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Show JULY ) the VEY itera Ce ites Park City’s Fastest Finest, Quality Photofinishing 523 Main Street * One-hour Photo * Two-hour Slide Processing (E-6) * KODAK Create-A-Print™ + Black & White Processing * Custom Enlarging, Negatives or Slides * Portrait & Commercial Studio * Passport Photos * Unique Photo Frames & Accessories 649-6465 SUWA: Silly Charade Brings “Wilderness” Complete With Dams and Pipelines Opinion and Commentary by Ken Rait, issues director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance FS we heard that we should decommission national parks because, “once you’ve been there, you don’t need to go back.” Then we heard that the public lands should be given to the states to make us all rich (even though $20 it would million cost Utahns annually). Now, Jim Hansen and the rest of the Utah Congressional delegation (except maybe Orton) by while want they legacy This past Utahns hose to sit idly our wilderness January, Gov. Leavitt and the Utah delegation announced their intention to “resolve” the wilder- issue ness in Utah with a bill that would be introduced on June 1. Soon after, they set in motion a process THE LOCALS Hearty FAVORITE Breakfasts Mountain Home Baked Awesome Private Lunches Pastries Desserts Parties - Catering Open 268 Everyday Main St., at 7 Park A.M. City NACHO MAMAS Southwestern, Mexican Cuisine SEA itinerary Aro rbetem elem side Ce OPEN MON-FRI 11:30 a.m. — 10:00 p.m. SAT & SUN 5:00 p.m. — 10:00 p.m. 1821 Sidewinder Dr. Park City 645-TACO that gave rural, largely anti-wilder-, ness county commissioners the cut on what should and should be designated as wilderness first not Not surprisingly, the commissioners did all they could to disqualify lands based on frivolous claims of roads 801-649-3686 1995 and other intrusions. For who accompanied him were not the ones who drafted the bill behind closed doors in Washington D.C. About three dozen ecologists formulated a series of wilderness designation guidelines, which were ignored. Professional archeologists countered the claims of armchair archaeologists by endorsing the concept of big wilderness for archeological protection. The governor and the delegation didn’t care, because in reality, their minds were made up long ago. The public involvement process was a ruse designed to keep the public distracted while the good old boys were drawing the boundaries in the back trails, while others slickrock narrows late May, the delegation crafted a draft bill, but felt they needed the stamp of approval from the rural county commissioners. So, off they headed to Southern Utah to hold illegal, closed meetings. To skirt the Utah Open Meetings Act, the delegation staffers held meetings with groups of county those commissioners (less than Bennett The Southern Utah Wilderness Region pass upon recommendations were formalized, the governor and Congressional delegation set off for public hearings. In all, five were held, four of them where only 13 percent of the state’s population lives. propose amendments grand scheme, - What You Asked For West Desert 754,300 Greater just like the 256,225 (34%) 231,475 62,265 (27%) 269,300 57,641 (21%) Kaiparowits Escalante Canyons Henry Mountains 650,500 355,640 349,300 121,484 184,486 107,453 (19%) (52%) (1%) Dirty Devil 263,500 110,337 (42%) Glen/White Canyon 253,700 Cedar 97,197 (38%) 395,800 51,100 (3%) Canyonlands Moab-area Canyons Labyrinth Canyon 292,300 215,100 171,700 99,268 78,912 34,335 (34%) 36%) (20%) maze to talk San Rafael Swell 752,900 180,673 (24%) about a region which has been millions of years in the geological and ecological evolutionary process. Wilderness advocates swept the Price, Moab and Salt Lake hearings, and the counts were fairly even in Cedar City and Richfield. Sixty nine percent of the public input received by the governor’s office favored the setting aside of 5.7 million acres, or 10 percent of the land in Utah as BLM Wilderness. A recent poll also found that the 5.7 million acre citizen’s proposal enjoys more support than other proposal currently being considered. The governor and congressional delegation could not have cared less. Remember how earnestly the delegation sought your input? Well, the governor’s office never even forwarded the public input to the delegation before the initial drafting of the Wilderness bill. The governor's overflights of southern Utah were cut short because of air-sickness and bad weather and never re-scheduled. In Book Cliffs 718,600 364,652 (51%) Greater Dinosaur 30,800 0 (€%) Members of the public who were lucky enough to navigate through the governors were given fact, the public testimony 120 seconds each governor only saw about one-quarter of the lands under consideration and the delegation staffers PAGE Mesa Alliance (SUWA) filed lawsuits, attempting to gain a restraining order to prohibit the illegal meetings, but the judge (who three years ago ran for state legislature on an anti-SUWA platform) ruled against us. When the governor and delegation ignore the majority of their constituents and the judiciary is similarly represented by an anti-environmentalist, the deck begins to look pretty stacked. m june 16) the Utah Congressional delegation launched their frontal assault on _ the Wilderness Act, the Clean Air Act, the Federal. Lands Policy and Management accountability, introducing Act, government and Utah citizens by their goofy 1.8 million acre anti-wilderness bill, crafted by the well-heeled, special interests of oil companies and cattlemen. It is a bill which ing reeks of extremism, for dams allow- in four “wilderness” areas, Communications four other “wilderness” antennas in areas, and a gas pipeline to be built in another 14 public What You Got Grand Staircase Zion to make them look “reasonable” before their urban constituents, who they have shafted (i.e. help their chances at re-election). It’s all part of the a quorum) in private homes and pancake houses to make the meetings look like “chance encounters.” which the Utah delegation’s wilderness proposal is based. Once room. i example, some roads claimed by the counties are actually cattle and/or hiking through “wilderness” area. It denies reserved water rights, allowing the streams, which grace our slickrock canyons to be dried up to grow surplus alfalfa for subsidized livestock. It gives Emery County coal-fired power plants carte blanche to foul the entire airshed in the San Rafael Swell area. It allows for off-road vehicle use in “wilderness.” It gives the cattlemen preferential treatment (what else is new). It would turn over the Kaiparowits Plateau to the state for unadulterated coal development. It would actually result in a loss of 45 percent of the currently protected public land in Utah; anyone who cares about wilderness would be crazy not to try to kill this monster. The bill is so bad, that it is well within the realm of being utterly ridiculous. But the fun has just begun. Pretty soon, as part of this well-orchestrated effort, we will see Congresswoman Waldholtz and Senator involvement process, which was nothing more than window dressing for the pré*determined outcome of the delegation’s wilderness “process.” Stay tuned, this is bound ‘to get sillier! IP the Spring of 1995, Utah citizens voiced their support for the setting aside of big wilderness. Sixty nine percent of the input received by the governor’s office supported the preservation of 5.7 million acres. The above table illustrates just how much our elected congressional delegation ignored us. Acreage figures are given for the citizens’ 5.7 million acre wilderness proposal, as are the figures in the delegation’s anti-wilderness bill. The percentage in parentheses is the percent of the land within each region proposed by Utah citizens that is actually included in the delegation’s bill. Read it and weep, but then get pissed off and commit yourself to doing something about it. For more information call SUWA at 486-3161. @ |
