Cedar Breaks--Where Eagles Soar
Hundreds watched eagle release at Cedar Breaks' 72nd anniversary event

Photos by Nick Jorgensen

Hundreds of people gathered at the rim of Cedar Breaks National Monument on August 20, 2005 to celebrate the monument's 72nd anniversary. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established Cedar Breaks as a national monument on August 22, 1933, "for the preservation of the spectacular cliffs, canyons and features of scenic, scientific and educational interest..."

As part of the celebration, Martin Tyner, founder of the Southwest Wildlife Foundation, helped Roland Wood release a six-month-old rehabilitated eagle as a tribute to the Utan National Guaard's 2nd Battalion 222nd Field Artillery serving in Iraq. Mr. Wood recently lost his son, Sgt.1st Class Ronald T. Wood, in the fighting in Iraq.

Cedar Breaks National Monument is a magnificent natural amphitheater more than 10,000 feet above sea level in the pink cliffs of the Claron Foundation 23 miles east of Cedar City, Utah.