Vernal Express | 1981-04-30 | Page 34 | March Travel at Dinosaur up 52.8%

March travel at Dinosaur up 52.8 March travel to Dinosaur National Monument was 9,411, compared to the 1980 figures of 6,218. This was the twelfth straight month of increases and was up 52.8 percent. These figures were released this week by Superintendent Joe L. Kennedy. "Travel so far this year has been 25,900 an 84 percent increase over the same period for 1980," said Kennedy. Park crews are beginning spring maintenance operations to grade the 62 miles of gravel roads that provide access to Dinosaur's backcountry areas. Presently roads into Island Park and Echo Park are open. The monument staff urges caution when traveling any of these graded roads during wet conditions. "Rain can cause these roads to become impassible im-passible because of the clay content in the soils," said the maintenance chief, Art Williams. He advised that anyone caught in such a storm should just wait it out and allow the roads to dry out for a couple of hours. For current road information, call [phone] in Utah or in Colorado [phone].