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Show f-J PANGUITCH • PANGUITCH LAKE • HATCH • BRYCE • TROPIC • ANTIMONY • HENRIEVILLE • CANNONVILLE • ESCALANTE • BOULDER Thursday, October 21, 2010 • Issue # 293 PARTNERS HIRES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SEVENTH ANNUAL. ESCALANTE CANYONS ART FESTIVAL A GREAT SUCCESS! by Grand Staircase Escalante Partners Roger Cole's first day on Grand Staircase-Escalante National MonuThe Seventh Annual ment was a bit more than he'd barEscalante Canyons Art Fesgained for. Cole, a Maine native, arrived in tival has claimed another Kanab at the end of July to become successful event. With 20 the director of Grand Staircase Es- per cent of the art entries calante Partners, the non-profit or- from Garfield County, the ganization that supports the national level of local artists is highmonument. Cole is no stranger to the er than ever and shows the outdoors: He's been an avid road bik- area interest and support of er for four decades and once operated our citizenry. Other artists a 70-foot commercial fishing trawler came from states throughoff the Oregon coast. But a late-sum- out the US, especially from mer field trip with researchers intent the southwest. Proof of area talent is veron quarrying 75-million-year-old fossil plants from the gray badlands of The Blues section of the north Kaiparowits offered ified by the fact that Best of Show Award in Mixed an entirely new outdoors experience. "It was a three mile hike out to the site, and we're going up and down these massive Media was garnered by Boulder UT resident Scotty hills," said Cole of his trip with the crew from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. He'd planned to stay out with the team for just a few hours, but since they'd bushwhacked Mitchell and Best of Show across The Blues, and he didn't want to get lost, he figured he should probably stay with Award in Oil/Acrylic, as them all day. But then the wind came up. "We got sandblasted," he said, laughing at the well as Paint-Out Artists' Award winner was Ben Somemory of the dust-covered crew pulling bandanas over their faces. Cole began working for the Partners in July after the organization conducted a na- wards of Cedar City UT. tionwide search that involved more than 80 applicants for the job. Cole's 25 years of Also from Cedar City, Rob experience in non-profit management and community planning made him stand out, said Wilson was the recipient of both the Student Award, Partners President Noel Poe. "Roger's experience with non-profits back East was impressive," Poe said. "We think a first-time competition he can help us turn Partners into a well-organized group that can hold its own and work which includes a lengthy exhibit at the USFS Red with other groups on the Colorado Plateau and beyond." Canyon Visitor Center, and Partners, which was founded in 2004, has done some restructuring in the past year. It's still a 501(c)(3) organization that supports Grand Staircase-Escalante National Mon- an Honorable Mention in ument. But today it aims to attract more research to the Monument, build strong local economies, educate the public, and work to study and apply conservation practices on the Monument. Partners now manages more than 60 projects with the 5 Bureau of Land Management. Those include helping fund the second year of a native plant restoration project with Kanab High School, funding hydrological research in the Escalante River area to monitor the effects of removing the invasive Russian olive, and funding a cultural history l py) ID 117) project that gathers oral histories from longtime Monu51)t io \11c{e601', 1,e, POI 1iM6 ment-area residents. 1X6, 0616 6 445, 6h Roger Cole, meanwhile, has been impressed not just by those researchers in The Blues who put in 10-hour days \low- Ohn6ili(Ms Ehovr\vic er-\\1\, in the heat, dust and wind, but by the residents in towns surrounding the national monument. "I've met so many generous people from Page to Boulder who've offered their skills and their dollars and their knowledge to support Partners' commitment to the Monument," Cole said, The Bureau of Land Man- and local communities, and adding that his takeaway from his recent gritty field trip agement today announced their use of water. This could apply to his new life in southern Utah as well: "It that it has taken a key step second round of leases will might not have been exactly what I'd expected, but a little to advance research on an help us answer those critiflexibility really came in handy — I didn't have to keep important potential source cal questions so that we can those 7 pm dinner plans," he said. chart a safe, orderly, and of domestic energy. The BLM's Washington, responsible path for our enD.C., Office has completed ergy future." Abbey added, "The BLM its review of three nominations for oil shale Research, is committed to careful conTHURSDAY, Development, and Demon- sultation with all affected stration (RD&D) leases in stakeholders in the oil shale HIGH: 58 : : LOW: 35 Colorado and Utah. These process, including states, ISOLATED T-STORMS second- round leases would counties and tribes. The allow the proponents to test analysis that our states will FRIDAY the feasibility of various oil now conduct will help us HIGH: 57 chart a wise path for westshale recovery LOW: 35 ISOLATED T-STORMS technologies on public ern shale oil resources." In November 2009, the lands in the two states. The SATURDAY 11 nominations will now be BLM published a notice in HIGH: 56 forwarded to the agency's the Federal Register callLOW: 33 ISOLATED T-STORMS Colorado and Utah State ing for nominations for a Offices for the next phase potential second round of SUNDAY oil shale RD&D leases, folin the review process. , • HIGH: 61 BLM Director Bob Ab- lowing the awarding of six LOW: 35 bey said, "To determine leases in an initial round in FEW T-STORMS whether oil shale will be a 2007. The BLM solicited viable energy source on a MONDAY commercial scale, we need nominations of parcels, not HIGH: 60 81 : to support critical research to exceed 160 acres, for LOW: 32 SHOWERS to answer fundamental the conduct of oil shale requestions about the feasibil- search, development, and TUESDAY ity of the technologies, their demonstration under a 10HIGH: 59 impacts on the environment year lease term. Applicants SUNNY LOW: 32 ral\\ prolf Fair 11.* a)iviro\I CPeoeeler's ?Air ,Ar'\\\ vieer, gvP\i ' s Tylvi BrIGe Go\loY1 Gi-T\I co,y,*0 1 ,r,,„„1 . the open competition. Escalante resident, Arina Mortensen was voted the People's Choice Award and newcomer, Bill Cramer of Prescott AZ was selected by his peers for the Artists' Choice Award. Judging for the 2010 Plein Air Competition was done by last year's Best of Show winners, Tryntje Seymour and Herb White, with the addition of Garfield and Wayne County art gallery personnel Irene Schack von Brockdorff and Nancy Green. In addition to other acknowledgements, Awards of Merit were presented to Jeff Potter, Carol Johansen, Clay Wagstaff and Doug Braithwaite. Honorable Mention recipients were Susan Wilson, Randy Russell, Arina Martensen, Jennifer Gubler, Leslie Jensen, Valerie Orlemann, Brad Holt, Bill Cramer, Rob wilson and James Gunter. Richard Costigan, former Escalante resident and current Red Canyon Visitor Center mamager, initiated the Student Award program as an added incentive and encouragement for young artists. At the Saturday Gala, he explained the program and presented the award to Rob Wilson, a graduate of SUU and candidate to graduate school in art. An additional new concept was the Best Presentation Award by framer and consistent festival artist Travis Humphries of Cedar City to Sara Straw and Rachel Rogers. Thirty-seven registered artists competed in the first Paint-Out on the Wednesday of the event in a fivehour time limit and under stormy conditions. This number represented nearly half of all artisits and despite wind and dirt, all seemed to weather it well and submitted diverse perspectives of the defined area. The success of this addition to the festival is an aspect which will become permanent as the ECAF continues to expand. Attendees at the ECAF enjoyed the diversity of Speakers, Entertainers, Food and the wares of the Vendors. Also, the artists were provided an opportunity to sell their non-judged works in the Vendor Hall, the Escalante Elementary students displayed their creativity in a special exhibit and many donations of products were sold in the Silent Auction as a benefit to future festivals. The ECAF committee wishes to thank all people who participated in this year's events and who donated time, money or products which helped to make it so successful. An invitation is extended to anyone in the area who would like to join the committee. All help will be appreciated. WA ADVANCES OIL SHALE RESEARCH PROCESS I WEDNESDAY SUNNY Member of: or Utah Press ITomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good. Alice May Brock HIGH: 60 LOW: 26 ***** I FPA• NDEPENDENT FREE PAPERS OF AMERICA Afic Vp iAll 11J•" l• ''' Ma liana NM •tig hr. THE GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER is owned and operated by Snapshot Multimedia and is distributed weekly to all of Garfield County. Its purpose is to inform residents about local issues and events. Articles submitted from independent writers are not necessarily the opinion of Snapshot Multimedia. We sincerely hope you enjoy the paper and encourage input on ideas and/or suggestions for the paper. Thank you for your support. could also identify up to an additional 480 acres to be reserved for a potential commercial lease, for a total of 640 acres. The lease size available for commercial development was reduced from the 5,120 acres in the first round of leasing because the substantial reserves represented by 640 acres are more than adequate for a major oil shale production operation. The second- round leases would contain substantial diligence requirements, including specific timeframes for submitting plans of development, obtaining state and local permits, developing infrastructure, and submitting quarterly reports. The BLM received three nominations in early 2010: two in Colorado, from ExxonMobil Exploration, Co., and Natural Soda Holdings, Inc.; and one in Utah, from AuraSource, Inc. Earlier this year, the BLM formed an Interdisciplinary Review Team (IDRT) with representatives of the Gov- Multimedia ernors of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming; the Department of Energy; and the Colorado School of Mines. The team recommended that all three nominations be advanced. The Colorado and Utah offices will now conduct National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews of the nominations. The analyses may take from four to 18 months to complete, depending upon the complexity of the resource issues to be analyzed. Oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock containing organic matter from which shale oil may be produced. The organic matter, derived mainly from aquatic organisms, is called kerogen. According to the United States Geological Survey, the U.S. holds more than half of the world's oil shale resources. More than 70 percent of the U.S. supply lies on Federal lands in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Phone: 435-676-2621 Fax 1-888-370-8546 PO BOX 472, Loa, Utah 84747 snapshot@scinternet.net ALL content for THE GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER must be submitted on FRIDAY BEFORE 5:00 PM to be included in the following Thursday edition of the paper. BOXHOLDER PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID LOA, UTAH PERMIT No. 5 |