was a
striking example of a libertarian and environmentalist. In some ways, he believed that the
wilderness represented opportunities for freedom and thus was uncomfortable with certain types
of regulation. On the other hand, he was very aware of how wilderness areas needed to be
protected from exploitation by commercial interests and environmental degradation.
His first priority was keeping wilderness areas wild. That meant not filling them with
roads and concessions. It also meant not subsiding ranching, which was and still is destroying
much of the southwestern desert. He was outraged by the way the ranching interests had captured
so much of western politics leading to "welfare cowboys", i.e. large scale ranching on
public lands subsidized by taxpayers. He saw the system of mining leases and ranching permits as
essentially handouts by the government to small groups of wealthy and influential people. He was
also strongly opposed to the creation of Lake Powell.
Basically, Abbey saw
wilderness as the birthright of all citizens. It should be preserved in a pristine state so that
future generations can continue to enjoy it rather than its being sold off to commercial
interests. He saw wilderness as having inestimable spiritual value that could only be retained
if it stayed wild. He opposed the presence of cars in national parks and saw commercial mass
tourism (e.g. tour buses and helicopters) as destroying the spirit of the wilderness as well as
causing environmental harm.
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