Walt Dabney: Why Public Lands Matter
Walt Dabney spent a career protecting some of America’s most treasured landscapes — from Yellowstone and the Everglades to Arches and Canyonlands. This week, he’s coming to Western Colorado to deliver a powerful message: don’t take public lands for granted.
Dabney will be screening his documentary, The History and Future of America's Public Land, followed by a community discussion. You can catch him on Wednesday, September 10 at 7:30 pm at the Sherbino Theater in Ridgway and Thursday, September 11at 7:00 pm at the Ute Museum in Montrose. Both events begin in the evening and are free to attend.
Dabney spoke with KVNF’s Brody Wilson about why these talks matter. “So much of Texas is privately owned,” he said. “If you don’t have your own place… you’re out of luck for the kind of things we take for granted here.”
After decades with the National Park Service and Texas State Parks, Dabney says he began hearing alarming rhetoric: that the federal government shouldn’t own land, or that western states were promised control of federal lands at statehood. Not true, he says — and he points directly to the Constitution and statehood agreements to back that up.
“It would be an absolute irreversible tragedy to lose these lands out of our common ownership,” he told KVNF.
But Dabney’s message isn’t just about access and values. It’s economic, too. Outdoor recreation is now a $1.2 trillion industry in the U.S. In Utah alone, it’s a $9.5 billion business supporting more than 70,000 jobs. He’s not opposed to grazing, drilling, or mining — but says those who use public lands should pay fair market rates, just like they would on private land.
“If you’re going to drill for oil and gas, pay a royalty that is industry standard,” he said. “Just charge what the state does.”
Dabney warns that if states ever take control of federal lands, they’ll quickly discover they can’t afford to manage them — and the likely outcome is that those lands would be sold to the highest bidder.
“That wouldn’t be me,” he said. “Maybe it would be you… but it wouldn’t be me. And we would forever be posted out of it.”
Ultimately, Dabney says public lands belong to everyone — regardless of politics.
“If you’re a hunter, a fisherman, a four-wheel-drive user, a mushroom collector, a mountain biker, a hiker — whatever you are — you’re from every possible political persuasion,” he said. “These lands are your. You own them.”
Marty Durlin: A Life in Story and Song
The second half of this week’s show celebrates a true local treasure: longtime journalist, playwright, and KVNF contributor Marty Durlin.
Durlin is preparing for a special performance at the Blue Sage Center for the Arts in Paonia — a retrospective cabaret titled 50 Years of Songs by Marty Durlin. The free show takes place Friday, September 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. and features 24 original songs from a career that’s touched nearly every part of the North Fork arts community.
“I always aspired to write plays and perform them,” Durlin said. “But nobody ever really wanted to produce them… so I went to my community and said, you can sing, you can play — come be in this play.”
And they did. From small-town stages to public radio newsrooms, Durlin built a life out of community storytelling. She’s written more than 20 musical plays and managed three radio stations, including Boulder's KGNU and Moab's KZMU. She’s also contributed stories to the North Fork Times, High Country News, and, of course, KVNF News.
The upcoming show brings it all full circle. It was Sally Kane, former KVNF general manager, who suggested the idea of a musical retrospective. It quickly grew into something much bigger — a family-and-friends cabaret with 24 local performers singing and acting out scenes from her work.
Even the cheerleaders are making a comeback — characters from one of Marty’s most beloved plays, Back in the Dreamtime, about a 47th high school reunion. And the show truly is a family affair: her granddaughter Poppy Lightfoot will perform, her sister is flying in from Connecticut to perform, and her cousin helped fund the production.
Durlin says the joy comes from seeing her work performed on stage — not just writing it down.
“There’s nothing like the feeling of sitting in an audience and hearing them laugh and cry and applaud for your work,” she said. “Much more than performing myself — it’s just really satisfying.”
