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Show Sen. Moss Blasts Gov. Clyde For Blocking Monument Growth the House Interior Committee that the Department of the Interior In-terior postpone action on the Natural Bridges addition. Moss said the Clyde letter opj posed the land addition saying: "Continued enlargement of national na-tional monuments reduces the potential resources development of our state." Clyde stated that one section of state land and one school section sec-tion were within the affected lands. He stated that "there is no oil and gas production in this (Continued on page 8) SENATOR FRANK E. MOSS Senator Frank E. Moss CD-Utah) CD-Utah) Wednesday castigated Governor George D. Clyde of Utah for blocking the proposed addition of 5,241 acres to Natural Bridges National Monument. Moss said he has been asked by San Juan County officials to investigate the delay and assist in expediting the proposed addition. addi-tion. He said all members of the Utah Congressional delegation support the improvement at Natural Bridges, which was recommended rec-ommended as part of the Mission 66 program. He charged Clyde with using the same arguments he has used against the Canyonlands National Park bill to "delay and attempt to block an effort to improve our scenic areas which attract additional tourist business." In a letter to San Juan County Commissioner Hyrum T. Black, Senator Moss wrote, in part: "We all know that Natural Bridges National Monument has been established for more than fifty years. It is relatively small in size and has attracted comparatively com-paratively few visitors because of its lack of visitor facilities and until recently lack of access roads. In recent years a concerted con-certed effort has been made to improve the Monument by the building of roads and by the expansion ex-pansion of the boundaries to permit per-mit the building of a visitors' center and other accommodations. accommoda-tions. At the Arches ceremony Senator Bennett recounted proudly the funds that were made available for this purpose under Mission 66. With these improvements, im-provements, it is expected that Natural Bridges would attract a great many more tourists than has been the case in the past." Senator Moss then said Governor Gover-nor Clyde had written a letter to Congressman David S. King which formed the basis for a request re-quest of Chairman Aspinall of Sen. Moss Blasts Gov. Clyde For Blocking Monument Growth (Continued from page 1) area," and "it would appear that as of this moment there are no mineral values in the area," but noted, "we did not know there were any mineral values in the Aneth area 10 years ago." Moss said Assistant Secretary of the Interior John A. Carver wrote Chairman Aspinall a reply to the Clyde letter. Carver stated that there were no mineral or oil and gas production pro-duction in the lands proposed for addition, and said: "As to the acquisition of the approximately 480 acres of state land, our usual procedure would be exchange pursuant to author- ifv in Soptinn R nf thp Tnvlor said: "The answer then as to what is holding up action on Natural Bridges Monument is perfectly clear. Governor Clyde has again interjected himself to delay and attempt to block an effort to improve im-prove our scenic areas which attract additional tourist business. busi-ness. Using the same type of arguments that he has employed against the Canyonlands National Park Bill, he is preventing the enlargement of the Monument and the improvement by the Federal Fed-eral government, argiving the remote possibility that there might be in the future some minerals min-erals in the land to be transferred. trans-ferred. He talks also about the Grazing Act. The acquisition was discussed by a representative of the National Park Service with an official of the Utah State Land Board on March 27, 1961, at which time no objections were raised to such an exchange. ". . . Governor Clyde also raises a question regarding unsurveyed Section 2 in T. 37 S., E. 17 E., which would normally be conveyed con-veyed to the state as a school section upon survey. Since practically prac-tically all of this section is within with-in the existing boundaries of the Monument, the state will have the right to select another section of Federal land in lieu of this section." i Concluding his letter to Commissioner Com-missioner Black, Senator Moss state land involved, although he well knows that under the present pres-ent law this land would be exchanged ex-changed for comparable Federal lands to be selected by the state. "It is my recommendation that the County Commission and the citizens of San Juan County make it very clear to Governor Clyde that they desire the enlargement en-largement and improvement of Natural Bridges National Monument Monu-ment and that they resent his efforts to defeat and to delay the proposed action. I am personally appalled at the narrow and shortsighted short-sighted attitude of the Governor. His actions make it extremely difficult to get done for Utah the things which our people want and need." |