Federal land sale carries a high price

Re “Eyes in the West Are on Federal Land Sale,” June 6

As I read of the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act, I kept humming Woody Guthrie’s song, “This Land Is Your Land.” Some parts of this land should belong to all of us, not individuals. When Europeans came to the New World, they brought with them a European view of land and its use. Land was to be “owned” and developed. This was contrary to the views of the Native Americans, who had a holistic view of the world surrounding them.

This land was made for you and me, not just for you or your luxury-home-building developers.

ARNIE MOORE

Sherman Oaks

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So let me get this straight. According to the article, St. George, Utah, is a “city of about 70,000 where the per capita consumption of water is already twice the national average.” So the city fathers in their infinite wisdom are going to do the smart thing: sell off the natural beauty of the place, the reason most people move there, to pay for a pipeline so they can use even more water. Have they never heard of water conservation?

BOB PESCOVITZ

Los Angeles

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I have two questions for the sponsors of legislation to sell public land in southern Utah: How many people in Washington County want to trade their backyard wilderness for more urban sprawl, pollution, traffic jams and big-box department stores? And where is the morality in selling land that belongs to all citizens of this country to benefit a few politically well-connected developers?

ALAN COLES

Long Beach