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Show 500 Volume 111 WEATHER Thursday Mostly Sunny High 85 Low 50 Sunny High 89 Low 53' Sunny Low 57' Sunday Sunny High 92 Low 58 Weather forecast courtesy of National Weather Service Grand Junction office. Andrea Brand. Sand Flats overseer. Loves the desert. See B1 page into Colorado - are being exan ned for wilderness potential. contributing writer While it may seem strange ti at land The public notices, public meetings and not deemed wilderness in the pa-- t could website bulletins may have gone largely be considered now, David Grey, Rc source unnoticed, but a local alert about the USDA Information Specialist for Forest Services consideration the Manti-LaSNational of swaths of the La Sal MounSee Map Forest and pait of the tains as wilderness has on page A--2 awakened mountain bikers to planning team, point d out that the human fooa potential threat to their can businesses. their and trails shrink, too. tprint We have different projects going on As part of a national Forest Plan that on the forest and as time passes after at least evthe USFS must those projects are complete, roads and ery 15 years, four roadless parcels in the such can be closed, so an area would be La Sals - three on the ranges western flank and one following Roc Creek down eligible now that wasnt in the past The by Lisa Taylor Saturday in National Forest Management Act requires us to go through any area, even if Potential wilderness designation already alarms mountain bikers Friday her job Draft al the camel. Bill Disc golf caddy in the B5 desert. See page Thursday, June 10,2004 www. moab ti mes.com Number 23 Forest Plan revision could have broad effects FORECAST High 91 MOAB, UTAH we reviewed it in 1984. The La Sals sections recently inventoried already exclude, and are usually bounded by, motorized trails, so there would be no change there. Further, wilderness areas on Forest Service land allow many activities such as hunting, fishing, grazing, hiking, climbing, camping, boating and valid existing rights including oil and gas leases, water and property rights. Going through the regulations, it seems the only losers would be mountain-bikers- . For some of them, the sting is that Continued oil Page F ourth of July celebration cancelled for 2004, but fireworks will be big bangs for the bucks by Lisa Taylor contributing writer Citing funding cuts, bad timing, and needing a break, the group that has organized Grand Countys July Fourth community celebration since 2000 is taking that break this year, and there will be no formal daytime event. The committee, made up of Lauren Davis, Kirstin Peterson and Penny Tanner, told the city and county in late April that they w ere bac king out, and while they offered to help if anyone else wanted to try, no one has stepped up yet. The largest chunk of event money -$5,000 last year - came from the Moab Area Travel Council, but MATC grants are designed as seed money, to be discontinued after a couple of years. The July Fourth committee has had its run. Peterson said she wasnt surprised that the travel council stopped the flow, and that money was just one factor. Another big one was the date. This year, the fourth falls on a Sunday, and she said the committee felt that meant losing a large part of its volunteer and participant base. The three discussed moving the event to Saturday, but Peterson said it would feel strange to hold the days events, and then wait a night and day for the fireworks, which are to go ahead as scheduled on Sunday, pending the fire Continued onFiXJ group uses closed-doo- r meeting to look at ways to manage backcountry Multi-agenc- y by Lisa Taylor contributing writer Irene Thorne. She's a See photo on BIO page At the first Farmers Market of the season last Saturday, customers checked out the goods as Youth Garden Project head gardener Amanda Morse and graduated! apprentice Cody Dalton worked the booth. The market takes place at Swanny City Park every Saturday from 8 1 1 :30 a.m. until the season ends. Photo by Lisa Taylor ol high-scho- -- Farmers Market gardeners take on an entrepreneurial bloom by Lisa Taylor Inside T he T imes Business Directory: B8 Classifieds: B11 Editorials, Letters: Notices: BIO A8-- 9 Obituaries: 46 Region Review: B1 Sports: A5, B2 TV Guide: LAST WEEK'S WEATHER Date High Low Precto. June 2 97 53 June 3 101 56 June 4 101 56 June 5 100 58 June 6 102 59 7 101 June 8 -J- 66 98 72 oess Asson,- - First Place 4y Four Categories - hi $ - TlwTIira- To . subscribe to The Times-Independe- nt call subscribemoabtimes.com The This Times-lndepende-nt news-pap- er is The first 2004 Farmers Market at Swanny City Park on Saturday mixed pleasant tradition with a few small changes that could bode well for Grand Countys local produce economy. Market manager Jodi Gibson roamed corner of the park, the neatly laid-owith shoppers and discreetly visiting hand-held counter to track atclicking a tendance. Having joined the Youth Garden Project as a VISTA intern last winter, this was her first taste of the market, and she was pleased, if a little nervous. By 11 a.m. shed clicked off 180 people, and hoped to get to 200 by mornings end, smiling thats my goal. ut B2-- 3 une contributing writer 7X) printed X3y on recycled paper and is recyclable. Students and staff at the historically unpredictable Youth Garden Project booth had neatly-printelabels, an attractive display, and were directing browsers to good deals and items likely to run out. Were a lot more organized this year, its more presentable - and weve got a lot more produce, agreed fresh Grand County High School graduates and seasoned Youth Gardeners Cody Dalton and Sarah Stock, working the booth with a group of staff and volunteers. The operators of both Manzana Springs and Karuna Farms, anchor vendors and historically a pretty soft-selot, were having some fun working their d Representatives from the county and city councils, law enforcement and federal and state land agencies met May 26 to discuss ways to reduce environmental and safety problems related to Grand Countys growing visitor population. The meeting, suggested by Sheriff Jim Nyland, was partly in response to complaints about abuse during Jeep Saon diffari, and ranged from a ferent incidents law enforcement officers brosee to a plan for a combined-sourc- e chure that would lay out appropriate trails and rules for different user groups. de-bri- ef The county council had only three members, Judy Carmichael, Rex Tanner and Jerry McNeely, which meant the session was not required to be open to the public. The move bothered Franklin Seal, local representative for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, who said later, Ive been told by someone who was at the meeting that the agenda read that the purpose of this group was to develop a recreation plan for Grand County, and I suspect that means the backcountry. To do this behind closed doors and expect to have the public buy into it without public comment seems a bit strange. County Administrator Judy Bane countered that the discussion centered around production of a brochure rather than public policy, and said that after a draft was produced, it would be available to the public as part of the county budgeting process. She acknowledged that the meeting was deliberately not public, because last year we had a meting that involved a lot more individuals and nothing came of it. I felt this year that we needed to have just a small group so that something would get done, and actually it was really a good meeting. Bane said the reason so many agencies were called in was to present a united appeal to visitors to respect the Continued on Page A4 ll on Page A3 Conservationist purchases Water Conservancy Districts George White property for $1.5 million by Michelle Wiley (GWSSA) Manager, Speers intends to also acquire a conservation easement for her e The George White property that was purchased last spring by the Grand County Water Conservancy District (GCWCD) for its two wells and water rights has been sold to Jennifer Speers for $1.5 million. The property closed on Friday, June 4. Speers, a woman from Salt Lake City, has purchased several large parcels of land near Moab in the last two years, including Cottonwood Bend Ranch (formerly Proud Foot Ranch), the Rio Colorado development near Dewey Bridge and a portion of the George White Ranch separate from the parcel she purchased last week. Each of the land purchases either has a conservation easement in place or is in the process of instituting such. According to Dale Pierson, Grand Water Sewer Service Agency recent purchase. GCWCDs intention for purchasing the George White property was to acquire the two wells located on the property and most of its water rights for culinary water distribution to Spanish Valley residents and then to sell the property as soon as possible to reduce the debt of $2.4 million that was incurred by GCWCD. GCWCD sells culinary water to Spanish Valley Water Sewer Improvement District (SVWSID), which in turn sells and distributes the water to residents at retail costs. Since Speers purchase is almost $1 million less than what GCWCD purchased the land for last spring, Pierson stated that SVWSID culinary water rates will be raised by approximately $2 to offset GCWCDs deficit. contributing writer 120-acr- It 's Rodeo Week in Moab . . . Pete Peterson will be Grand Marshal for the 2004 Canyonlands Rodeo, which takes place each night at 8 p.m. June 1 0, 1 1 and 1 2 at the Spanish Trail Arena. This is a PRCA sanctioned rodeo, with competitors coming from many states. Pete and his wife Barbara have lived in Grand County since 1960. They have four daughters, 11 grandchilHe has owned and operated a hair salon for 44 years, dren and two and continues to work and enjoy the many friendships developed over the years. Pete has been a member of the rodeo committee since 1 988, serving as chairman for three for another three. He enjoys hunting, fly fishing, golfing and years and his family. Pete will lead grand entry at each nights rodeo performance and also the parade at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. The Rodeo Committee would like to invite active servicemen and women to come be in the parade, in return for which they will receive a free rodeo ticket for Saturday night. Lineup begins at 9 a.m. at Swanny City Park. n. vice-chairm- |