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Show THE CANYON COUNTRY WATCHDOG By Scott Groene, Herb McHarg 6 Liz Thomas of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance mm V'!' v Drilling In Nine Mile Canyon: Mission Energy filed an Application for Permit to Drill within the BLM Nine Mile Inventory Unit and the citizen's wilderness proposal, HR1500 -- an area rich with the prehistoric remains of the Fremont Culture. Although the BLM did not recommend the area for wilderness study in 1980 because of private land issues, acquisition of the private land in 1992 has prompted the BLM to state that "it seems likely that an inventory would demonstrate the presence of wilderness characteristics, and may, consequently, be designated as a WSA. Unfortunately, as recognized by the environmental assessment (EA), the proposed action would impair the area's wilderness qualities since the "low productivity of the site and its marginal characteristics for reclamation, would present an intrusion for decades to come. The EA also analyzes the "BLM preferred alternative where drilling would occur along the existing road, however, the consequences of either action would remain essentially the same. Regardless of analysis, a "finding of no significant impact should not be issued, if only because of the certain impact oh wilderness a significant resource of enormous national concern. Comments are due September 23, 1998, however, letters received after that date should still make it into the file, and at least get you on the mailing list. Address letters to Dennis Willis, BLM, Price Held Office, 125 South 600 West, Price, UT 84501; fax - (435)636-365- this is printed, Utah Legislation Moves in the Senate: By the time his & on bill 2385, Senator Bob Bennett will probably have held hearings for the San Rafael Swell It appears the Utah delegation is making a serious bid to pass the legislation before the upcoming election. Similar legislation awaits a floor vote in the House. Bennett's bill called the San Rafael Swell National Heritage and Conservation Act, would eliminate Wilderness Study Area protection for 125,000 acres in Emery and deletes from consideration 612,000 acres proposed by Utah citizens for wilderness in die San Rafael Swell This bill provides less wilderness protection than was included in the horrible wilderness bill Bennett and Hatch tried to push in the 104th Congress. Please contact your Senator today to warn them that S. 2385, the San Rafael Swell National Heritage and Conservation Act, is not swell, and the Redrock Wilderness should be protected. Mail can be sent to any Senator at United States Senate, Washington, D.C, to get your Senator's phone . 20510. Or call Stupid Anti-Wilderne- ss anti-wildern- 202-224-31- 21 GOODBYE CROENE- -. After almost ten years with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Scott Groene is leaving the organization (and The Zephyr too). His departure is a real blow to those of us who admire and respect his dedication, tenacity 7. ORVs Threaten Wilderness: Wilderness advocates would agree that the idea of Wilderness is to preserve nature unimpaired for future generations. Unfortunately, many off-rovehicle (ORV) groups, like the Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRQ, ignore this primary and important reason for wilderness, and instead view wilderness as a playground for recreation. Adhering to this concept, they attempt to pit hikers against other recreationists in an "us against them" battle. In a recent article, BRC claimed that wilderness advocacy organizations are "selfish and mean spirited, are "nothing more than 'hate groups', and are inciting violence. The truth is that the BRC and other ORV lobby groups may be all these things: and courage. ad ORVers represent only 13 of public land users, yet have an exclusive fund devoted to ORV trail construction derived from gasoline taxes (that we all pay). Approximately 70 of this money goes to motorized trail construction. Is it selfish that about 87 out of 100 people fund the construction of trails that they do not use, especially when 75 consider ORV use to be incompatible with other uses? ORV lobby organizations like the Blue Ribbon Coalition, are funded by Chevron, Exxon, American Petroleum Institute, Suzuki, Yamaha, Walt Disney, Marathon, Kawasaki, and Honda. This big money is used to pressure the BLM into skirting its mandates requiring that the agency locate trails to minimize damage to soil, watershed, vegetation, harassment of wildlife, and conflicts with other uses. Wilderness proponents are not advocating for "the elimination of all human use of all our backcountry areas, as claimed by the BRC. In fact, over half of the citizen's proposal is within 2 miles of a road, and 90 is within 3 miles. The proposal would leave 60 of BLM managed land as In the Moab area, 95 of the Jeep Safari trails would be left open by our proposal Similarly, 98 of bicycle routes shown on Moab area bike maps would be left open. In 1942, George Patton trained soldiers on 11.5 million acres in the Mojave Desert of California. The ruts made by the tanks are still evident today. As an analogy, the citizen's wilderness proposal represents some 8.5 million acres of the last remaining wild lands. Should these lands be scarred by the machines of weekend warriors? Scientific studies show that a motorcycle disturbs 34 ton of soil in one mile of travel, and a 4 wheel drive vehicle impacts between 3.3 and 50 tons of soil, depending on the soil ! type. In the most benign conditions, dry ground and straight travel, a motorcycle rips-u- p 1 acre every 20 miles, and a 4 wheel drive vehicle chews 1 acre every 6 miles. Other machine can cover many times that distance in a given day. A hiker, on the other hand, displaces only 1 acre every 40 miles, and it takes many days to cover that distance. Wilderness proponents are not attacking ORV users. They are simply pointing out, that even though the devastation caused by vehicles may not be deliberate, it cannot be avoided. Even the patron saint of wildlife, St. Francis of Assisi, couldn't ride a motorcycle up a hill without damaging it. Advocates for wilderness are not selfish extremists, they are just asking for a few places where the artificial forces do not conquer the setting. But, I guess it's easy to name-ca- ll on the wilderness "playground" when Big Oil and Big Industry are for more information. standing behind you as bodyguards. .Call SUWA at (435)259-544- 0 Massive Oil and Gas Development in the Book Cliffs: In June, a draft environmental assessment (EA) was released that addressed a proposal to drill 969 wells, construct 267 139 miles of what the proposal labeled as "existing" miles of new road, and routes (Le., turn faint jeep trails into heavy-dut- y roads). Many of these wells and roads would be developed within the Lower Bitter Creek unit of the citizen's wilderness proposal and lands designated by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) as "critical winter , range for Mule Deer and Elk. The EA failed to fully consider impacts on the many sensitive, threatened, or endangered species that exist in the project area. The EA also neglected to address wilderness, a highly controversial issue, in direct violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. In response to public comment, the BLM is preparing a final EA, which will be released shortly. Please contact Duane De Paepe, BLM Vernal Held Office, 170 South 500 East, Vernal UT 84078; comment letters. (ph)435-781-440- 0; (fax)435-781-441- 0 to obtain a copy and submit The morons who hate him will have to find someone new to send threatening letters to. On a personal note. I cannot think of anyone I admire more than Scott. But lest I get too sentimental and mushy. Ive the goofiest photo I could find of The Groanster its his famous Forrest Gump Look photo. So long Groene. See you on the traiL.JS ed Governor Gags Greens, Again: Utah Governor Mike Leavitt blocked the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance from a seat on the Utah Bureau of Land Management Advisory Council with a decision made final when new appointments were announced on August 21. Leavitt shares control of committee selection with the BLM. The council is heavily tilted to commercial users, with minimal representation by citizens concerned about the environment. Leavitt claimed in the national media that he wants all citizens to work together under his title of 'enlibra.' .'Enlibra' turns out to be politician speak for 'only Friends of the Governor need apply.' Leavitt's spokesperson told the media the Governor would have loved to put SUWA on the council, but that SUWA's bylaws prohibited the organization from participating and Clinton gets all the credit as the politician best able to provide the public creative answers. This is the second time in four months Leavitt has stopped participation by conservationists. In May, Leavitt barred environmental representatives from sitting on the Central Utah Water Conservancy District board. The Governor even selected for the committee an vehicle advocate the BLM had previously cited for using explosives to clear a route for his jeep. The BLM State Director Bill Lamb is also responsible for SUWA being excluded from the advisory committee. BLM's unwillingness to allow balanced representation proves the is still shackled to extractive industries, and ignores the national interest in the agency public's lands. But experience has taught us to expect nothing more from Lamb. off-ro- ad State Director Gets Spanked for Refusing to Provide Information: The Utah BLM improved some after Clinton's election, but management has been in decline for the past couple of years. As an example, the agency has returned to its bad habits of withholding public information. State Director Bill Lamb refused to provide SUWA documents which disclosed how the BLM's Resource Advisory Committee decided to approve chaining as a fire reclamation tool SUWA made the request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, and appealed the denial In a decision dated August 12, the Office of the Solicitor overturned Lamb's decision and ordered him to make the documents available to SUWA. wun ine urana sraircase-cscajarr nal Monument may be a new record for wgaijr the greatest waste of money ever expends on a plan. The proclamation establishing the area already made the difficult decisions prohibit future oil, gas, or hard rock mineral development. It is unclear what, if an additional derisions the BLM will make at the end of the three year planning process thi ssuc g mited resources from other BLM programs. The agency has suggested it ma refuse to make decisions about grazing, road closures or wilderness. The agency also appears poised to promote tourism through the monument: tl agency's most recent update letter raises an alternative of accommodating and increasir recrea has also proposed a fee structure that would include a pay-of- f to loc governments that ba sued to disestablish the monument, illegal in th nument' and opposed a land exchange which benefits both Utah school children and the monument. ni a I |
