John,
Thanks to our dedicated members and supporters, a tremendous milestone has been achieved: The iconic Zion Narrows Trail — every foot of it — is now safe from development and open to the public … forever!
That’s not to say that our work in and around Zion National Park is complete. We have a lot more to do, and we need your help to do it. But first I want to tell you about our recent success.
A large stretch of the trail is actually outside of the park. Most of that exterior portion passes through protected land. But a section of the trail, just before it enters Zion National Park, crossed through a privately owned parcel called Simon Gulch.
Thanks to a lot of hard work and the support of our members, all 880 acres of Simon Gulch are now protected with a conservation easement, which guarantees permanent public access to the last at-risk section of the Narrows Trail.
As I said, our work here is far from over. Roughly 3,000 acres inside Zion National Park itself are privately owned. All across the country, approximately 2.6 million acres of private or state-owned land sits inside the borders of our National Park System.
John, you understand the importance of our mission to protect land and create parks for people. Now I’m asking you to help support that mission. I need you to become a member of The Trust for Public Land and support our efforts to protect land in Zion, in all our national parks, and all across the country.
Zion Narrows Trail came by its name honestly. Its route follows the Virgin River into a deep slot canyon with sculpted sandstone walls soaring more than a thousand feet overhead. And for much of the 16-mile trek, the canyon is so narrow that hikers have nowhere to walk but in the rocky streambed itself.
All of us at The Trust for Public Land have worked hard to keep the Zion Narrows Trail open and accessible to future generations of park lovers. I hope I can count on you to help us protect and preserve other public lands as well.
Sincerely,
Kim Elliot
Director of Membership
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