It took millions of years to create the delicate sandstone arches and swirling crimson towers that rise over southern Utah's Redrock Wilderness. But it would take only days for unbridled oil and gas development to destroy this world-renowned natural treasure.

For eight years, the Bush administration maneuvered to turn redrock country -- a safe haven for antelope, bighorn sheep and other wildlife -- into a maze of drill rigs, pipelines, roads and waste pits. The rapid growth of unrestricted off-road vehicle use is also a gathering threat to the spectacular landscapes of this region.

In 2008, NRDC’s legal team joined forces with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and won an appeals court decision that protects thousands of acres of stunning redrock country from oil and gas drilling. A separate court order has blocked a giveaway of redrock wildlands engineered by the Bush administration in its final days. Now it's time for the Obama administration to protect these lands for good.