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Show I "The last chance for the silent majority," -I Post article says about Carsyo inlands plan I The new management plan for c'nyonlands National Park will be ii mnpleted soon and mailed to about 2,000 Aiduals and organizations, Denver I. st staff writer Zeke Scher wrote last f Sunday in the second of two feature Kyk "tides in Empire Magazine, a supplest supple-st to the Post. "That may well be the chance for 'the silent majority' to ' "Jtess an opinion," Scher concludes m ' ifhisext,austive study. In researching ( Popart feature, the veteran Denver I Jist spent a number of days in A .vonlands, traveling to each of the ajjtmote sections of the Park; he 1 1 fearched hundreds of pages of " i """"Mts obtained from many sources a Pe literally hours on the telephone f inn ing persons wno have been I ""wed in the non-development of Canyonlands during its 13 year history. Moss Is Disgusted One major target for Scher in the second feature was former Utah Senator Frank E. Moss, who was the guiding force behind creation of the Park in the first place. Moss sponsored the legislation; legisla-tion; beat the bushes for support, both in Utah and in the U. S. Senate and later sponsored more legislation to increase the size of Canyonlands. The second piece of legislation to increase the size of the park carried with it specific mandates relative to road construction inside and outside the park to make it accessible to people. Moss, according to Scher, is now a little disgusted over the way the Park has turned out. He is quoted as saying: "The Park Service has not kept the agreements. Scenic roads were to penetrate the park to the confluence as well as to Chesler Park and out the south end through Beef Basin to intersect the road between Blanding and Lake Powell. "Canyonlands was created as a national park and that is a mandate to make it accessible to the average person. Wilderness-type people want to convert it to an area just for hikers and jeepers. Why create a national park if not to make it available to the citizens," the former Senator said. Who Owns It? He continued, "I believe in preservation and certain wilderness areas, but you can't lock up everything from the citizens. Who owns it? In Canyonlands the bridge surely should be built because there is no way without it for the average visitor to get to the confluence. "Canyonlands has become a great disappointment as a national park magnet. It still is second to none in grandeur. But it will never have a large visitation because there are no facilities and no way to get around for the average visitor." Canyonlands Superintendent Pete Parry, according to Scher, doesn't feel the Park Service necessarily has any major obligation to get people into the system. In defending the up-coming management plan, which among other things cancels a road project to provide access to the Confluence Overlook, and on which some $2.5 million has already been spent, Parry said, "I feel the obligation is for the visitor to get into the Park. The Park Service does have an obligation to provide some access, but not all." Defends Plan Parry defends cancellation of the Confluence road by saying, "If it's a mistake not to build it, we can always go ahead later. But if it is a mistake and we built it, then it would be very hard to rectify later. Ultimately the public should make this decision, and you know the Park Service and the Congress usually respond to the squeaky wheel, whoever speaks the loudest." The Superintendent told Scher that he is investigating some sort of "people-moving" system which would get small groups of people across the "Elephant Hill barrier" into the principal features of Canyonlands at little expense. Similar systems have been examined over the years. The subject was dealt with in detail and rejected in the environmental impact statement which was finally approved in support of the paved road to the Confluence Overlook. - Soil Cement Tests With respect to the decision not to pave any roads in the Island in the Sky section, Parry said that soil cement is being tested, and if the tests are successful it will be used to stabilize the Island roads which are now extremely rough and dusty. "We feel the soil cement will maintain the feel of a dirt road without the dust and chuckholes. If it doesn't work out, we can still pave it." Any work, however, would not be done for at least two to three years, the Post article states. The NPS is planning on spending money 'in the millions of dollars during the next few years under the new plan, even though development of access for the visitor in the Needles section is being pretty much deleted from the plan. The Post concludes: "The bulk of Needles development money will go to improve staff residential and administrative quarters, an estimated $750,000 is earmarked for improving jeep roads. New Man In Charge A key figure in what will happen to the plan when it is released to the public in the near future (it was first promised by early summer, but has been delayed for several months) is the new Director of the National Park Service. Director William J. Whalen arrived on the scene in Washington after the decision to cancel previous commitments had been made by former Director Gary Everhardt. A young man with a background in metropolitan area park management, Whalen is described as "people-oriented," and thinks that parks shouldn't be inaccessible or used by only a few people. Whalen may well have to do some decision-making himself if public reaction to the new National Park Service Management Plan for Canyonlands brings the controversy to his desk. |