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Show THE ZEPHYR AUGUST 1993 PAGE 16 the canyon country WATCHDOG San Juan County Geta its Wings Clipped The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that the Cal Black Airport located near Halls Crossing on Lake Powell was constructed in violation of federal law. In August 1990 the BLM San Juan Resource Area transferred public land to San Juan County for the construction of the airport. BLM worked behind the scenes with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to transfer the land, although the agency had previously proposed die area for a "scenic highway corridor Area of Environmental Concern which was to be retained in public ownership and protected from surface disturbance. The 10th Circuit, noting the bade door dealings of the agencies, found that "the public has a right to participate in actions affecting the public land" and set aside BLM dedsion to convey the land. FAA, which also violated federal law in the matter, has been ordered to determine whether noise from die airport will be significant. If so, then FAA will have to take all reasonable steps to minimize noise impacts to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The law suit was brought by the National Parks and Conservation Association, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and the Sierra Qub. Bill Lockhart was the lawyer representing die enviros. The Noose Grows Tighter In July of 1992, the BLM Moab District allowed the Moab District Grazing Advisory Board, composed solely of public lands ranchers, to throw me out of their meeting held at the Moab BLM District office. The ranchers were dividing up money paid by the U5. Department of the Interior to the State of Utah as part of returned grazing fees (whidi totaled about $190,000 last year). Utah could spend this money on schools, but instead hands the money back over to the BLM Grazing Advisory Board. Moab District Manager Roger Zalman later explained to me (and Channel 6 News) BLM allowed the Advisory Board to vote me out the door because the Board was that the actually "affiliated with the Utah State Department of Agriculture" and therefore was not subject to BLM control, despite the fact that the meeting was taking place in a BLM office. In a letter dated July 12, 1993, the Utah Office of the State Auditor confirmed that the Board meeting was "not a meeting! of the State Department of Agriculture as you were told they were in August 25, 1992 response from the Moab District Bureau of Land Management. erf the nearest approved area. staff notes, the Geronimo director tried to film 1.5 miles outside of BLM staff time which was amount One of the biggest impacts of the film was the enormous monitor filming. required to prepare planning documents and BLM's New Boss Brings New Ideas to Moab. New BLM director Jim Baca came to Salt Lake City and Moab the end of June to consider the ruckus raised over commercial filming by the local and state film commissions. Mr. Baca replaced Cy Jamison, and bring? a new philosophy: the agency will follow federal law. At a press conference is Salt Lake City, Mr. Baca first stated that he was not impressed with claims made by the film commissions, telling the industry that "only one appeal has ever been filed on a film and all of a sudden you felt you were under siege. . . Frankly, this has been blown out of proportion." Discussing the Utah BLM's management of filming, Mr. Baca added: "we have not been following our own rules and that's a facL "We've been called on it, and now we have to come up with a way to follow the law." Mr. Baca also showed a new attitude when he came to observe film industry on the ground: he chose to take a SUWA representative with him on a tour of Geronimo's closed set while leaving representatives from the film commission and Bill Orton's Congressional office waiting behind in a van. Oops. A recent missile accident in California raises safety concerns about US. Army plans to launch missiles from Green River, Utah to White Sand Missile Base in New Mexico. A booster rocket from the missiles fired from Green River would be dropped on Hatch Paint (AKA BLM's Canyon Rims Recreation Area) some 20 miles south of Moab. On June 15, 1993, a Minute Man 1 nxket from the California Vandenberg missile base wobbled out of control and "huge chunks of debris" ignited brush fires near a nearby town, according to the Santa Barbara Press News. Most of the elderly and younger residents were evacuated and stores and restaurants closed down. The military detonated the rocket after it Scott Groene has turned his back to the camera this month because: A) He's studying the map in search of potential new Wilderness Study Areas. B) He's beginning to find these monthly multiple choice quizzes tedious and annoying. C) That IS his face...The beard is out of control. C) All of the above. Spanish Valley Plan The State of Utah is preparing a draft general management plan for approximately The plan may affect living conditions in Spanish of Moab's culinary water source and the beauty of the central section of the Creek. Grand County Commission sent a letter, authored by the Executive Director Economic Development, asking the State to consider, among other things: 10,000 acres of state land in Spanish Valley. Valley, the quality south fork of Mill The old for Grand County a resort community development on Johnson's Up-On-T- an "aircraft residential community" surrounding the old Spanish private plane owners; -- an "industrial strip on the south side of highway 191; a highway rest stop; and -- a destination hotel and convention center. -- Valley airport for malfunctioned and Targe fragments erf metal were blasted downward into the ground, causing what felt like small earthquakes." Aerial tankers and bulldozers put out the fire. According to the California paper, a list of recent missile failures at the Vandenberg Air Force Base indudes: -- Nov. 3, 1992: An ICBM missile was destroyed two minutes after takeoff when it strayed off course. Oct. 4, 1992: A missile was destroyed when it began flying erratically . March 13, 1992: A target missile was launched but the interceptor missile failed to strike the target when a decoy balloon was sent in the wrong direction. A public hearing cm the draft plan will be held August 4 at 7 p.m. at Star Hall in Moab, and on August 5, 1993, at the courthouse in Monticello. Written comments, due August 31, 1991, should be mailed to Spanish Valley GMP, Div. of State Lands and Forestry, ATTN: Chas. Charm icheal, 130 N.Main, Richfield, Ut, 84701. Show Time Film crews for Geronimo are out of here, and Gty Slickers II plans to arrive in September and October. BLM is also seeking an expedited permit from D.G (without public involvement) for "Fools Bluff," something Nu Skin International wants to shoot beginning July 22, 1993. Nu Skin hopes to film along the Highway 128, at Fisher Towers, and in Castle Valley, among other locations. Gty Slickers is headed for several locations in Grand and San Juan County, including Fisher Towers, along the Colorado River daily stretch, and in the Shafer Basin Fossil PdntPyramid Butte area where there would be conflicts with desert bighorn sheep. Geronimo clearly demonstrated that major film projects are not environmentally Much benign. ground and vegetation was disturbed with corrals and staging areas, roadwork cm state land impacted waters from a spring, and an archeological site was damaged with a front end loader when a stretch of two trade trail was upgraded into a two wheel drive road. BLM to its credit had monitors at most of the filming and refused to cave in when, according to BLM When the military fired missiles from Green River previously it managed to land one near Cave Spring in Canyonlands National Park. The military has a toll free number where you can leave on an answering machine: Utah Congressional Representative Karen Shepherd and Colorado Representative Pat Schroeder have introduced legislation which would prohibit the military from firing missiles from Green River over southeastern Utah. Tick, tick, tick The global human population doubled in size over 123 years from 1 billion in 1804 to 2 billion in 1927. Over the next 60 it 5 years grew to billion (it is currently estimated there are billion in this dub). If current levels of growth continued, the earth could have 694 billion people by the year 2150, according to United Nation's projections. However, the UN projects the rate will slow due to rising standards of living, the emandpation of women and the increasing use of contraceptives and there will be only a mere 10 billion people around year 2050. 7 ownersoperators Bruce Keeler Lisa Katz Check out our new location at: POISON SPIDER BICYCLE 497 N. Main RENTALS CUSTOM OUTFITTED TOURS MULTI-DA- Y canoe company RATE AVAILABLE 259-772- 2 "canoe canyonlands |