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Show T officials voted against making mak-ing such a reckless and insensitive in-sensitive decision and were overruled by members of the state bureaucracy who are members of the wilderness committee. The position adopted was the same recommendation re-commendation made by the wilderness staff -- none of whom are elected officials and therefore, have no inherent in-herent responsibility to the people for their decisions. The position of the Association Assoc-iation of Counties supporting administrative creation of wilderness areas and opposing oppos-ing congressional designation designa-tion for wilderness areas is the right position. To those present at the wilderness committee meeting, it was obvious that most others thought so as well. The position of the Association would allow the state to keep its options open and flexible. At the same time it protects areas of "critical environ, ment concern" which are wilderness. Additional n protects the right of the people to have a say in the management of their pubuc lands. The decision made by the state employee members of the wilderness committee deny the people that right and is not in the best interest of the state. It is obvious, at this point in the wilderness game, that elected local officials must take the necessary steps to protect the integrity of local government. You must let the Utah Congressional dele gation and the Governor know of your concern. Making such a reckless decision in the blind, compromises your ability to function as local elected managers of the public pub-lic trust. Mark O. Walsh present, but those in opposition oppos-ition were given little opportunity oppor-tunity to express themselves. them-selves. The Governor's committee com-mittee is composed of a cross section of Utahns including in-cluding environmentalists, and those in opposition to more wilderness were given little chance to be heard. The Assn. of Counties is attempting to get a meeting meet-ing with Gov. Matheson to change the state's wilderness wild-erness position to one coinciding co-inciding with the Commissioners Com-missioners of Utah's 29 counties. Dear Comm. Roberts, As you know, the State Wilderness Committee which was formed by the Governor and given the assignment to come up with a position on wilderness which is in the best interests inter-ests of the state, has met and made their decision. The decision made is not in the best interest of the state or its people because it was made in the absence of salient data which nearly every participant acknowledged acknow-ledged was necessary to have in hand in order to make an intelligent and responsible decision. In other words, this wilderness committee openly acknowledged that they were making their decision deci-sion in the blind. By so doing do-ing they have placed the future of this state in the hands of the federal government govern-ment to manage. Which management will come from Washington, DC. andDenver. The most offensive part of this decision regarding wilderness wild-erness is that elected local hurt Eastern Nevada and Western Utah: 1. Kennecott Copper Corporation's Corp-oration's smelter operation would be shut down. 2. Proposed power plant could not be built. 3. Other mining areas could not be developed. 4. Oil exploration would be discontinued. 5. Geo-thermalenergy could not be developed. 6. Firewood gathering, cedar ce-dar post cutting and pinon nut harvesting would be eliminated. el-iminated. 7. Livestock grazing would be severely restricted. 8. Motorized access would not be allowed in these areas. This would restrict or eliminate el-iminate hunting, fishing, camping, scenic driving, snowmobiling, and downhill skiing. 9. Aged and handicapped people would be discriminated dis-criminated against because of lack of motorized access to these areas. 10. All of the proposed wilderness wil-derness areas contain roads which are used for livestock control, mining access and recreational uses. 11. All of these areas contain evidence of man's current use. 12. Noise pollution is an everyday occurrence due to blasting, sonic booms, and low-flying aircraft. 13. The best use of the proposed pro-posed areas is ALREADY BEING MADF that of multiple mul-tiple use by mining, ranching, and recreational interests. No wilderness . condition exists, and no wilderness site is needed in these areas. Jim Santini has set up a meeting in Ely, Nevada with all interested public land users to discuss the proposed pro-posed wilderness areas. Representing the Forest Service will be: Don Shultz and Neil Paulson from the Washington, D.C. Office. The meeting is to be held at the Ely Grade School Auditorium Aud-itorium on Thursday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. Sincerely yours, Leona L. Pearce Sec. & Treas. Miners, Pros. Public Land Users. EDITOR'S NOTE: The below letter was received by Comm. Roberts from the Assn. of Counties in reference refer-ence to the Wilderness Com -mittee decision to go along with Forest Service andBLM wilderness proposals. In a recent meeting of the Assn. of Counties, all 29 counties voted against any more wilderness. Comm. Roberts attended that meeting meet-ing and cast Beaver County's vote. He also sat in on the Governor's Wilderness Committee meeting, representing repres-enting Mayor Young, who could not attend. The vote was six to five to adopt the position taken to accept the Federal Agencies proposals. However, the decision was an unpopular one with those ( .'.DUG Feedback questing public comment on RARE II. Please write a letter let-ter in your own words saying how you feel. We are enclosing en-closing a fact sheet and a map on RARE II. Your letter should include: 1) your name and address; 2) your support for Alternative B (no wilderness wil-derness areas); 3) your comments on items in the General Facts section, 4) your comments on items in the specific facts section; and 5) your signature. It is not important how long or neat your letter is. The important thing is to reply to RARE II TODAY! If you need assistance with your letter, please call 289-8877. RARE II FACT SHEET General reasons why wilderness wil-derness designations would Congress mandated the Forest Service to inventory all areas under their jurisdiction juris-diction and to include in this inventory of land all areas that met minimum wild- erness criteria; i.e. road- less, no permanent evidence of man, etc. RARE II poses a serious : problem to Eastern Nevada ' and Western Utah. YOUR livelihood could be severly affected. Wilderness desig nation means elimination of mining, ranching, motorized travel (going to hunting and fishing areas), skiing, etc. Wilderness areas almost always require clean air within fifty miles of their boundaries. This will stop industries such as the proposed pro-posed power plant project, Kennecott's smelter, or an oil refinery. WE NEED YOUR HELP! The Forest Service is re- |