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Show 19P The Tlmes-lndependen- t, Thursday, March 18, 1982 B1 Volleyball tourney will draw 40 teams Forty teams are expected to participate in the womens division of the Canyonlands Volleyball Tournament this Firday and Saturday, March 19 and 20. Competition Will begin Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. and continue to 10 p.m. Games will run Saturday from 8 a.m. to approximately 11 p.m. All games will be played at the Middle School and High School gyms. The tournament is sponsored by the Moab Chamber of Commerce. More suits filed against Buckeye Gas Two more lawsuits against Buckeye Gas, operators of the Moab Doxol plant, were filed in 7th District Court on Wednesday, March 10, in connection with a flash fire at this facility last July 31. One suit was filed by Timothy Burns and Mary S. Thead Bums of Ohio. The other was filed by Robert A. and Pennie D. Cronin. Both in the Slick Two parallel tangle nets were used to trap the sheep at the mouths of canyons under the Island in the Sky. couples were Rock Campground Country The first net was occasionally knocked down by a single sheep. The secondary net was then used to trap fire. Each of the time the at Park additional animals moving out of the canyons. The Division of Wildlife Resources and the National asked for damages of suit five-yethe areas to of other park Service recently signed a agreement for additional bighorn transplants $14,340,000. The suits allege and traditional bighorn ranges outside the park. that each of the plaintiffs suffered from vapor inhalation and heat at the time of the fire. The suits also ask for damages for personal property damaged in the fire, including the Cronins car. Both suits were filed by A recent cooperative effort trap the sheep. Moab attorney A.J. CoffNew Method by the Utah Division of man. The suits allege that Wildlife Resources and the During previous transBuckeye Gas was negligent National Park Service resulplants, sheep were darted in allowing propane gas to ' ted in the transplanting of 46 from helicopters in cliff areas ft into the adjacent desert bighorn sheep from too rugged to use the nets. escape campground. Animal trapping is a part of the lives of Pete and Jackie Steele, Monticello, who are the Island in the Sky District This method proved to be shown with their trap, catch and dog. The basic survival skill and art of trapping and film of Canyonlands National time consuming, with a Cancer killing animals for food and fur has its roots some 40,000 years ago in the Americas. Park to three other locations. correspondingly smaller shown (John Noxon Photo) At the beginning of this number of sheep captured. meet year, the Park Service and The 46 sheep transplanted Division of Wildlife signed this year was the largest The March business meetan agreement permitting the number obtained since the ing of Alpha Rho Sorority transplanting of desert bigtransplants began in 1975. chapter' of ESA, was held horns to other park units and The previous high was 19 recently at the home of historical ranges when peranimals. Bobby. Long. The meeting mitted by population levels. Grant Jense, big game ' was by Joyce The sheep were transplancoordinator for the Division Robertson and Betty Drav-ag- e, ted to the Maze district of the of Wildlife Resources, attribwith 14 members and two guests, Marie Panos and uted the successful transpark, the Kaiparowitz Plateau and the San Rafael plant partially to a high Jo Ellen Exby, present. e in By Deborah Marcus Swell. Fifteen ewes and concentration of desert bigA film on cancer was speak about the trade-off- s traplines. As with a loose set as often animals animal Trapping trappers, they eight rams were flown by horns in the Island in the Sky shown, and members dishelicopter to the Maze. District of the park. Wildlife cussed the sororitys annual means of food, fur, and trade animals whose toes or legs resultant problems such as ancient and historic roots are caught in the traps, disease; domestic stock atTrucks were used to trans- researchers have found that April cancer drive. Packets has American Southwest, the in based upon the fact of low tack and a balance of nature rams and two the bighorns become more were distributed, and it was port nine ewes commercial value for the that some consider currently to the San Rafael Swell and susceptible to disease when stressed that most of the and exhibits a current-thrivin- g continuance in San Juan animals fur. Badger hides, Yet while the nine ewes and three rams populations become too funds collected in Utah were moved by truck and high, making transplants would remain in the state for County, southeastern Utah. once drawing $25, this year trapper controversy continthen by boat up Lake Powell desireable. go for $10 a hide. Six years ues, the fur trading business research. Persons interested Ranchers, housewives, protradfessional and to the Kaiparowitz Plateau. trappers ago, a bobcat pelt drew $500 evolves with current restricTom Wylie of the National in assisting with the collecers from a New Mexico fur tions on the import export of supplement To capture the animals, a Park Service commented that frequently contact tion can Bobby Long income and pantrys their market. used was move to Today, the same pelt the fur of any endangered helicopter of at one the captured A helicopter was used to move the bighorn sheep from only of meat and with down side pelts them for averages around $150 in the species such as the bobcat. Plans were also made canyons animals appeared to be harrow canyons into a tangle net. In previous transwild animals. same market. The commerWhite Rim, below seriously ill, apparently sufindigenous the bank blood Declining Sales the at along assisting plants, individual sheep were darted from helicopters, the Island in the Sky. Two Based on a somewhat cial value of deer and elk Final professional fur Currently 23. March a on preparafrom sinusitis, fering then flown out. The net method proved to be more efAlbert fur devalued fur is as the Ron Massey, market, hides and were Jim nets traders negligible for a state made parallel tangle tions were relatively common disease fective in capturing the animals. Photos by Jim Weis, stretched and Jackie Steele in sheds, hence normal winter working the Utah, Arizona (Pete) will which along the mouths council meeting, among bighorn sheep. the Division of Wildlife Resources. of the canyons and used to A series of studies of the be hosted by Alpha Rho on Monticello, these days catch hunting is not profitable on and New Mexico buying whatever comes into their the fur market. (Cont. on Page B-markets, are experiencing March 20. ar Bighorn sheep were moved from Island to Maze at sorority id Pete and Jackie Steele are busy running trap line during the winter months free-lanc- over-populati- a non-exista- 259-675- 8. While trapped animals used to be shot with a bow and arrow or choked to death, most modem hunters shoot their catch with revolvers or rifles. Historically, trappers hiked or rode horseback along their trap-line- s, often camping days to weeks within an area to secure the animals. Today, trappers set their lines along roadside trails or within declining sales based on federal regulations on the sales of furs within the domestic market. Coyote pelts are their biggest seller, being a species most hated by ranchers, and constituting approximately 85 percent of their business overseas sales. The coyote furs are commonly converted into wolf what are labeled coats. Massey asserts that hides are jeeping or short walking only distance. Per Bureau of Land mangy these dyas and Management regulations, thats better than ever in traps must be tended within my business. He equates 48 hours, but according to the hide improvement to the Conservation Officer, Rick Weeding out, increased Schulze, I doubt if that time trapping activities occurlimit is adhered to its ring within the last 10 years. commonplace for traps to be Massey travels the state of left and then somehow Utah and hits Monticello for or stolen. In the last pelt business about every few years, the increase in two weeks. pelt value has set off some According to Massey, new trends in trapping, and trapping, even on a smallthe old trappers dont like time basis is a good way to the newcomers invading supplement ones income. their territory. Evidentally, some people set-o- ff Not a Good Year According to Pete Steele, a former Predatory Control . . .. Dwight Bunnell of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is shown above with one of 46 desert bighorn sheep recently transplanted from the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park to the Maze District, the San Rafael Swell and the Kaiparowits Plateau. A radio transmitter collar was placed around the rams neck, for later study. The sheep was wrapped in a bag for transportation to the Maze by helicopter. Agent for the Bureau of Land Management, this has been a bad year for trappers due to weather conditions including intermittent hard versus melting snow conditions that have made it difficult for trap concealment. Most animals elude even the scent of a baited trap. The scent is generally prepared by allowing bobcat, skunk, or other wild meat to rot into a liquid Carl Mahon (left) of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and Kevin Cheri form which is then poured of the National Park Service, erect a tangle net" during a recent desert big- around a concealed trap. horn sheep transplant operation In Canyonlands National Park. A helicopter was While some consider this used to move the sheep from side canyons above the White Rim into the nets. camouflage unfair, others y i i IT iprfT rgrtl r t MdHuiflWia nm agree as 35 San Juan County residents presented over 115 hides to be tagged last month at the Monticello Courthouse. The lower jaws of the animals are required to be removed, metal-tagge- d and then shipped to Salt Lake City for age analysis at the State Division of Wildlife Resources. The hides retain an associative tag and are free for the trappers to sell on the open market. Trapping season generally ranges from November to January with particular restrictions on certain animals. Bobcats may be trapped by livestock (Cont. on Page ) |