At the northwest edge of Blanding, Utah is the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum with its centerpiece: A 1,000 year old kiva, a circular underground room used by Ancestral Puebloans for ceremonial rites and community gatherings. A kiva is a unique and ideal meeting space for the Colorado Plateau country as it is underground, the extreme edges of outdoor weather are mollified.
Mayor Joe Lyman is understandably proud of this iconic southeastern Utah city of about 3,700 people. The city motto is “Basecamp to Adventure” and Lyman notes that its location and elevation make this claim defendable. Lyman remarks the recent mild winters, cool summers, and perfect springs and fall make this small Utah city one of the best places from which to launch adventures in this inimitable area of the world. He notes that at an elevation of 6,100 above sea-level Blanding is a short two-hour drive south from the top of the snow-capped Abajo Mountains and less than an hour drive north ascending from petroglyphs on the canyon walls of the San Juan River.
Notwithstanding the idyllic setting of Blanding, political tensions run not only deep but near the surface. At a recent town council meeting, there was a unanimous vote to support a resolution asking President Biden to not enlarge the Bears Ears National Monument after the Trump Administration reduced its size.
Like other small Utah cities some locals feel they are best able to manage the resources entrusted to them, they believe, by their pioneer forebears. Those who feel differently–like the Navajo majority who control the County-level government (San Juan County)–and worry that without a larger footprint for this national monument future generations will never know the sublime stillness of the Canyon Country. Feelings run deep over whose desired outcome will best touch the future.
