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Show SERVING MOAB AND SOUTHEASTERN UTAH SINCE Volume 89 Moab, Grand County, Utah 84532 1896 Number 10 Thursday, March 10, 1983 Grand unemployment rate jumped again in February The water's starting to run , . in the Warmer . canyon country during recent days have turned the ice of winter into sparkling streams, including these small waterfalls in Courthouse Wash. Next weeks issue of The will include a feature story by Bill Davis on spring hiking in Arches National Park, and a visit to Cave Canyon.. Times-lndepende- temperatures nt Gibson Dome is one of five sites still in the running that the decision is expected this Gibson Dome in San Juan County has moved a step closer to .being named one of five preferred locations for a high-lev- week. el nuclear waste repository, according to an announcement by Juline Christofferson, an aide to Utah Governor Scott Matheson. Christofferson .said state authorities were recently told by U. S. Department of Energy spokesman Jeff Neff, manager of the National Waste Terminal Storage project, that members of the DOE staff have recommended the Gibson Dome location be one of five sites likely to be selected for additional studies, leading to the establishment of the nations first underground nuclear waste, repository. n Although the staff said has been made, Dr. J. William Bennett, director of the Geologic Repository program for the DOE, Secretary of Energy Donald P. Hodel has not yet decided if he will follow the recommendation. He added recom-mendatio- official While the nomination of five sites will not be made until August, the DOE plans to inform the public which -five are favored by The early announcement is expected to permit the DOE to studies additional conduct needed to justify the nomination more easily. After the five favored sites have been nominated officially by the DOE, a new series of intensive studies, including the sinking of exploratory shafts at three of the sites, will be initiated. The number one location is to be announced in March of 1987. The five sites expected to be announced this week as likely to be nominated may not be officially nominated in August, said DOE Project Engineer for Utah Thomas Baillieul. He pointed out that changes in recently-release- d guidelines for selection of a repository site, reviewed in the-agenc- y.- . . last weeks Times-lndependen- t, could alter the sites selected. SlEftUtahlSpotlight Lots of Moisture this year ... Snow conditions on the LaSal and Blue Mountains remain excellent, according to survey results released this week by the Monticello office of the Soil Conservation Service. The survey was taken February 24 and 25. The lower test course on the LaSals had 48 inches of snow containing 13 inches of water. The total represents a whopping 186 percent of normal. The upper course had 68 inches of Snow, with a water content of 20 inches, representing 168 percent of normal. At Buckboard Flat on the Blue Mountains, 48 inches of Snow were measured, which contained 14 inches of water. This is 157 percent of normal. The Camp Jackson course on the Blues had 53 inches of snow, with a moisture content of 17 inches, resulting in a reading of 169 percent of normal. It is likely that present totals are even higher, as the most recent survey did not include moisture which fell during the first week of March. , School buses in fine shape . Bill School . . bus inspection. Highway Patrols Kelvin C. Clayton, pupil transportation specialist with the state board of education, commented, On behalf of the State Office of Education, I personally wish to congratulate you and your Pupil Transportation Supervisor Tony Pene on the excellent maintenance of your districts school bus fleet. He continued, This accomplishment is a milestone in Utahs pupil transporation safety and certainly does not go unrecognized by "this'officef Thanks for your special interest in safety and concern for pupils being transported by buses. al wilderness Preliminary recommendations for portions of BLMs Moab District will be available for public review at an open house being held in Moab on Wednesday, March 16. The wilderness open house in Moab will take place at the BLM Grand Resource Area Office on Sand Flats Road from 3 to 8 Road remains closed ... reminds LoopMoab Office of the U.S. Forest Service The p.m. District area residents this week that the LaSal Mountain Loop Road has been closed to vehicular traffic, in an effort to reduce damage to the surface. noted was in recent of the deterioration pavement Rapid condition of the weeks, primarily due to the roadbase. The Loop Road will remain closed until conditions improve. Persons who must use the road, such as private property owners, can obtain a permit at the Forest Service office. water-soake- ;; WEATHER High Low Precip. Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) in Grand County available for comment through May 2, 1983 are Negro Bill Canyon and Desolation Canyon. d ; A portion of Negro Bill Canyon is proposed to be recommended as an Outstanding Natural Area and not suitable for wilderness. months in recent has been The reasons for the poor market conditions are unique for each mining sector. No real relief is in sight for 1983, except for those industries benefiting mining from increased construction and Utahs most battered industry. conditions Poor market resulting from low demand and low prices for mineral products caused have mining employment to fall drastically. manufacturing activity. Project BOLD legislation gained OK in statehouse to manage. The federal government now owes Utah about 223,000 acres of unrelated indemnity lands specified in the Utah Enabling Act of 1894. The land has remained under the federal government, despite repeated attempts by the state to obtain it. The state now plans to arrange for an appropriate land exchange, reflecting issues brought up by the Sagebrush Rebellion. State Senator Cary Peterson told legislators that Project Bold has attracted the attention of Interior Secretary James Watt. Peterson He commented, (Watt) has pointed to Utah as being the state to aggressively in the West attempt to resolve dominance of public lands by the federal government. At several public hearings conducted by state officials in the past, opposition to the proposal was voiced by mining interest, who felt the current checkboard pattern of state lands provided better odds that mineral deposits could be found on land owned by the state, rather than the federal government. Opponents also the whether questioned exchange would allow the federal government to deny access to some areas. On Tuesday, March 8, the Senate Utah unanimously approved a bill and resolution Governor Scott supporting Mathesons Project BOLD. Project Bold is a program designed to exchange scattered sections of state school property for federal lands, which would tend to concentrate both U.S. and property into large sections. The resolution, submitted state-owne- d by Rep. Gayle F. McKeachnie requests Congress to create legislation allowing the state to conduct the land swap. It is felt by many officials that the larger units of land will easier resource provide management. The accompanying bill, also sponsored by Rep. McKeachnie, outlines a new law specifying how the new state sections will be managed for multiple use, to protect existing rights on the land and to permit subdivisions of the state, such as counties, to use the land for less thar. the appraised value. At the present time, the state owns approximately 3.6 million acres, which are located in nearly 5,000 isolated parcels, as granted at the time of statehood to support the state school system. The Bills the maintain supporters is awkward patchwork system County, BLM discuss future of Negro Bill Canyon motion calling under passed Several items for a a came special meeting Monday, March 14, from 9 a.m. to noon, which Smith will be invited to attend to discuss possible financial adjustments. Kennedy also reported that the new visitor center in Green River is scheduled to open on April 1. He showed the commissioners photographs of the inside walls of the building, which are covered with murals He of canyonlands scenery. stated that an open house will be held at the center in discussion at a meeting of the Commission Grand County March 8, including Tuesday, wilderness proposals by the BLM. Pete Christensen, Grand Resource Area manager of the BLM, asked the commissioners for comments on Negro Bill Canyon and Desolation Canyon, the two areas in the county now open for public input. While the BLM has recommended that Negro Bill Canyon be dropped from further consideration as a wilderness area, Christensen has the agency said, some that recommended consideration be applied to the canyon, such as outstanding natural area, to provide mid-Apri- l. , some-protectio- Open house scheduled by BLM for wilderness review Meador this week Grand County Superintendent received word that the districts bus fleet received no demerit marks and no defects were found in any of the buses in the Utah semi-annu- Although not official, it appears that the five sites favored by the DOE, in addition to Gibson Dome, are Hanford, Richton, Washington, Mississippi, the Nevada Test Site and Deaf Smith Countyiri Texas. A salt dome in Louisiana was recently abandoned in favor of the Richton Dome, Baillieul continued, as Energy Department officials felt that the dome had several in Louisiana heat including problems, and small size, characteristics, the presence of a swamp on the surface. Two sites were under consideration in Texas, Baillieul but commented, project engineers recently announced a preference for the Deaf Smith County site. Environmental assessments are required for all five of the the before sites August nominations can take place. Hearings have been set to collect input from the public on environmental considerations to be reviewed in the study. The first is scheduled for Monticello on April 12, and the second for Salt Lake City on April 13. DOE officials would like to have additional archaeological studies done of the Gibson Dome site before preparing the environmental assessment, Baillieul stated, adding that the remainder of the information collected should be adequate. He said that the environmental assessment can be written without . the additional fieldwork, if necessary. A public hearing on the proposed guidelines for selection of a repository location is set for Salt Lake City at the Hilton on Monday, March 14, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nearly one out of five of Grand Countys civilian labor force is out of work, according to figures released this week by the Department of Employment The preliminary Security. report showed a jump in the jobless rate from 17.1 percent in January to 19.8 percent in February. Statewide, Grand Countys unemployment percentage is exceeded only by Juab County, where the jobless rate hit an estimated 21.4 percent last month. Third highest in the state was Wasatch County, at 16.1 percent. San Juan Countys February unemployment rate was 13.4 percent. The number of idled workers in Grand County has increased steadily during the past year. In 1982 the February rate was 12.3 unemployment percent. This rose to 14.5 percent in December. The lowest unemployment rate in the state recorded by Morgan was County, at 4.5 percent. Since December, the states average has remained , unemployment 8.6 at percent of the steady, workforce. The February 1982 state average was 6.7 percent. the In Grand County, civilian labor force rose 6.3 percent from February of 1982 to February of 1983, from 3,340 to an estimated 3,550. However, the number of wage and salary jobs declined 4.9 peccarst - during the same period, from 2,650 to 2,520. The report stated that about 60,000 people were unemployed in Utah in February, nearly twice the number of three years ago. It went on to state that some of the increase is the result of a continually growing labor force, although most of it is due economic to declining conditions. In the hardest-hi- t areas, such as Grand and Juab Counties, the report continued, the high unemployment is due to either recent mining layoffs of layoffs in other key industries. The recession has most three affected seriously industries in the state, the said: construction, survey manufacturing and mining. The industries are important to the states labor market, as they can generate many new jobs in other economic sectors. While forecasting some improvements in the first two areas, the report commented, The outlook for the mining industry appears much more pessimistic. Mining weathered the 1980 recession very well, but A majority of Desolation Canyon in Grand County is proposed to be recommended as suitable for wilderness. Other WSAs in Grand received County public comment last summer. Those include Westwater Canyon, Behind the Rocks, and Spruce, Coal and Flume Canyons in the Book Cliffs. Comments on those WSAs are now being analyzed and they will be included in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement scheduled for public comment in the spring of 1984. For more, information contact BLMs Grand Resource Area Office, P.O. Box M, Moab, Utah 84532. q Commissioner Barbara Ing commented .that the canyon would make a good park area. Commissioner Jimmie Walker suggested that the possibility of a joint venture between the BLM be and county investigated to manage the of The portion canyon. the Desolation Canyon on Green River in Grand County for has been recommended wilderness designation. The official comment period begins next Wednesday, March 16, Christensen said. Steve Kennedy, chairman of the Grand County Travel Council, met with the commissioners to give them a report on the councils activities, and present a new set of bylaws. It was pointed out that a new travel council ordinance adopted by the county eliminates the position of director, now held by Bill Smith. After vouchers discussing submitted by the . outgoing director, the commissioners newly-selecte- d To conduct . . . Utah will Symphony a in on concert Moab present March directed 22, Tuesday, by The Associate Conductor Charles Ketcham. Ketcham conducted the orchestra during a concert in Moab last April. The concert wifi be held in the high school gym, beginning at 8 p.m. Advance tickets, available at The or are for $4 adults and Spencers, $1.50 for senior citizens. Students will be admitted free. Tickets will also be available at the door for $4.50. Times-lndepende- nt |