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Show THE CANYON By Liz Thomas COUNTRY &6 Herb McHarg of the Southern WATCHDOG Utah Wilderness Alliance SAN RAFAEL SWELL BILL, DEJA VU: : Congressman Cannon has again introduced a not-so-Swell bill. It’s a bit different than the original not-so-Swell bill, but, not surprising and like its predecessor, it’s plagued with ORV TRAIL FOR WOULD-BE GAMBLERS ON HOLD In southwestern Utah, ORV enthusiasts have been busy sweet-talking the BLM and US serious neon light mecca of Mesquite, Nevada. For the record, it’s not entirely clear where the idea -for this trail originated, but all signs point to the Cedar City BLM office. After being hatched by BLM, the super-trail idea gained support from the Dixie National Forest and Sen. Hatch’s office, thereby allowing the ORV enthusiasts to merely jump on the speeding deficiencies. The current Swell bill, HR 3605, would establish a National Conservation Area (NCA), without adequately addressing the real issues that need to be addressed in the Swell —wilderness designation and ORV abuse. On the other hand, HR 3605 would dole out $10 million of federal funds for local tourism promotion in Emery County that would lead to MORE ORV abuses and more environmental damage to the Swell. This proposed NCA looks suspiciously more like an Emery County National Playground Area than a. proposal to actually protect the natural resources of the area for all U.S. citizens to enjoy. In fact, the bill gives Emery County inordinate control over the management of the NCA via the bill’s mandated "Legacy Council." The NCA draws a boundary around nearly 950,000 acres of BLM land in the Swell, 80% of which is currently proposed for wilderness designation. It’s beyond strange that the NCA boundaries are, in large part, proposed wilderness boundaries; yet NCA status would do nothing towards managing these lands as wilderness. In fact, the NCA bill could effectively halt BLM’s current wilderness review of this area by diverting funds from BLM’s Wilderness Study Area review process to the four-year multiple-use planning effort mandated by Cannon’s NCA Forest Service into creating an ORV super-trail that would connect Beaver, Utah, with the bandwagon as it went by. Since its inception, folks at BLM and the Dixie National Forest have been coordinating and facilitating numerous meetings between federal and state agency folks, county commissions, congressional offices, and local ORV riders. The trail, dubbed the High Desert Trail, would cross BLM and Forest Service lands meandering through public lands for approximately 130 miles. It would insure continued ORV damage not only to those lands the HDT would cross, but to those adjoining lands that would later be surreptitiously added as loops and spurs. Herb McHarg is wearing a bandana on his head because: A. He's trying to relate to the "young people.” B. The Rogaine is not working. C. It’s allergy season and a hanky is always handy. D. All of the above. bill. In addition, the proposed NCA bill could delay for four more years the implementation of BLM’s nearly completed ORV management plan for the San Rafael Swell area. This is unacceptable. Approximately 90% of the Swell is currently open to ORV use. BLM’s own analysis concludes that surface disturbance caused by ORV use are likely detrimental to the threatened and endangered plant species in the area and that ORV use has serious impacts on riparian areas, soils and wildlife. Closing this area to ORV use off of county or other designated roads would not affect responsible users, since no legitimate roads that have been constructed and maintained would be closed, and routes where it is permissible to ride ORVs non-permissible routes. would be clearly marked to distinguish them from However, as it stands now, the NCA bill does not even come close to doing this, and further delays in managing ORVs merely allows more permanent scars scattered around the landscape. Finally, the NCA bill fails to include all of the areas that comprise the Swell. The bill draws the boundaries to exclude potential mineral interests along the western edge of the Swell, and then uses the Emery County line to chop off magnificent areas in the southern part, including Factory Butte and Red Desert. HR 3605 does not accomplish the type of protection that the Swell warrants, and such lame legislation is not acceptable for such a spectacular place. ORVs are, unquestionably, the main threat to the scenic beauty and unique natural resources that are offered by the San Rafael Swell. Wilderness designation is the most appropriate way to address the harm that results from uncontrolled ORV use, that has grown markedly worse in the past decade. Unless ORV abuse is addressed for the entire San Rafael Swell area, SUWA will continue to adamantly oppose the enactment of this legislation. SUWA is mystified as to why BLM would pursue ways to spend its limited funds on the creation of yet more ORV trails, when the agency is so deficient in its compliance with EXISTING laws and federal regulations that are intended to minimize ORV damages to public lands and resources. (SUWA has recently filed a lawsuit against Utah BLM to force the agency to properly manage ORVs according to these existing laws). SUWA’s been working different angles aimed at getting the HDT derailed for the past few months. We were pleased to learn one week before the Zephyr went to press, that the next round of HDT planning meetings have been put on hold. We'll continue to keep an eye on the ill-conceived and unneeded HDT and will continue our challenge against BLM’s plan of creating more ORV problems before the agency has dealt with the extensive, on-the-ground problems that already exist. BLM IS CONSIDERING MINING PROPOSAL FOR NATIONAL MONUMENT BLM is contemplating a zirconium and titanium mining and processing proposal submitted by 3R Minerals which would be located in Alvey Wash Staircase-Escalante TALES FROM CEDAR CITY The talk around CC these days is becoming really wacky and weird. The topic is, hold on to your hats, the SPACEPORT. The local papers and grapevine are running amok with talk about Utah’s bid to build a $500 million spaceport to host Lockheed Martin’s National Monument. Besides being located in the Grand within a national monument, the mining and processing activities are proposed for an area recently inventoried by BLM and found to possess wilderness characteristics, and as such, is currently undergoing review for Wilderness Study Area designation. The area is also located within the Carcass Canyon unit of America’s Redrock Wilderness Act, HR 1732/S 861. If those circumstances are not enough to warrant BLM rejecting this proposal, consider the fact that the mineral lease was NOT in existence at the time the GSENM was designated VentureStar (it’s a rocket, not a movie). The VentureStar is supposed to be some future "reusable commercial launch vehicle" that will send private technology whizzing through space at speeds approaching mach 15 (don’t ask), reaching altitudes of up to 60 miles. The eyes of crazed developers are and thus, it is not a "valid existing right" deserving of any special consideration by BLM. sparkling at the thought of launching such technology (and the development accouterments that will follow) from the Wah Wah Valley, northwest of CC. The Wah Wah’s don’t have the deal sewed up just yet. Thirty-two other sites were However, BLM appears to be ignoring this fact and is proceeding to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess the environmental impacts of the proposal submitted by fifteen other states, but local promoters emphasize that the Wah Wah site boasts the highest elevation of all the sites, making it a more cost-effective launch site. Remember when Moab’s tram was just an idea??? Let’s hope the spaceport never sees the light of day in Utah’s quiet and remote west desert. OUR FAVORITE MARTIAN...UH...CONGRESSMAN Within nine days of BLM’s announcement that the agency was developing a national strategy to “ensure environmentally responsible ORV use on BLM lands," Representative Jim Hansen fired off a letter to BLM demanding that the agency halt all work on its newly announced strategy. Always alert to any such insidious proposal aimed at curtailing _ destructive ORV use on public lands, Hansen demanded that BLM stop all national planning efforts, suspend any policy changes "in Utah dealing with OHV use on BLM lands," and supply his office with a truckload of documents and explanations as to why such a strategy was being undertaken. The congressman specifically wanted to know whether the national ORV strategy and/or the Utah ORV strategy were related to the ORV lawsuit filed against BLM by SUWA. Hansen also requested the names of those BLM employees who had attended meetings to discuss Utah ORV approaches (a not-so- thinly-veiled threat?). Based on Hansen’s past record of unabated opposition to wilderness and his distaste for regulating high-impact uses on public lands, Hansen’s letter looks and smells like a systematic and conscious effort to prevent the very kind of action that is so badly needed to conserve the landscape in Utah. At the very least, it is an attempt to delay such action until much more damage is inflicted by irresponsible or illegal ORV use on public lands. The net result will clearly be additional and irreparable destruction of wildlife habitat, degradation or water quality, erosion of soils, continued elimination of native vegetation, and stresses on wildlife. Sadly, the delay will ultimately lead to an acre by acre loss of wilderness, as ORVs blaze new routes and continue to travel in areas not suited for such use. ; : (A valid existing right is one that existed at the time the GSENM was designated, upon which the presidential proclamation bestowed elevated status). (the EIS will likely be available to the public before this article appears). How can mining operations, on-site processing operations, haul-truck traffic, the associated noise, light, and air pollution, and the use of scarce water resources for purposes that do not benefit the resources of the monument be compatible with an area that the presidential proclamation calls an “unspoiled natural area" worthy of national monument status? Good question. However, it is likely, based on past decisions, that BLM will formulate an answer to that question and conclude that the proposed mining and processing are, indeed, compatible with the monument’s purpose "of protecting the objects” of the monument. It seems obvious that allowing a mining and processing operation within the national monument would detract from the national treasure BLM is charged to protect. Needless to say, we're looking forward to receiving the EIS to see the creative way BLM will depict mining operations as being consistent with protecting the resources of the monument and its potential wilderness status. SUWA will continue to oppose this proposal and other similar activities in the monument and in areas that have wilderness characteristics. 3 BLM UTAH STATE DIRECTOR MAKES A WISE CHOICE Each quarter, the BLM offers for lease to oil and gas companies various parcels of our public land. Some of these parcels happen to fall within the 9.1 million acres of wilderness character lands included in America’s Redrock Wilderness Act, HR 1732/ S 861. This is a big problem. Once a parcel is leased, companies have certain rights that enable them to apply for permits to drill, build roads, operate drilling equipment, frequent the site with haul trucks, construct pipelines .. . you name it. Since the BLM does not typically prepare an environmental assessment at the time it decides to issue the lease, irretrievable |