To the Wyoming Association of Churches, the Red Desert is a sacred area that we must do what we can to protect its beauty from being destroyed. Wyoming has many protected areas of beauty such as the Tetons and Yellowstone, but none of the beautiful aspects of the Red Desert are protected.

The Red Desert Rendezvous sponsored by the Wyoming Association of Churches June 18-19, 2011 attracted more than 50 participants from around Wyoming in cooperation with several Wyoming environmental groups to bring attention to the uniqueness of the Red Desert in southwestern Wyoming. Tours highlighted Adobe
Town, Boar's Tusk, Honey Comb Buttes, sand dunes, petroglyphs, wild life and spring flowers. This was in follow up to four Red Desert awareness events in Wyoming held in Laramie, Casper, Lander and Rock Springs.

The Red Desert is where 80% of the world's pronghorn live and the only habitat for desert elk on earth. It has North America's largest moving sand dunes, 75 miles long and 3 miles wide. All of this is vulnerable to development. We believe that in the United States we should be able to afford to protect our deserts.

But preservation of even parts of the Red Desert is a challenge with the pressure to mine the gas and oil there. "What the Bible is all about is the relationship of politics and theology," notes Rev. Warren Murphy. Warren, past WAC executive director, is the coordinator of the Red Desert awareness work for WAC. This work is funded in part by the National Council of Churches.

For more information about the Wyoming Association of Churches work to protect the Red Desert, contact Rev.
Warren Murphy at warrencmurphy@gmail.com.