it stick.There are so many places for boaters to put in, it's a little difficult to contact them all.I don' think they want to sneak in, they're just not taking advantage of out being there.
Western Gateways: Bates, what do you think are the
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