but i think this trial will be kind of a key indicator of where we're really at as a society and whether we're willing to justify the continued exploitation of not only our natural world, but our younger generations, and whether we're willing, as a society, to start standing up against that kind of exploitation. [ken salazar] it's inappropriate for people to break the law, and in that particular case there are laws that don't allow for the disruption of oil and gas leases, and other laws that may have been broken. [kathleen sgamma] well, i think it's unfortunate that he felt compelled to take a drastic action. i think if he had realized that natural gas and oil development is a small and temporary impact on the land he might not have taken the action,

and he's now facing jail time and a fairly substantial fine potentially because of that action. i don't think it was appropriate first of all he broke the law; you can't go into a livestock or an art auction and bid and then just say, "i didn't really mean it". [robert redford] i think first of all, he represents the voice of a young person, which i think is wonderful because i think young people are going to inherit what we've done with this land. [narrator] passions run hot on all sides of the conservation issue. some have drawn comparisons between dechristopher's actions and the protest ride at paria canyon. mike noel no one took anything from anybody on that ride. mr. dechristopher, on the other hand, took millions of dollars away from the taxpayers, and monkey-wrenched a lease sale that cost the taxpayers millions, including the input from the state of utah,

and the environmental community parades him around as a hero. that's the wrong message to give. [tim dechristopher] they called what they were doing civil disobedience, and then i found it interesting that when law enforcement officials were just taking pictures of them and collecting the evidence, they were outraged at that and said that they had no right to be doing that, and they didn't seem very willing to accept the consequences of their action. [narrator] vernal, utah depends on the oil and gas industry. united states asst. secretary of the interior david hayes came to vernal. he met an unhappy, vocal community worried about jobs and dependence on foreign oil.

[bill hall] when people pull up to the gas pump they need to think in their mind, you know what, where does this really come from? it's not from that gas pump, it comes from under the ground, and without oil and gas leases, and drilling, and production, and completion, we're not going to have this, and this is going to weaken our country. [heidi mcintosh] people are coming to realize we're never going to drill our way into energy independence in this country. our resources are much, much too meager. [narrator] trucker bill hall of vernal feels his way of life is threatened by the failing economy. [bill hall] i personally, i don't want no severance package; i don't want any handouts from the government. i just want my job back, and to go to work, i can honestly say i speak for thousands of people. [ken salazar] i would say to that man that i understand his pain, and that we are doing things to develop our conventional fuel resources, but also that the future of our planet,

the future for his own economic well being and that of his children and grandchildren will depend very much on how we sustain our treasured landscapes so that they can continue to be economic engines of our country. [kathleen sgamma] i think it's results from this misleading of the public that it's an either-or question, either we sacrifice the land to energy development or we have natural gas and oil. in reality, that's a false choice. we can develop our natural gas and oil and at the same time protecting the lands that we love. {robert redford] that, to me, is where the long view comes in, and i think this way of thinking about oil and gas leases, trying to put them on public lands that belong to the public, they don't belong to energy corporations, they don't belong to people in congress either, they don't belong to legislatures. they belong to the public, and they should be preserved for the public. [narrator] tim dechristopher initiated

his action partially motivated by another of the west's most hotly debated topics: climate change. [tim dechristopher] i'm guided by most of our best scientists who are seeing this threat to our very civilization. [narrator] former vice president al gore won the nobel peace prize for his work on climate change. [al gore] the trajectory that we have been on is one that leads toward catastrophe. [mike noel] the chinese are building power plants. the indians in india are building power plants. we can't just crush our economy and take jobs out of our economy to meet a very minimal amount of increased climate in our country. [jayne belnap] the western u.s. is warming much more quickly than the rest of the country. in fact, the bull's eye is about on the four corners area of colorado, new mexico, utah and arizona. [senator bob bennett] i think we need to take time looking at the question

of emissions and, if possible, do everything we can to cut down the emissions, but i'm not one who says it's inevitable that the climate is going to be destroyed in the next 50 to 100 years. [narrator] small towns of the west struggle with boom and bust economy. many search for an economic engine that will preserve a rural way of life. sigurd, utah, like a number of small towns, is caught in the middle. a coal-fired power plant is proposed. some want the economy and jobs energy production could bring. others worry about the cost to the environment and their way of life. [rodney clark] the united states is the saudi arabia of coal. we have more coal reserves than other countries.

we have enough coal for 2 or 3, probably 300 years, and probably more if we look for it. [bruce babbitt] there's presently no such thing as clean coal. in the ads that you read and the propaganda that you see from the industry advertising clean coal is patently false. [narrator] the torgerson timber mill in bicknell, utah is silent on most days. the family business is run by brothers ryan and john torgerson. [john torgerson] we figured this would be what we'd do for the rest of our lives. just like my dad did. narrator they say their business is enduring hard times due to too many regulations. [ryan torgerson] well it's pretty tough to work with the environmental community; they don't support logging.

they file appeals against forest service timber sales and tie it up in litigation making it so you can't, log the timber, and it's pretty tough. [heidi mcintosh] i think that wilderness gets controversial because it is about not just the land sometimes, but it's about the cultural divide between the people who live near wilderness areas. [narrator] the conservation debate is focused by a logging mill in a small town. on one side, is what some view as preservation of forests. on the other, is an historic way of life.

if national parks are a gauge of interest, america seems to crave the outdoors. wilderness and national parks are managed by different standards and laws. it's a summer day in yellowstone national park; the nation's first national park. gateway cities like west yellowstone bustle. traffic snarls yellowstone roads as if a major city. the park resembles anything but the tranquility sought. animals that make a brief appearance find an adoring crowd. they are the rock stars of the national park world.

rocky mountain bighorn sheep walk precarious cliffs oblivious to crowds below. yellowstone's elk are accustomed to traffic. they blend in as if just another tourist themselves. scenic wonders like artist's point are crowded with tourists. natural beauty is an attraction. early leaders of the wilderness movement saw development of the national parks as commercialization. is this conservation or is access simply a part of american democracy? it's an enduring question of the great debate.

wilderness wouldn't be wilderness without the animals of the west. controversy continues regarding the endangered species act and specifically grizzly bears and wolves. wolves are the most controversial animals in the wilderness war. wolves were re-introduced to yellowstone national park in 1995. wolves were largely extinct in the lower 48 states by the early 1900s. bruce babbitt was president clinton's secretary of the interior. he was instrumental in returning wolves to yellowstone.

[bruce babbitt] it was a statement that says, there's room for grazing on the western landscape, but ranchers do not have a right to cleanse the landscape of all other forms of wildlife that, in any way, interfere with cattle and sheep. [narrator] martin davis runs a ranch near the banks of the yellowstone river. the ranch has been in his family for 45 years. the land is worth significant money; probably far more than can ever be made from ranching. it's a life he is reluctant to give up. [martin davis] the decision is being made elsewhere, be it east coast-washington, or wherever, and it's just like the gators down in florida. i know nothing about gators, why should i tell floridians

what to do with their gators, and it's the same thing here. why should someone out of our neck of the woods be telling us what we do with our country here? [narrator] for some, the return of wolves symbolized wilderness and an animal that rightly belonged in yellowstone. for many ranchers, it was the return of an historic adversary. [narrator] wildlife of the west compete for a sometimes fragile resource; the land. a roundup of wild horses takes place in the high desert of utah.

a helicopter chases them to a hidden trap. wild horses compete with cattle and native species like deer and antelope. their numbers are considered too high by agencies, which manage them. the result is surplus horses who become wards of the government. protection is given by the 1971 wild horse and burro act. adoptable wild horses outnumber demand. many wild horses remain in holding facilities. new proposals call for sanctuaries for surplus horses. wild horses represent a choice. some see an enduring symbol of the freedom of the west. others see a feral pest to be eradicated.

an uncertain future waits. senator robert bennett was instrumental in passing the washington county lands bill in 2009. it protects the red cliffs in southern utah near saint george. it's considered a model of compromise for competing interests. [senator bob bennett] bill meadows of the wilderness society came in to see me. we were very frank with each other, and that was a breakthrough, because many of the times, earlier, when i've talked with representatives of the environmental community, they were not up front with me. [william meadows] congress has to pass the bills to designate wilderness,

and we need to find support locally. so when i sit down with the local people i find that they love the land as much as i do. they're afraid of designations or something that is permanent. but once you sit down and talk about the natural values that need to be protected, and if you can do that in the context of what's necessary for economic development, how do you honor social and cultural values in those communities? you can find a way to come to common ground. [narrator] a resident of the red cliffs is getting special attention. the endangered desert tortoise is protected. biologist ann mcluckie conducts research on desert tortoises. a mirror is used to look inside a tortoise's den. [ann mcluckie] increasing recreation, increasing human populations, increasing roads and fragmentation

will all impact tortoises negatively. we need additional protection. [narrator] the virgin river was granted wild and scenic status in the washington county lands bill; the virgin river and its tributaries flow through zion national park. the colorado's main tributary, the green, is being considered for wild and scenic status. the green river's still canyons offer solitude and tranquility before meeting the colorado at their confluence in canyonlands national park. cataract canyon offers some of north america's most challenging white water in high runoff years. the colorado provides great economic benefit to expanding cities and agriculture.

it comes at a price. the colorado rarely reaches its historic rendezvous with the gulf of california in mexico. it runs dry in the burning sands of mexico before reaching its delta in most years; a delta where jaguars once roamed green, lush wetlands. [robert redford] there are too many dams you should take dams out, let the water flow naturally the way it used to. if something isn't done pretty quick that takes us back to where we were in a more natural state, then we're going to have a serious problem, we've already got a problem, which we can see. water is a huge problem, because it's a reflection of global warming and out of control development, and that has to be brought back into order.

[narrator] a refuge lies in the great salt lake of the american west. the great salt lake is an anomaly; a body of salt water far from the shores of an ocean. gunnison island is a visit to a sanctuary; nestled in the security of an inland sea. it is home to colonies of american white pelicans. white beaches of encrusted salt are ringed by magenta water; so-colored by algae and salinity. biologists hope to learn more about threats to american white pelicans; including those, which are man-made.

[john neill] there's concern that the mercury in the lake, although it's salt water and there are no fish that live in the great salt lake, there is concern that mercury is getting into the surrounding wetlands either through precipitation from the atmosphere or historic use, such as mining or other industrial activity. [narrator] evasive feelings of the wild define gunnison island. it's the same emotion and beauty, which inspired countless writers to describe a cherished, memorable wilderness. the moment is elusive in a modern world yet an inspiration for wilderness. the sounds are a symphony of birds.

[narrator] new wilderness bills are debated such as the red rock wilderness bill. it could encompass 9.4 million acres. this proposal continues a discussion of some 20 years. [mike swenson] that is more acreage than a lot of eastern states that we would essentially lock up and throw away the key. really, the access to wilderness is next to none, and the ability to manage the land and resources within those wilderness boundaries is very difficult. it is unacceptable. [robert redford] if we don't start thinking about what we're going to preserve on our planet, there'll be nothing to live on or buy. so, to me that short-term thinking is the greatest threat to wilderness.

wilderness stands as a symbol of what are we going to preserve for our own dignity, heritage, our own state of being and mind. [narrator] early explorers to the west found their footprints quickly blown away by the wind. the wild places of the world now face competing interests and ever-increasing population. that single footprint is now multiplied several billion-fold. [robert redford] i can't predict the future, nobody can. i can only say that there'll be people like myself, and i'm just one person, that will continue to fight for preserving something that i think is a great symbol of why america is great, and it's a physical symbol, and it's a natural symbol, and we're so lucky to have it. if we take it away, to me it would almost be criminal. [mike swenson] it's because we love it that we will continue to protect it. if we turn it into wilderness, and lock it up

and throw away the key, and all we ever get to do is look at pretty pictures on the wall of what wilderness is, in a few generations, will we continue to protect it? will we continue to love it like we have? i don't think so. [narrator] can anything wild survive overwhelming population? powerful forces, all of whom think right is on their side, compete for the land. the right of stewardship is questioned as to who loves the land most and to whom should should it be entrusted. [mike noel] it seems to be in their best interest to create controversy and to really squash down local communities, to pile on industry, even though the industry is creating jobs and not harming the environment. they don't seem to want common ground. [tim dechristopher] the environmental movement has always been defensive. it's always been where someone wants to destroy this much

and the environmental community convinces them only to destroy this much. [narrator] ultimately, wilderness of the west belongs to the american people who should control its fate. [rick draney] i understand that they are just as passionate about their views and their opinions and their perspectives. but i think there is still plenty of room and plenty of space to have some meaningful dialogue and find some common ground, somewhere in the middle. [robert redford] i think the greatest point to be made, to be brought around, is think about your children, and theirs and theirs, and those yet to come. [narrator] the great debate is about planet earth. the answers will determine its future.

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>> there's a saying around here: you stand behind what you say. around here, we don't make excuses, we make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where it's needed most. but i know you'll still find it, when you know where to look.