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Show A5 Castle Valley Review, February 2009 Continued from Previous Page. sion. For those in the Castle Valley area who have lost a loved one in the preceding month, we give our condolences. We will print the obituary as a tribute in the newspaper and invite the family members to expand upon the obituary for the printed version if it is their desire, to pay tribute to the loved one who has passed away. In developing our management strategy in how we can help provide the news of the area, it is our intent to offer the Castle Valley Review and the Castle Valley Review Online as two distinct products. The online version will offer news as we learn of it and as it develops. The printed version will focus on news and personality features and detail upcoming events in the area. Together, we hope the two products will help keep the area informed and entertained. My View Some of the features available in the printed version may not be available in the online version, and vice versa. For instance, in the online version we list not only our own classifieds, but the classifieds detailed on KOAL Radio’s Barter Bar. The Barter Bar listings are printed online each week and the Castle Valley Review classifieds are updated daily as they are submitted to our office. As with the Barter Bar listings on KOAL, the Castle Valley Review classifieds are provided as a community service free of charge. How and when people read about the news of their community is rapidly changing and it is our hope that we can offer our readers the best of both worlds. A printed product that shares news and features on the people and places of Castle Valley that make us what we are that can be read at your leisure, and an online product where you can learn of events impacting your Our nation recently elected and inaugurated a new administration and with it will come many new appointments at positions that determine how public lands in the United States, Utah and ultimately Emery County are managed. President Obama campaigned on a platform of “change,” and we shall now see what exactly that change means locally. Energy related resources, recreation issues and wilderness designation are certain to generate much interest and controversy in the near future. Zebra Mussel infestation is potentially the major issue that is being evaluated at this time. However, there are so many unknowns currently that I’ll refrain from addressing it here. Even prior to Mr. Obama taking office, his spokesmen were making bold statements about reversing energy policy of the prior administration and rewriting guidelines for oil, gas and oil shale leasing. A gas lease sale held by the Bureau of Land Management in December is being challenged in court as I write this. Head- That position differs greatly from the Utah Wilderness Coalition for example, who contend that an additional 937,000 acres, or slightly more than 50 percent of Emery County qualifies for wilderness designation. ” line after headline has proclaimed how the parcels offered in this sale would impact national parks and other visually valuable areas. In-state organizations, national organizations and entertainment personalities have been quick to weigh in on the issue and are appealing to President Obama to radically limit exploration and development. What will be accomplished by all the emotional appeals and litigation of this gas lease sale is the testing of BLM’s recently completed Resource Management Plans for a major portion of the state. We will see how Submissions Policy foremost a resource for community information. With that said, we invite reader comment on the newspaper. If you like a column or article, or if you don’t, let us know. We strive to produce the best newspaper that we can and public comment on our successes, or shortfalls, is one way that we can improve. We also invite and welcome reader input on any issue impacting the community and will print letters to the editor each month in the printed version of the newspaper. Online letters may be printed as they are submitted and verified if the subject matter is of a timely nature. At the Castle Valley Review we realize that our approach to the news is not a traditional one. That is by design. We celebrate that fact and hope that you, the reader, enjoys learning about your neighbors, your friends and your community within the pages of your newspaper. Changes Ahead for Public Lands Issues? Ray D. Petersen “ life as they happen. For our advertisers we offer both the printed and online products as well and many of the ads you see in the printed version of the Review will also be found online. We encourage all of our readers to support the businesses of the Castle Valley area. Together, we can weather any economic storm. If you have news or information that you want to share with the community, we invite you to contact us. We can be reached by phone at 435-7482541; by fax at 435-748-2543; by email at editor@castlevalleyreview.com, and in person at 685 South, Main Street, Orangeville, Utah, 84537. We offer a number of items at the Review for free that most newspaper charge for, including free classified advertising for individuals and households, free society items, and free obituaries. We do so because we consider ourselves first and thoroughly the plans were prepared and if, over the course of eight years, they were compiled in a legal manner. Another energy related process that has been running a parallel course to the writing of the RMPs is the permitting process of the Lila Canyon Coal Mine. The Lila Canyon story has been ignored at the state and national level because despite Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance’s best efforts, they have been unable to derail it. Those media that rerun stories of environmental organizations “victories” ad nauseam don’t ascribe news worthiness to licensing of energy production industries that will come on line. Witness the recent event where California Edison proposed construction of a power plant that would utilize (everyone take a deep breath)….coal! Never made the headlines in LA, or Salt Lake. Despite California’s proclaimed aversion to dirty old fossil fuel, one of their major utility companies is exploring this option to maintain base load power for times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, a former Colorado Senator, may have more of a moderate stance on oil and gas development than others within the new administration. He supported limited oil and gas activities in some sensitive areas as opposed to advocating a totally hands off stance. Those of us who live in Castle Valley continue to recreate on public land in a wide variety of ways. We camp, boat, hike, hunt, ride, picnic, reunite and take leisurely Sunday drives. And although we aren’t growing dramatically in numbers, folks from other areas continue to discover the activities we have enjoyed for generations, and that presents challenges to those who manage public lands. Emery County, BLM and the Manti LaSal National Forest have recently written management plans and ordinances that provide for proper use of motorized vehicles, including off highway vehicles. These efforts have met with fair success, and have made this area somewhat of a model within the state and intermountain west of successful OHV management. The next major challenge is going to be (more accurately, already is) determining how to successfully manage dispersed camping. In many areas, the shear numbers of people who wish to be able to pull off the road in a place of their choosing and camp with the family for a week or weekend is stressing the resources, including vegetation and water resources. Here are the challenges: how to determine when resources are impacted beyond a desired level; what practices can be implemented to reduce the impact? Can the site be rehabilitated and returned to use? Or does the use need to be eliminated. Most of us are already experiencing these issues in some of our favorite camping areas. The possibility of wilderness designation is last but certainly not least of the top three public lands issues we will face here locally in the near future. Recently, an omnibus land use bill which designated 2.2 million acres of wilderness in several states passed the senate and is expected to pass the house and become law. Included within Senate Bill 22 is the Washington County lands bill. The Washington County Bill was carried by Senator Bennett and designated about 250,000 acres of wilderness in Washington County, most of it in Zion National Park. The bill also creates a few conservation areas and designated a substantial stretch of the Virgin River as a national Wild and Scenic River. Anyone familiar with national public lands issues as they relate to Emery County knows that the San Rafael Swell is high on the list for potential wilderness designation by many. We should also remember that we probably dodged a bullet at the end of Bill Clinton’s administration when he designated the Grand Staircase, Escalante National Monument. At the risk of over simplification I’ll venture a position held by many Emery County residents: wilderness exists in the San Rafael Swell, Desolation Canyon and Labyrinth Canyon, almost exclusively within the Wilderness Study Areas that we’ve lived with for over 20 years. Designation of those areas as wilderness would probably be OK. There are about 530,000 acres in the WSAs. That position differs greatly from the Utah Wilderness Coalition for example, who contend that an additional 937,000 acres, or slightly more than 50 percent of Emery County qualifies for wilderness designation. It’s not yet clear where wilderness designation in the West stands on President Obama’s priority list, but it is clear that when Mr. President mentions change, indications are that he means a 180 degree turn from the former administration. It is also clear that many that are clamoring for position in the new administration have specific agendas that will impact rural Utah. (Ray D. Petersen is the Public Lands Administrator for Emery County. The opinions expressed above are his own.) The Castle Valley Review welcomes and invites letters to the editor and guest commentaries on public policy or current events. We welcome letters of thanks to individuals who have helped make our community a better place to live, work and play. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit all submissions for space constraints, clarity and errors in fact. Submissions must include author’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be published. Letter’s and opinion articles can be sent to editor@castlevalleyreview.com, mailed to The Castle Valley Review, P.O. Box 487, Orangeville, UT. 84537 or faxed to 435-748-2543. |