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Blake Spalding

@blake_spalding

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Chef/Owner @hellsbackbonegrill&Farm JBFA ‘17 ‘18 ’19 ‘20 ‘22 ‘23 semifinalist outstanding restaurant #metoo #antiracism #climate
#savegrandstaircase

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Grand Staircase-Escalante turned 30 last week. Hell’s Backbone Grill is on its 27th season. That is no accident. Video made possible by @Patagonia

@blake_spalding and I have been sliding into each other’s DMs for years. On this trip we finally met in person. It turns out we are the exact same height, and we get fired up about the exact same things. 😂

Blake and her business partner Jen opened Hell’s Backbone in Boulder, Utah, in 2000. Boulder is a town of about 250 people at the end of a very long road. Today the restaurant is one of the biggest employers in the county. People drive for hours to eat her food, and then they go explore the canyons out the back door. The monument brings them in. The restaurant feeds them. The whole town gets to keep the lights on.

That is good economics. Protected land is like a well that keeps giving water as long as you take care of it. A mine drinks the whole well in one gulp. You get one big payday, and the next generation gets a dry hole.

When the administration cut Grand Staircase this summer, it said the monument was too big for the BLM’s staff and budget to manage. That is like cutting a restaurant’s kitchen crew in half and then saying the menu is too big. The fix is not a smaller menu. The fix is hiring more cooks.

Grand Staircase does not need less protection. It needs more rangers, more scientists, and more funding to care for it. Utahns agree. Seven in ten Utah voters oppose cuts to public lands agencies, and two out of three want these monuments restored.

Happy 30th, Grand Staircase. Happy 27 seasons, @hellsbackbonegrill . Thank you, Blake, for showing all of us what it looks like to love a place and build a life around it.

If you love this place, tell your senators and reps to fund the people who protect it. by @blake_spalding

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20 days ago

The administration’s reduction of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by over 90% will have a tremendous impact on local community members like Blake Spalding of Hell’s Backbone Grill and Farm (@hellsbackbonegrill).

Local businesses surrounding Grand Staircase-Escalante like Hell’s Backbone Grill and Farm, located in Boulder, rely on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument for attracting a steady stream of visitors to the area.

TAKE ACTION today by visiting the link in our bio or by visiting www.conservationlands.org/monuments to get your voice heard as a Public Land Protector. Thank you for speaking up for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument with us.

📹 Footage by:
@hello_mallory
Tim Peterson (@timmydp)
@grandstaircasepartners
Conservation Lands Foundation

📸 Images by:
Tim Peterson (@timmydp)
Bob Wick
Bureau of Land Management
Conservation Lands Foundation

#MonumentsForAll #ProtectGrandStaircase #ProtectPublicLands by @blake_spalding

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3 months ago

Join Blake and Nina in the @bouldermountainlodgeutah common room this Wednesday at 4 pm for an in person (and ghostly) reading, discussion and signing by our dear friend and distinguished author @betsygainesquammen of her JUST RELEASED new book “This Haunted Land- Reckoning with Ghosts and Stories that Shaped America”.

Betsy will take us on a spooky and supernatural road trip across America, from an Underground Railroad site in Ohio to the swamps of Arkansas and through Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. This Haunted Land explores our unsettled past and why we need ghosts and ghost stories to understand human histories. We will offer festive libations and bites as we gather with Betsy by the fire.

Availability for lodging is limited, but we still have a room or two left, definitely call us at 435-335-7460 if you need help finding alternate an alternative place to stay. Afterwards we can all go get yummy dinner from our frisky new restaurant @littlebonefoodtruck ✨👻✨ taken in Boulder Mountain Lodge - Boulder, Utah by @blake_spalding

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5 days ago

Secretary Rollins,
I’m writing to you from Utah, sitting beneath a juniper tree. I’m not far from a road, but the landscape around me is largely untouched by roads, and thank goodness for that.
I’m listening to pinyon jays and magpies, taking a reprieve from the crunch of gravel, billowing dust, automobiles, and OHVs. There is value in having places where those sounds are absent, where a landscape can still feel intact.
I am a Utah resident and have worked professionally in recreation management for more than 20 years. I strongly support public access to our national forests. My concern is not access itself, but how we provide it and what happens when new roads open previously difficult-to-reach areas to greater use.
We should think carefully before building additional roads into some of our remaining roadless areas, especially when public land managers do not have unlimited resources to manage increased use.
I understand the argument that roads can help firefighters reach remote areas during wildfires. But roads do not only provide access to firefighters. More roads can mean more opportunities for human-caused wildfires. Increased use combined with limited resources can increase wildfire risk and threaten homes, property, and lives.
We need to consider not only what a road allows us to do during a fire, but what it invites into the landscape every day before a fire ever starts.
Some places are valuable precisely because they remain roadless. These lands provide wildlife habitat, clean water, connectivity, and quiet recreation.
I urge you to withdraw the proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and keep these protections in place for future generations.
Sincerely,
Citizen of the United States
Utah taken in Hell's Backbone Grill & Farm by @blake_spalding

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11 days ago

Earlier this week I explored some of the vast areas recently removed from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument with some amazing wilderness advocates. Unbelievable that the current administration deems these places to be unworthy of monument designation. The history and legacy of these places are far more valuable than what can be extracted beneath the surface for short term financial gain. taken in Grand Staircase - Escalante by @blake_spalding

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21 days ago

by @blake_spalding

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21 days ago

On July 13, the Trump administration shrunk our national monuments by 90%, the largest shrinkage of protected public lands in US history. Restore the national monuments. Protect public land. taken in Hell's Backbone Grill & Farm by @blake_spalding

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a month ago

I sure am grateful for the tender comfort & ministrations of my animal friends at the end of a long tough day ♥️

Happy 30th birthday to the immeasurable Grand Staircase, I sure hope we can save her from the planet destroyers. taken in Grand Staircase-Escalante Nat'l Mon by @blake_spalding

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a month ago

Happy 30th Birthday Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument!!

What can you do to help protect this immeasurable place? Vote!!!

With the upcoming elections, we all have a chance to impact the future of this democracy. Make a PLAN, check your voter registration, and talk to your friends and family about the importance of voting!

Teaser alert - we’re getting ready to launch a non-profit!! Look for details in our next newsletter — sign up to have it delivered to your inbox at the link in bio!

Come visit us soon! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 by @blake_spalding

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a month ago

HBG is looking for YOU, hot little number! Come to our website for the app, so easy to fill out! We have one bedroom left to rent. We use amazing locally-raised meats. TIME TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE! (This is your sign!) by @blake_spalding

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a month ago

You are cordially invited! Come hunker down with us for the glorious fall season in Boulder, UT. Go directly to our website for the app. 🙌🍽️💖🔪🕺 by @blake_spalding

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2 months ago

We are delighted to welcome the monks back to Boulder! Come join us August 30-September 4th. They have been coming here as our honored guests since our very first season, all the way the back to 2000 🙏

For the past 30 years, the monks of Drepung Loseling have been traveling the world to promote peace and healing by sharing Tibet’s sacred performing and visual arts as part of their tradition that dates back 2,500 years.

Endorsed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, these events are a way to preserve the endangered Tibetan culture, which today leads a fragile existence in the exiled refugee communities in India and Nepal.

During their time with us, the monks will be offering daily meditations, community lunches, lectures, personal blessings and special group Pujas for peace and protection.

We are incredibly honored to have them with us🙏 All of the funds raised during their visit go directly to supporting their monastery in South India, which houses and cares for more than 3,000 Tibetan refugee monks.

We’re profoundly grateful to the monks of Drepung Loseling for traveling to our small town in the high desert and look forward to warmly welcoming them back. Visit the link in bio or our website for more details, sign ups, and a daily schedule!

Photos: @acekvale and @gulbingottlieb taken in Boulder Mountain Lodge - Boulder, Utah by @blake_spalding

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2 months ago