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Show Burr Trail Work May Begin Soon Work may begin at any time on a 14-mile section of the Burr Trail according to a ruling Monday by the same federal judge who stopped work on the road Dec. 21, 1987. U.S. District Senior Judge Al-don Al-don Anderson lifted the injunction against work on the section that borders no Wilderness Study Areas of the 28-mile disputed portion of the road. The balance of that portion por-tion of the road remains under the injunction while Garfield County completes an environmental assessment as-sessment ordered by the 10th Circuit Cir-cuit Court of Appeals. The 14-mile section on which work can commence borders no WSA's, does not include the Long Canyon area, and is in a mostly flat area, said Garfield County Commissioner Louise Liston who was present at the Monday hearing. The county is waiting to begin work until moisture conditions of the soil are appropriate. Liston said the county's environmental envi-ronmental assessment is nearly complete and, following the required re-quired 30-day comment period called for, could be ready for presentation to the court in January. Representing the coalition of four environmentalist groups who sued the county was attorney Wayne Petty. Petty questioned the judge's wording of the ruling, say ing that he felt that it was not necessary nec-essary to stipulate in the ruling that work would begin, only that the injunction was lifted on the 14-mile 14-mile section. The judge disagreed, saying that since it was his court that had stopped the work, it was also appropriate that his court indicate that work could proceed. Apparently unwilling to acknowledge ac-knowledge that the judge's ruling gives the Bureau of Land Management Manage-ment a real go ahead to allow work to begin, Terri Martin, Rocky Mountain representative of the National Na-tional Parks and Wilderness Association, said she felt that the BLM is under obligation to a law which requires the agency to protect all public lands from undue degradation. The Monday ruling was the most recent in a series of rulings affecting Garfield County's efforts to move ahead in its intent to ultimately ulti-mately pave the entire length of the 66-mile road, the only east-west artery connecting the eastern part of the county with the central portion. Improving the road has been estimated esti-mated to bring a substantially increased in-creased flow of tourists into the area, noted for its national and state parks and scenic beauty. Representing Garfield County at Monday's hearing were Garfield' County Attorney Patrick Nolan, and Attorneys Ron Thompson and Barbara Hjelle, both St. George. |