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Show 7ulf Sam's Army needs you 'f.Jv I Soccer enthusiasts rare in U.S. Park CityWeather but The 2(X)2 Farmers Market opens today at The Canyons from 2 to 7 p.m. The market will be held Mostly sunny through the week. For more details see B-2. international zeal catching on. Page C-1 on Wednesdays throughout the summer in ihe Canyons lowering parking lot near the Cabriolet. Serving Summit County since 1880 PARK CITY, UTAH www.parkrecord.com OTTi WedThursFri, June 5-7, 2002 niMMni' tm mm m t w MOUNTAIN TRAILS Good but dry season awaits bicycle lovers By SHANE McCAMMON Of the Record staff First, the good news for all you mountain bike enthusiasts: Due to the drought and unseasonably warm spring, most of the trails in the Park City area are relatively rutless and in good shape. Now the bad news: Due to the drought and the dearth of quality thunderstorms, those rut-less rut-less trails could get a little hairy around the corners and the soil won't be repacked if the rain doesn't start falling. "It's nice to have storms during the season," said Troy Duffin, the executive director of the Mountain Trails Foundation. "We need fairly regular thunderstorms to repack the soil so you don't end up in a thick silt situation. You need that on and off pattern of thunderstorms." That pattern hasn't developed yet this season. sea-son. Instead, conditions have been fairly dry which is great for daily riding but not ideal for the long term. The first part of the trail that is affected by the hot and dry weather are the corners, Duffin says. "The corners really take a beating," he said. To prevent wear and tear on the turns, Duffin and his crew can support it with a variety of buttresses, including cindcrblock. Of course, arming the corners takes "time and money," Duffin says. "Right now, we're just letting things take care of themselves," he said. One positive aspect about the warm weather is the early start to the season. Most of the trails are open, something Duffin says is rare for this time of year. "Practically everything is open. The Ridge Trail is pretty snowy as are the mountain at Deer Vallev and Park City, but everything at about 8,000 to 8,500 thousand feet is open and in good shape, and there's fast progress," he said. "We're early. We had a pretty early season last year but we're a week or so ahead of where we were last year ... Over the last three years, we're almost a month early. We had a low snowpack and it's been warmer and drier than usual this spring." Mountain Trails will be busy this summer on top of praying for rain and doing occasional maintenance on shredded corners. Duffin says his staff will spend the summer performing trail maintenance and increasing signage rather than breaking new trails. And with eight workers from the Utah Conservation Corps scheduled to help smooth trails for two weeks, he says this season will be good no matter the weather. "Even though it's been a dry cycle," he said, "it should be a great year ... We'll end up with a good season and we'll end up in as good of shape as ever." For information on the Mountain Trails Foundation and to find out what events are taking tak-ing place this summer, visit www.mountain-trails.org 3 SECTIONS 44 PAGES Agendas A-8 Business B-7 City A-3 Classifieds C-9 Columns A-14 County A-5 Crossword C-4 Editorial A-15 Education A-11 Events Calendar C-2 Letters to the Editor A-15 Legals C-1 5 Movies C-4 Personal Paragraphs A-13 Professional Services B-1 1 Profile A-9 Recreation Report B-6 Restaurant Guide C-5 Scene and Heard .....B-9 Sports B-1 TV Listings C-8 Weather B-2 Creating a work of art i z rn jz vs-v, : . X f r"i I 1 . V'-' ;' -... r v V j : st 1 i ' Viik WJ ? i . V 1 E5 PETER CHUDLEIGHP4RK RECORD Ecker Hill Middle School art teacher Deb Corrigan and her students received an Olympic Legacy art grant. The students are working on two connecting stained glass windows. The design, featuring elk, streams, flowers and other wildlife, was created by Corrigan. New deal could increase public access in Uintas Forest service awaits word on congressional appropriations By PATRICK PARKINSON Of the Record staff With environmental groups, recreationists anil Utah's senators united in support, federal lawmakers have final say this month in a deal allowing the United States Forest Service to acquire 14,751 acres of land on the North Slope in the Uintas. "It's all part of the federal budgeting process," said Steve Ryberg, district ranger at the Lvanston Kanger District of the Wasatch Cache National Forest. "Through the Land and Water Conservation Fund we have made a proposal... It depends on congressional funding. We're looking at a multi-year project." For the project's first phase, the forest service requested $2.54 million in federal appropriations from the United States Congress and Senate. This would make the land purchase possible, Ryberg said. "The current land ownership is what we refer to as a checkerboard pattern," said Wasatch Cache forest supervisor Tom Tidwell. " There are over 14,000 acres to acquire over the next few years." Depending on congressional funding the exact costs for the entire purchase are undetermined, Ryberg said. The area the forest service wants to buy consists of privately owned plots of land that alternate with plots the bureau already owns, creating a checkerboard image. The land was originally given to Union Pacific Railroad in the 1800s through a government grant encouraging development of the transcontinental rail road. Anadarko Oil and (ias Exploration Company now owns the land and it along with lour landowners with much smaller parcels in the area have agreed to sell the forest service 14.751 acres. The deal has been in the works for about 10 years, Ryberg said. "We have strong congressional support," said Summit County commissioner Patrick Cone. "Up to now it's all been conceptual, now the possibility of eel Please see Uintas, A-2 Changing times legitimize water security worries High security measures are part of effort to keep water safe By PATRICK PARKINSON Of the Record staff Resort towns are inherently vulnerable to terrorist ter-rorist attack but the Snyderville Basin and Park City are especially attractive targets, said Doug Evans, general manager of Mountain Regional Water. "Any resort or tourist area is a prime target," he said. "If I was thinking like a terrorist I'd go after a smaller water system and I would go after a system that is a big economic engine of the state. It would make the headlines more." High security is a recent development for most water companies, Evans said. "It's such a new thing for water systems. Before September 11 water systems were never considered consid-ered a target... We're able to prevent simple things and keep stupid people out of pipelines." But all of a system's parts are subject to attack, he said. Mountain Regional Water consists of 24 wells, the company's primary sources of water. Each well supplies one of Mountain Regional's 18 manmade reservoirs throughout the Snyderville Basin. More than 150 miles of pipeline distributes the water to customers in the company's region. "Each is vulnerable to attacks," Evans said. "Taking away public confidence is one of the tools terrorists use. They want to frighten people even if they don't do anything. ..The distribution system is a target. It can be done in the privacy of one's own home." By using greater pressure to pump a harmful substance back through a pipe an attacker could do significant damage to the water supply, Evans said. Using "check valves" Mountain Regional takes precautions to cut down on the possibility of Lapping up luxury i 4i -""-y - - - - - I. PETER CHUDLEIGHR4RK RECORD Making laps at the Park City Racquet Club Tuesday, swimmer Ron Allen takes advantage of the warmer temperatures, which are expected to continue through the week. an attack from a home but only so much security can ne attained, he said. "They could disable those valves. They could remove them," he said. "We can use the public to watch for things like that. We need to be vigilant in watching if people are tampering with meter vaults. If people see people working in the meter vault they should report it." Most of what Park Citv Municinal has done io protect its water supply from attack involves upgraded monitoring procedures, said Jerry Gibbs, Park City's public works director. "We have alarms in certain areas," he said. "We've had alarms. We changed out all the locks." Please see Local water, A-2 Merchant questions commitment to Games legacy City officials disagree, say that Oly presence in city is strong By JAY HAMBURGER Of the Record staff Did the Winter Olympics really happen in Park City? Jane Schaffner, the owner of La Niche on Main Street, knows they did but questions if visitors are aware that Park City played a significant role in February's Games. She says that Park City is not doing enough to play up its role in the Games and that people coming to the city, especially Main Street, are not getting a taste of what unfolded last winter. "There's not flags. There's not anything that says we were a big presence in the Olympics," she said in an interview. "You look on the street and it's like it never happened." She said that customers are hoping that the city shows off its Olympic role but they are disappointed. disap-pointed. "A lot of people come in and say we want to see what's left of the Olympics. I don't know what they expect to see but they don't expect to see nothing," Schaffner said. City Hall and the ChamberBureau disagree that the Olympic presence in the city has disappeared disap-peared in the three months since the Games ended. Also, they say, that there are items being considered con-sidered that will ensure that Park City retains some of its Olympic legacy. "It was one of the great moments in our history histo-ry and we should not forget it," said Myles Rademan, the city's public affairs director. There are lots of ideas to celebrate the Olympics that are being considered. Rademan said the white lights that were placed Please see City's, A-2 COPT |