Columnist Susan Snyder: Stupidity in park affects all

Saturday, Oct. 28, 2000 | 3:35 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

You should be angry.

About a month ago a guy trotted into Arches National Park with his camera equipment, four foil turkey roasters, an arm load of fake fire logs and did something so stupid it defies belief.

Arches sits just north of Moab, Utah. The centerpiece of this wondrous collection of salmon-colored geology is Delicate Arch -- a formation that appears on Utah's license plate and is the image most often associated with the state.

Each year more than 300,000 people make the arduous, 1.5-mile trek along slickrock ledges to see this towering symbol of the Southwest.

Late on Sept. 18 or early Sept. 19, the man toted his odd cache to the base of Delicate Arch. He placed one pan under it, one pan near each massive leg and one pan in a wash a few feet away. He dumped the logs into the pans and lit them to create light for his photos.

It's unclear what exactly happened between the time this photographer finished his work and the next morning, when a visitor reported the smoldering, black mess left behind.

A 3-by-6-foot scorch mark blackened the sandstone directly under the arch, while the other two fires left 2-foot-wide scorches next to the legs, Jim Webster, chief ranger, said. The fire in the wash scorched rock and vegetation there. The logs left waxy goop embedded in the sandstone.

Rangers scrubbed the black stuff with brushes and water, leaving gray shadows where none should be. A stone specialist will determine whether the waxy junk is permanent, Webster said. U.S. attorney's officials in Salt Lake City will decide whether charges should be filed. But the damage is done.

What's most appalling is that the fires were set by Michael Fatali, a famous Southwest photographer who has a popular gallery in Springdale, Utah.

Fatali was conducting a workshop for Friends of Arizona Highways magazine, a nonprofit support group for the 75-year-old travel publication that often publishes his photos. His nighttime project was not part of that workshop.

Win Holden, magazine publisher, says he was stunned. He suspended Fatali for a year and removed his work from the magazine's gift shop.

"Clearly what we have here is Mike obviously displayed remarkably bad judgment," Holden said.

Fatali was on a remote shoot and couldn't be reached for comment. He released a statement Oct. 20 that says he offered Arches officials his "concerns and apologies.

"There was never any attempt to cause damage," he wrote. "We were unaware of any damages that were made. I offered to assist in any way to clean up or repair any damage that may have been caused by this unfortunate incident. "

Fatali's work is legendary. He has been recording the region's images for 16 years. At the very least he should have respected Arches' rules prohibiting fires and known the damage they can cause.

You should be angry. Delicate Arch is a national treasure, and it belongs to you the same as it belongs to people in Utah or Seattle or New York City. It belongs to people who haven't even seen it yet.

"Apologies and concerns" don't seem good enough for them.