Mission - A Life In The Desert

Our Mission

Our mission is to use Steve Allen’s story and intimate knowledge of southern Utah to inspire passionate and joyful advocacy for Wilderness designation and public lands protections.

Why it matters

Southern Utah – a world-renowned landscape known as the redrock wilderness – is threatened by a convergence of political, economic, and environmental pressures like never before. Aided by allies in the White House, powerful extractive industries—oil, gas, and mining—continue to push for new and expanded development in fragile landscapes, often with weakened environmental oversight. In the halls of Congress, proposals are circulating to erode bedrock environmental laws like The Wilderness Act through border militarization and expanded motorized recreation. Once fringe efforts to break and dismantle the US system of federal public lands have new allies in the State of Utah and its elected officials. The threats are coming from every direction.

Southern Utah’s unique geology, shaped over millennia by natural forces, is at risk of being carved away by short-term profit and decisions that ignore long-term stewardship, threatening biodiversity and Indigenous cultural sites in the face of ever-increasing climate change. Without public vigilance and advocacy, the core values that define our public lands could be lost to development and neglect.

These landscapes require our ongoing commitment to advocate for their protection before they are permanently altered. A Life in the Desert inspires and invites public land lovers to join a movement to defend these landscapes for future generations.

Impact Statement

In collaboration with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), we are launching a national impact initiative with this film to promote passage of America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act— landmark federal legislation that would safeguard more than 8 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Utah as Wilderness. Through screenings, partnerships, and digital storytelling, we will invite audiences across the country to reconnect with the wild places that define our shared heritage and take action to defend them at this critical time.

As the film is released, viewers will be provided with direct, actionable ways to get involved, including sending a letter to their members of Congress urging the passage of the America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act. By combining the emotional power of film with the practical tools of civic engagement, this campaign aims to inspire a groundswell of public support that ensures these lands remain unspoiled for generations to come.

“Steve reminds us that loving the land is only the beginning – acting to preserve it is the true measure of that love.”

– Bert Fingerhut

Board Chair Emeritus, The Wilderness Society

Directors Statement

I grew up in the Southwest, where the desert was both a playground and teacher. From an early age, I fell in love with its silence, its scale, and its sense of mystery. I learned that these lands were not empty spaces but living systems — fragile, complex, and deeply interconnected. I began to see the forces that threatened to change them: roads carving deeper into canyons, drilling rigs on the horizon, a slow erosion of what makes these places wild. I wanted to help, but I didn’t yet know how. Then I met Steve Allen.

For more than eight years, Steve and I have been hiking together — exploring remote canyons, tracing the routes he first mapped decades ago, and sharing countless hours in the backcountry. Over time, we’ve become close friends. That friendship has allowed me to tell his story with an honesty and depth that could only come from time and shared experiences.

Steve is a legendary desert rat, and explorer, who has devoted his life to documenting Utah’s wild lands. Through tens of thousands of miles and decades of work, he’s discovered, documented, and mapped archaeology and cultural sites. His life reminds us that wilderness protection is not an abstract political idea; it’s an act of love.

Visually, I want this film to amplify the enormity and scale of Utah’s canyon country — vast, patient, and alive. We filmed in the changing light of dawn and dusk, letting the wind, water, and silence carry as much emotion as any interview. The goal is to create an experience that moves beyond advocacy into reverence — to help audiences feel why these lands are sacred and irreplaceable.

At its heart, A Life in the Desert is a call to protect what remains wild. The threats to Utah’s red rock wilderness — from unchecked development to political neglect — have never been more urgent. Through our partnership with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, this film gives audiences a tangible way to act: by supporting the passage of the America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, a bill that would safeguard more than 8 million acres of public land for generations to come.

This story is about legacy — Steve’s, but also ours. I hope viewers walk away inspired not only to visit these places, but to stand up for them. Wilderness has the power to heal, to humble, and to remind us of our shared responsibility to the Earth. This film is my way of saying thank you to the desert — and an invitation for others to help ensure it endures.

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