Red (Cliffs National Conservation Area) Iron in the red cliffs and my blood caused a star to explode billions of year-ago and helped create other heavy metals like the gold of the Golden Plates. The St. George Temple is made from the red sandstone of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area and the black igneous rock from a million-year-old volcanic eruption. These rocks were then plastered white to symbolize purity. Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, established in 1997, was created to protect the Mojave desert tortoise, a federally listed endangered species, from the rapid urban expansion in the area. Here, many sensitive desert species, and the lands that sustain them, are protected by making most forms of human use illegal on them. This is also the area where I, like the protagonist in Nina Simone's "Sinnerman," "ran to rock" for protection and sustenance after I left my religion.
