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Show J Page 20 - UINTAH BASIN STANDARD. February 23. 1992 Group to focus on preservation of public access roads and trails Traditional vehicle assisted access to the public lands of Utah is endangered as never before. The elimination of existing roads and vehicle trails has become the top priority of numerous activist groups who wish to designate all scenic and recreational land as Wilderness. Extensive road and trail networks that have provided recreational access for generations are targeted for extinction. Rainer Huck, President of the Utah Shared Access Alliance, a citizens organization dedicated to the preservation of access states that: A majority of recreational public land users are vehicle assisted. Their ranks cover a wide spectrum of interests. Not only will hunters and rock hounds lose access to favorite places, but anyone who enjoys or needs vehicles will be shut out ff it t) The current special interest drive to designate all of our scenic recreational public lands as Wilderness, National Monuments, or National Parks is designed to eliminate vehicular access. It discriminates against anyone who doesn't have the desire or ability to hike long distances to visit scenic attractions. If current trends continue, Americans are in danger of losing vehicle assisted access to almost all the lands of the Colorado Plateau, making this one of the most extensive land closures in our history. If this happens, the only livelihood that will be available to many rural Utah communities will be as porters and waiters to the new-ag- e eco tourists. This is an impending tragedy of immense proportions. The xnqjor focus of the Wilderness Advocacy Groups (WAGS) assault on access is the elimination of existing roads. Since the Wilderness Act requires candidate areas to be roadless, they have contrived a self serving standard that far exceeds the Acts intent and paves the way for nearly unlimited Wilderness designations. But these roads are real as the national debt and are used by many thousands of people every year. These roads need a voice Someyears ago, the Henry Mountain Resource Area of the Bureau of Land Management did a study to determine just how many roads existed inside of their proposed Wilderness areas. Under the BLMs official inventory of 1.9 million acres for the entire state, these particular lands were found to contains total of 16 miles ofroads. While this might seem a lot for supposedly "roadiess lands, a whopping 3200 miles were found under the old 5.7 million acre UWC proposal! And remember, this is in just one Resource Area and under a proposal that is now dwarfed by bigger and better "98 version demanding 9 million acres. Clearly, the Wilderness Act is being abused. Huck continues: For many generations, the people of Utah have enjoyed a heritage of open access to their public lands. Obviously, they have been good stewards, for were they not, there would be no pristine lands left to designate as Wilderness. Indeed, every few years the WAGS find millions of additional acres that qualify. If "Wilderness is a dwindling resource which, when lost is lost forever as the WAGS are fond of saying, why does it seem to be growing so rapidly? Simply because Wilderness is always in the state of becoming, and constant efforts are required to stem its advance. As soon as mans activities cease, the natural forces reclaim the land which quickly returns to its previous state. "The Wilderness advocates use resource protection and preservation as a pretext to masquerade their real intentions. Their propaganda often portrays vehicle assisted users of public lands as villains, creating scapegoats to justify their extreme demands According to Huck. access advocates are like David struggling gainst the Goliath WAGS, whose power and wealth tower above the competition, Just about the only things we have going for us are truth, justice, and the principle of equality. If these are more powerful than money and propaganda, we just might win An examination of the Grand staircase NM draft management plan reveals that it focuses almost exclusively on one aspect: the elimination of existing vehicular access. Land management agencies have buckled under pressure from the WAGS in recent years. Now their only concern is the extreme interpretation of environmental laws. They have forgotten that there are other applicable laws that protect the civil rights of all the people in general and people with disabilities in particular. USA-ALwhose motto is "Equality of Access and Recreational Diversity will represent the interests of these people by insuring that the land management agencies pay attention to all the laws under which they operate. The Utah Shared Access Alliance intends to participate in all land management derision process to represent the interests of People with Vehicles. If discriminatory closures are implemented, the Alliance will pursue all available legal Washington, D C.. Federal legislators cannot craft wise and responsive legislation unless they understand both sides of the debate. Sadly, in the past, the only information available to them has been supplied by the WAGS. We need to rectify this situation. The public lands of America are a unique and priceless resource whose ownership is shared by all of our people. The elimination of historical and traditional access is contrary to public policy and is a violation ofcivil rights. The Utah Shared Access Alliance will vigorously defend the publics right to the public lands. remedies. Public education is also a high priority. Many years of biased publicity has created a negative stereotype of vehicular recreation and access that currently dominates the public perception, especially in urban areas. In fact. People with Vehicles usually have the same motivations as other recreational public land users, they just use wheels instead of hiking boots. Education of legislators is of fundamental importance. The WAGS have made public land management in Utah a national issue, insuring that the most important and irreversible decisions will be made in j n ; ,c c,r by Senator o r $ r Cf Betrly Ann Evans With a little more than one week left in the 1999 legislative session, lawmakers are pushing hard to serve the people of Utah. There has been some very exciting issues covered thus far in the session. But .there is still a lot of work to be done. As usual, the session will end in a frantic finish as we persevere through all of the proposed legislation. There are still a few hot topics that need to be discussed, such as transportation funding, education, a growth control law and a final compromise between the banks and the credit unions. The Quality Growth Act of 1999, sponsored by Kevin Gam, will be up on Friday's agenda in the House Political Subdivisions Standing Committee. Dus will be an extremely important issue facing us at the close of the session. The light at the end of the tunnel may be visible for the banks and credit union dispute. The bill was passed out the Senate and is now on its way to the House for further consideration. So far, this seems to be flowing well without a lot of controversy. Both sides are fairly content with the proposed legislation. This will truly be a compromise between the two sides. As we continue through this legislative session, please feel free to contact me of issues or concerns which you have. You can contact me in several ways: Senator Beverly Evans, Home Address, HCR 65 Box 36, Altamont, Utah 84001; Senate Address, Utah State Senate, 310 State Capitol, PO Box 140111, Salt Lake City. UT 84114-011- il. 1; bevansle.state.ut.us bevansubtanet.com;Phone. (capitol); (home); nings); or Fax: (eve- (home). to allow domestic elk hunts passed by lawmakers Bill The Department of Agriculture Six elk ranchers in the Uintah Basin received the blessings of state , will oversee domesticated elk hunting operations. lawmakers to take steps to establish hunts for domestic elk on their lands, if the governor gives the bill his official OK. In a 47 - 22 vote last week the Utah House of Representatives passed a bill to permit elk ranchers to sell hunting rights for the elk they raise. The Senate had approved the measure earlier. There are 20 elk ranchers in Utah. Roosevelt elk rancher Chris Denver lobbied for passage of the bill. Domesticated elk hunts are legal in all but just two states. Denver says domesticated elk hunts will benefit elk ranchers and their communities by improving economic development Hunters who have the money, but don't have the time to track an animal out in the wild are willing to pay thousands for the chance to basically ensure they will bring back a trophy elk. Supporters of the bill said it revolves around the issue of private property rights. Those against the measure say it makes a mockery of the concept of sport hunting. The concept of hunting domesticated elk is similar to the marketing plan for pheasant farms and private fishing farms. Hunters are charged on a per animal basis for the small game they hope to take. In the case of domesticated elk hunts, sportsmen pay a hefty price between $3,500 to $35,000 - for the chance to shoot a trophy elk within the confines of a preserve. - The earliest evidence of Ice skating was found among Roman ruins In London and dates back to 50 B.C. UTE FEEDERS continued from page 13 .... 0 ' HEAD COUNT-Calv- es Knight locally during October, November and December are putting on weight at the Ute Tribe's new feed lot. There are currently 2,151 head of calves in the yard. Lawmakers like new approach in Corrections, but wont fund it Associated Press who the Chard, It's become a way of life in the appropriations subcommittee that Department of Corrections: Avert makes budget recommendations for one crisis, brace fur another. It's the Corrections, said lawmakers like atti- what Haun is selling, but cant afresult of a tude that led to a 250 percent in- ford it. "Right now we are funding the crease in the prison population since 1984. Were the biggest growth in- operation of anywhere from 500 to dustry in town," says Department 550 new beds a year and its been of Corrections executive director difficult to tiy to get on top of that, let alone introduce new programs," Pete Haun. Next month the department will said Chard. Chard said lawmakers would do more, but they are doing priaccept bida for a new vate prison, which will be full as "the best we can with the funds soon as its doors open a year later. available without too much of a tax But, as Given current projectiona, Haun burden on citizens." aava hell be back at the Capitol Haun has become fond of saying: "A next year asking for more money for vision without resources is just a more beds to avert another crisis. hallucination." Leavitt, however, Since taking the helm of the depart- working within nearly identical ment two years ago, Haun haa budget restrictions, found the monfacilik worked to break the spiraling trend, ey, not only for the but he has earned little more than ties but an additional $2.8 million moral support from the Legislature. to rent cell space in county jails to I'm just little perplexed, he house prisoners, which was also says. "I'm not sure why the merit of unfunded by the committee. I think its not so much a matter what we're advocating hasn't been better received." Haun asked the of philosophy as it is priorities," Legislature this year for $1.8 mil- Leavitt said. "The Legislature's got to deal with Corrections. Ws cant lion for "intermediate sanctions" k just build roads, the governor said. in this rase a trio offacilitiea for offenders or those on parole or "Building a road that leads to an probation who have substance abuse unsafe community is a hollow victo- mum-mandato- low-ris- low-ris- problems where they can be su- ry" The skyrocketing prison populapervised without the high cost of tion expected to grow from 5,025 incarceration. ' Gov. Mike Leavitt proposed full last year to 7,384 in 2003 is driven funding. The Legislature, thus far, in large part by laws passed by e has recommended zero. Rep. Blake legislators. Mini ry sentences, sen- tencing enhancements and bumping misdemeanors up to felonies all mean more offenders spend longer sentences behind bars. "The perception out there in the public is if youre tough on criminals the crime rates will go down," said Chard. "Aa long as the public is given that impression ... the citizen will demand tougher sanctions." 500-be- d tough-on-crim- " ' . That doesn't mean it works. Chard says. Even as the prison population has skyrocketed, the crime rate in Utah has risen from 21st in the nation to ninth, according to FBI statistics. Leavitt believes the crime rate would have been much worse had Corrections and law enforcement not been so aggressive. He said the states large 16- - to population is more prone to violent crime. The population g now ia less than some of our previous generations," said Sen. Mike Waddoups, who the committee with Chard. That is why the Executive Offices, Criminal Justice in and Legislature Appropriations Subcommittee pumped an additional $1.5 million into youth coirec- tiona, said Waddoups. "If we dont, they become adult criminals," Tha goal ia to stem the flow of criminals into adult prisons by reaching them early, tell you." - pound gained. By earning a good reputation, particularly among othertribes with flourishing cattle enterprises, the tribe's feedlot hopes to attract repeat customers where the sizeofthe animal is right and the price is affordable. Weaver said he wants the feedlot to maintain a continuous population of about 3.000. When calves first began arriving last October the feedlot suffered from typical backyard problema'of stress and sickness and lost close to 4 percent of their animals to death. But Weaver said that rate is still about 2 percent lower than the average mortality rate at a grower yard. "We get them right off the cow and they're screaming and stressed; they've never been confined before. At Ute Feeders calves are held for about 125 days and fed a diet of silage, ground hay and a grain concentrate to put on about two pounds a day. When they reach their desired weight they are shipped off to a finishing yard. The tribe's own cattle enterprise is growing in response to the demand for more calves by the feedlot, said Weaver. The feedlot employs four people in addition to Weaver and two secretaries. The lot is part of the tribe's efforts to boost economic development through the use of Water Settlement funds earmarked for such projects. READV TO 1999 ROLL! Dodge Ram 350, 4x4, Diesel 1999 Jeep 4x4 Cool Dude Just for you Being a real nut! Keeping things running "smooth" Yelling too DIABETES CLASSES $ For People With Diabetes ffr For Families Of People With Diabetes If You Are At Risk For Diabetes $ 4 Anyone Who Is Interested loudly at Union games Ordering the right Chrysler First Tuesday Of Every Month 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Uintah Basin Medical Center Classroom EVERYONE WELCOME!!! Topics: - Ss March 2 Medications Pharmacist 6- - Exercise Crispin Dalsing RPT April S ms mimm Ms l SI N 230 E. 3sv2Ss? Roosevelt. 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