Athletes Say They Removed Utah Monolith Because Of Enviromental Concerns

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) A gleaming monolith found deep in the Utah desert was striking, a mysterious beacon that immediately captured the attention of a world grappling with a punishing pandemic casting a pall over the holiday season.

Revealed publicly shortly before Thanksgiving, it drew hundreds of people to remote, red-rock country to see and touch the otherworldly edifice that evoked both science-fiction films and the states famous land-art works.

But the newcomers also flattened plants with their cars and left behind human waste in the bathroom-free backcountry. Now, two men known for extreme sports in Utahs sweeping outdoor landscapes say it was that kind of damage that made them step in late at night and tear it down.

Sylvan Christensen and Andy Lewis have large online followings for their posts about skydiving-like BASE jumping and slacklining, which is like walking an outdoor tightrope. In videos posted on Instagram and YouTube, they said they were part of a group that pushed down the hollow stainless-steel structure and took it away in a wheelbarrow.

Christensen said in a statement provided to media outlets late Tuesday that the land wasnt prepared for the influx and its federal managers couldnt hope to keep up.

The mystery was the infatuation and we want to use this time to unite people behind the real issues here we are losing our public lands things like this dont help, he wrote.

He said the group supports art and artists but said it was an ethical failure to cut into the rock to erect the monolith, and the damage caused by the internet sensationalism was worse.

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