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Show w ilgtlht VOLUME 68 NUMBER 14 50c Group opposes BLM fast track wilderness The Utah Shared Access Alliance is strongly opposed to the BLMs fast track effort to create an additional 2.8 million acres of Wilderness Study Areas in Utah. According to Rainer Huck, President, the current process is politically driven to satisfy the demands of Wilderness Advocacy Groups (WAGS). These organizations generate incc me and build their constituency by creating a perception that public lands are' somehow threatened and can be saved only through radical action. Their goal is to designate every single acre of scenic recreational land as Wilderness, the most restrictive of all management options. This deprives most people from accessing and using these lands. Utahs families will suffer if these Wilderness Study Areas are created. Physically challenged and aged persons will lose access. We cant allow our USA-AL- L land to be confiscated just to satisfy the demands of special interest groups. The current process is unprecedented in its speed and bias. The outcome was determined before it began. There was no public input in the inventory process. The 202 process is to be completed in record time. The goal is to have the WSAs in place before the expiration of the Clinton Administration. People need to know that Wilderness Study Areas are managed very much like designated Wilderness. All multiple use activities are restricted and most existing roads are closed. Because the WSA process is open ended, these lands could be managed as Wilderness indefinitely. The Utah Shared Access Alliance will insure that federal land management laws and access rights arenot violated by theBLM in their zeal to designate additional Wilderness. The people of Utah deserve equal treatment under the law and due process in the formulation of policies that will govern our public land access. WEDNESDAY MAY 26, 1939 COLOR COUNTRY'S HOME TOWN NEWSPAPER sea t's Graduation time County wants to settle RS2477 lawsuit with roads agreement finality so that the county knows The first of two public hear- where it is regarding roads. The ings on the proposed road agree- agreement does not preclude ment with the BLM was held private citizens getting Title V May 17 at the county courthouse. access nor preclude citizens from Jerry Meredith and Kate Canon, claiming RS2477 rights. of the BLM, were present at the The rancher will have a right commissionof way in some areas where the request of county By Carol Sullivan ers. County Commission Chairman Norman Carroll stated that the agreement is well thought out and one that will benefit the county and future users of the GSENM Monument. The agreement is a proposed settlement of a lawsuit over roads and RS2477 issues. The specific roads involved in the lawsuit are: Skutumpah and Smokey Mountain Roads located in the Monument, and the Moquith Mountain Road. The Sierra Club, SUWA, the BLM, Kane, Garfield and San Juan Counties are locked in the lawsuit. The agreement will settle the lawsuit in Kane County in the Monument and then we can use the same criteria and settle Moquith and save the county money, according to Attorney public will not. The BLM has conceded when the county made specific requests for more width due to wash out, etc. Some places are wider for maintenance in areas specified by County Roads Supervisor Lou Pratt. Currently Wilderness status begins at the edge of the road, however the agreement calls for wilderness to begin 300 feet from the paved center line, 100 feet on high standard gravel and 30 feet on a dirt road. Overnight camping is up to 50 feet off of the road. All roads within the Monu- ment are now on electronic data and Kane County is the first county in the state to have a GPS on roads. Jim Matson asked if the BLM could cancel a road grant. Jerry Winchester. Meredith answered no. Mike WinColin Sinclair asked if the agreement County Attorney chester explained the difference had provisions for utilities. The in definition of roads between agreement does not address this the county and the BLM. Ac- but according to Commissioner cording to the county, any high- Crosby, underground utility way open to the public that ve- rights of way, follow a highway hicles can travel on is a road. corridor. The BLM defines a road as one See ROADS, Page 23 that must be constructed by mechanical means. The agreement will clarify the definition. KANAB WEATHER If it is on the map, then it is a road The agreement will also May settle the RS2477 lawsuit. In the lawsuit, the county will have to prove a road exists and it will be left up to the court to define what it is. The RS2477 process of litigation is lengthy and expensive. This agreement is an attempt to look another way at resolving specificity such as road width. The agreement also deCourtesy: Frank Swapp Family fines what is a read in the Monument, and, the .agreement gives |