“The word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear”
Re: “Feds reject tourist perks” and “Professors: Kenyan monkey inspired Lorax,” July 24 news stories Tuesday’s edition was quite the revealing issue.
First, we learned that Dartmouth researchers stated that the patas monkey of Kenya was the inspiration for the Lorax character in Dr. Seuss’ book, The Lorax. Then, based on emails mistakenly released by the Interior Department, you exposed Secretary Ryan Zinke’s true identity: the Once-ler, the greedy antagonist who cuts down all the Truffula Trees.
The emails confirmed that information supporting the tourism, cultural and archaeological value of our national monuments was intentionally left out of the survey of monuments. Instead, “Ryan Zinke and his aides tailored their survey of protected sites to emphasize the value of logging, ranching and energy development that would be unlocked,” should these lands lose their monument designation.
They even admitted that they kept these “references out of public view because they were ‘revealing (the) strategy’ behind the review.” Anyone who wants to get a glimpse of what our national monuments will look like once Ryan “Once-ler” Zinke has extracted and exploited their resources (unless our modern Lorax fares better than Dr. Seuss’ ... unless) should have a look at the last few pages of The Lorax . Nick Bottinelli, Denver