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Show PAGE 14 THE ZEPHYRJUNE 1993 absent from this itemized process was ultimately to funding from congress. Noticeably public comment. environmental study under NEPA that the Federal Highways Administration had granted announced also The April which runs from Torrey through $590 109 fa the Highway 12 Scenic Byway (the highway to Bryce Canyon). The proposal was developed by representatives from the USES, Travel Council and "business leaders." The half BLM, National Park Service Garfield County area longer. $185,000 dollars of the money will the in tourists million bucks will be spent to keep 2 head signs, kiosks, a Highway 12 Route Guide, video tape go for "23 interpretive signs, 5 trail and audio tape." It is unknown how much federal staff time has been expended on this project. the canyon country a WATCHDOG Books v. Cow Pies Of the $1.86 a randier pays to graze a cow for a month on public land, only about $0.70 makes it to the federal treasury. Half of the money is given back to the BLM where it is usually spent to make more pasture for cows. Another 115 is given to die state where the grazing takes place. Utah could spend this money on schools, but instead hands the money back over to the BLM Grazing Advisory Board, a board composed solely of public lands ranchers. What do these ranchers do with the money? I don't know, when I tried to sit in cm their meeting held at die Moab BLM District office they refused to allow me to attend (in violation of Utah andor federal open meetings laws and with the Moab,District BLM's acquiescence). The Department of the Interior delivered $190,000 to Utah from this 12.5 fund last year, where it was apparently divided up by the grazing advisory board members. , One More Reason to avoid Lake FowelL According to the May 13, 1993 Wall Street Journal, Del Webb Cwp. and ARA Services Inc. paid a total of $13 million in fines to settle claims that the corporations had dumped more than 100 dump truck loads of trash and 1,000 batteries into Lake Powell. A Del Webb subsidiary pled "no contest" to a criminal charge and paid a $1 million dollar fine. ARA's Leisure Services paid a $225100 civil fine and the companies split $100,000 charged to defray Arizona's investigative costs. Houseboat rental employees dumped various items including batteries, barbecue grills, tires and silverware into the lake from 1980 to 1990. The illegal dumping was discovered when the Lake dropped under drought conditions. Philip J. Diem, Del Webb Chief Executive Officer stated that the company was embarrassed by the problem and that "it has always been our policy to comply with all environmental laws". Cedar Mesa: Cows v. People On April 21, the BLM issued a new management plan for Cedar Mesa, which includes Grand Gulch, Arch, Fish, Owl and many other heavily used slickrock canyons. The BLM acknowledges that Grand Gulch is "an area of regional, national, and international significance" for recreational opportunities and cultural resources and accordingly has taken steps to limit recreation use to protect the area. However, the agency refused to consider limiting domestic livestock grazing in the area. The area may be of international significance when it comes to limiting hikers and horse packers, but it is just another cow pasture when it comes to livestock management. As a result of this plan, the public cannot ride a horse or pack a llama for overnight use into parts of Fish and Owl canyons, however, no restrictions have been placed on existing livestock use in these canyons. Where pack stock is permitted, horses or llamas must be tied 100 feet from water or archeological sites but cows will continue to defecate in and trample the streams and ruins. There is one exception to the pack stock ba-n- ranchers with cows in the area can ride as they please. Seasonal limits have been placed on the numbers of hikers which will be allowed to hike into Fish and Owl Creek Canyons each day, but current grazing levels have not been affected. The restrictions cm recreational use are appropriate, but BLM's willingness to limit backpackers while refusing to also consider the damage from cows is like blowing out candles in foe middle of a forest fire. While the agency acknowledges that increasing numbers of recreationists are a problem, it has also decided it will work with San Juan County Travel Council to develop an auto tour and prepare national backcounty byway nomination for the Valley of the Gods loop road, as well as improve road conditions to better accommodate tourist traffic. SUWA has appealed the plan. They Said ' 1L The BLM's public relations folks put out a little newsletter called the "Utah Spectrum" in an effort to convince the public the BLM is not wasting tax matey. Oh, the irony. The April 1993 Spectrum included an article modestly entitled "Range Management At its Best" which touts a 32,000 acre grazing allotment south of Price. Among other actions which have been taken to make this an award winning allotment are chaining, plowing, furrowing and seeding about 4,725 acres. The BLM has chosen this allotment as a showcase as to what can be "accomplished on the rangelands of Utah and across the country. The coordination between the livestock operators and BLM shows a commitment to ecologically sound management practices." Apparently coordination with other user groups, such as hunters and hikers, before chaining and plowing public land is not considered particularly important. The April Spectrum also describes the process BLM uses to build roads, visitor centers and p the like. The article outlines the BLM's process for planning construction projects. The agency first gets an idea for a project, which goes from district manager approval to state director approval to submission to BLM's Washington budget and engineering office, and step-by-ste- Real Marlboro Men Marlboro cigarettes "Adventure Team" will soon be rolling into town with those red jeeps, cancer all at the same time (two packs a day? No looking to "take on the West" and defy lung ad writers share that sense of adventure, Marlboro's problem, these guys ride, they don't walk). The facts. writers have taken photos of Colorado laughing in the face of death and at geological names like Hells Canyon and Thunder Pass. plateau landmarks and renamed'em real man's man "Granite Bend." Most creative is the sandstone tower re-title- d Geronimo! Hollywood has come to Moab to make a blockbuster about Geronimo, the Native American leader who never got near Moab. Ike BLM held a field tour to discuss potential film sites with BLM staff, local environmentalists and a Geronimo representative; and it appeared that all would be waked out amicably. For instance, it was agreed the movie industry could operate its 13 ton camera crane near Highway 128 in Ida Gulch if it would reclaim already existing off-ro- ad Scott Groene appears blurred in this photograph because: on the camera A) The auto-focus malfunctioned. B) In his zeal to wage battle against enemies of the land, he is a quivering mass of nervous energy. He has learned it's more difficult to shoot a mooing target. D) All of the above. Q Bonus points far anyone who can explain why Groene is posing with a railroad spike. damage caused by ORVs (the area is supposed to be dosed to ORVs under BLM's existing plan, and the agency recently blockaded some of the ORV routes). However, the BLM also agreed that Geronimo's request to operate the crane farther up Ida Gulch where there is both no ORV damage and a threatened plant species should be denied. The filming could still take place, but without unnecessary environmental damage. Then rumors spread that SUWA had threatened to appeal the film project Three members of the new county council held a meeting and SUWA was allowed to pubUdy state the rumors were false. Moab Film Commission Director Bette Stanton and local BLM manager Brad Palmer were then asked what they knew: turns out neither had heard SUWA make any such threats. Then the Geronimo people dedded to avoid the whole public involvement scene and run to D.C for an exemption from the existing regulations. Although the Department of the Interior (DOI), now headed by Bruce Babbitt, would not approve Geronimo's proposed "ghost sites," where the actual locations were yet to be determined, DOI did exempt the company from regulations which require a 30 day appeals period. Rumors, yet mnubihinHaiwj, began to float that the DOI would not have exempted Geronimo from the regulations unless the film industry had managed to use contacts, perhaps Linda Bloodworth Thomas, to get to the Clintons. What is known is that, although this is reportedly a 40 million dollar project and Geronimo representatives have been in town for months, film makers datmAd that they could not provide the BLM with a list of film locations 45 days before filming. The film industry's end run around the regulations, which enabled it to avoid applying for film locations in a timely manner, raises the concern that the film industry had missed deadlines in order to set a precedent for future arguments that the existing film regulations must be amended to exempt all film projects from future public scrutiny and appeal. Still photography and small film projects with no ground disturbance should be exempted from the 30 day waif, but major projects like Geronimo, with road canutrupHnn work, helicopter use with a 13 ton camera crane, up to 300 crew members, 160 horses, set flights, construction etc., should be subject to the same regulations which apply to other industries. If the film industry gets its way, and the regulations are amended as to exempt even major movie off-ro- ad off-ro- ad When was the last time you did something nice for your driveway? We have any size gravel to fit your needs, landscape rock too. 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