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Show community comments... "There is no point In the planning process where one opinion can have so much impact as at the beginning. As ideas become management objectives, and those evolve into a Statement for Management and more formal plans and programs, It becomes more and more difficult for a single voice to change the course of action." So stated Canyonlands National Park Superintendent Pete Parry this week, in calling attention to public meetings which begin in the area next week relative to a Management Plan for Canyonlands. Mr. Parry, who had been asked what Canyonlands might do if President Ford's $17.24 million for development and staffing came to the local park next week, stated that frankly he didn't know at this time. That decision will have to be made following the public workshops, and after the formal adoption of a Management Plan that will finally evolve after input from the workshops has been analyzed. I guess this Is all well and good, and I'm sure a lot of Southeastern Utahns would agree. But It Is only natural that after twelve years of attending similar meetings all of which were aimed at the same goal It Is only natural that a lot of us who were really worked up over how the big park might be developed and managed In future years, have developed a rather "ho-hum" attitude about the whole thing. Who can remember, for Instance, all the hullabaloo that embroiled local chambers of commerce, county commissions and even the Governor of the State of Utah, when it was announced by one superintendent a number of years ago that all road building in the Needles Section was to be abandoned. It was quite' a fight, and even resulted jn the. Governor's traveling, to Washington to bend the ear of a'then-Secretary of interidr. Arid we all thought that finished it. ! . Secretaries change. Park staffers also have a habit of changing. And, it appears, even those technicians who take the raw planning input and prepare it in final form at some obscure center somewhere far removed from the park, have a tendency to move around a lot. And each new group finds something missing which necessitates starting the machinery all over again. I like the newest approach that Is being taken In an attempt to get a basic management objective plan for national parks in our area. It has a lot of merit, and involves just about anyone who wants to get involved. And I hope that a whole lot of people, with all kinds of opinions, attend the meeting scheduled for Moab on Thursday, Sept. 23, because what is done there can very well have an important bearing on the future of Canyonlands. But I think we're all a little sick of the effort. Too many times in the past we've all been told the same thing. Only those among us who are really optimists believe that this time will be the magically different time. I'm not going to be in town that night, or I'd be there. But I'm going to make darn sure that the NPS has my written opinions to go into the record. I hope that other residents of the community who have expressed a real concern and interest over the years will become optimistic enough to do the same thing. We really can't take a chance. This might be the real thing. sjt |