The following editorial appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Wednesday, May 7.

The Fisher Towers, made of red sandstone, soar 900 feet above the badlands of Utah. They look like castles on Mars.

In Oregon, Steens Mountain is a “sky island” rising a mile above the surrounding landscape. Hikers find lakes, hot springs, playas, salt-desert scrub, and sand dunes there.

In Colorado, the Roan Cliffs rise above a river valley. The cliffs lead to quiet forests, aspen groves, sagebrush parks, and wildflower meadows.

Anyone looking at such wonderful landscapes would call them wilderness deserving of protection. But the Bush administration does not.

Recently, the Department of the Interior quietly removed 200 million acres from consideration as federally protected wilderness. The move opens those areas to possible logging, mining and drilling for oil and gas. This is a grave mistake.

The sites above are on the list. It also includes old-growth sequoia forests in California, marvelous rock formations in Arizona and the Bering Glacier in Alaska. This nation needs timber, mining and energy production. We need more energy production not only for prosperity, but also to break our dangerous dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

But the best and most beautiful locales must be set aside forever for future generations to enjoy. Our country is blessed with extraordinary natural beauty and we must preserve it.

Our nation recognized this more than a century ago when we began protecting national parks and wildlife refuges. The Wilderness Act of 1964 led to the designation of 106 million wild acres where people may visit but never spoil.

The job of protecting our natural heritage is not yet done. Previous administrations set aside the 200 million acres for consideration as official wilderness. That protected the land from development until Congress could evaluate it. To remove protection from all of it by bureaucratic fiat is irresponsible. The conservation ethic that the majority of Americans embrace must not be casually brushed aside by an administration with close ties to the energy industry.

A balance must be struck between the need for jobs, money and energy, and the need to Refresh The Soul Amid Nature’s Wonders. President George W. Bush has shown repeatedly – by his actions and appointments of industry shills to key environmental posts – that he would tilt that balance too far toward industry. Our children will be the poorer for it, if not in money, then in spirit.