OCR Text |
Show THE ZEPHYR DECEMBER 1990 PAGE 23 since all they cara about Is making a living and all. Its despicable. PROPOSED NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA (NCA1 One Justification for the 450,000 acre NCA Is that If the Nature Conservancy doesn't the private cattle ranches and other private land In the Book Cliffs (and then give buy up to DWR, Isn't that nice of them?), Is that since the private lands are up for sale the them now, someone else might buy the lands, some private Individual or corporation. Now BLM Is very good at waving red flags at us about these faceless "private developers and telling us how awful It would be If they got their hands on any private land In the area. They've done the same thing In the Kokopelll Theatre proposal. And the more they tell me this, the more I wonder who Is really looking out for whose best Interests. But people buy this argument They seem to think that It would naturally be awful If some private citizen or some business concern was able to buy private land from a private or In the Kokopelll Theatre situation, to be allowed to lease state lands In the landholder to make some money by pursuing development Ideas. area I guess maybe we forgot where we get our tax base, like from property taxes. And town survives, by providing materials and services for businesses In the area, a small how like construction associated with home building. In the Book Cliffs, for example, would It be so monstrous to allow some nice summer homes to be built on private land up there? Is It wrong to hope for a small lift to Grand County's economy If such were to happen? Without thinking It through, we're automatically agreeing that BLM and DWR should take ' even more land out of private ownership and out of the marketplace. . NO SOLUTIONS. ONLY QUESTIONS There are a lot of Issues to discuss In planning for the Book Cliffs area of the state. Soon, the Division of State Lands and Forestry will be putting out their Draft General Management Plan for the Book Cliffs Planning Unit I hope the public will be prepared to ask a lot of questions and closely scrutinize what the Division proposes for this area. Questions that occur to me are: wilderness areas, conservation areas, trophy hunting areas -- - what1 s In them for DWR and BLM? Will It mean Increased budgets, more power for them In determining the future of this part of the state? Does everyone Involved have altruistic motives? Does everyone Just want to protect all the beautiful red rocks and animals and quietude? I keep wondering what would be happening In southeastern Utah right now If there was no tourism. Would wilderness and conservation areas have as much support? And I also wonder why we keep spending lots of money to bring visitors here when there Is a that people are not users, Just growing belief -- - I hear It from lots of townsfolk here abusers. They have to be kept out of the land ojr theyll ruin It So the energy belt" In the Book Cliffs, that repository of oil, gas, coal and coal gas, oil shale, tar sands: It may be Just a mirage. The cost of developing energy there goes up by an unknown factor when It must occur without changing the environment of the area, which Is how I perceive the NCA designating wording ....ollgas exploratlonproductlon would continue In an environmentally sensitive manner. And I was wondering how many of us In Moab will be heating our homes this January with solar heat or wind power? Or will most of us be using coal, or wood, or gas? Jane S. Jones Is a member of the Western Association of Land Users, Grand County Chapter, P. O. Box 783, Moab, Utah 84532. EXPEDITIONS 497 North Main 259-788- 2 o bike rentals 6 business office for Nichols Expeditions information and reservations for Canyon Country Bed and Breakfast, as well as other B and B's. RUN hk UFE mi JiwSKl'S M l Y Sfitje. Canyonlands Recycling Task Force Let your elected officials know that you support a recycling program in Grand County The task force is circulating petitions of support For more information, call the task force coordinator at 259-768- 0 |