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Show Goals Expanding For Escalante Center ESCALANTE Excitement and curiosity are mounting as residents resi-dents all over Garfield County watch with interest the events associated asso-ciated with the rapidly developing many-faceted Escalante Center. According to Executive Director Suzanne Winters, the goals of The Escalante Center are a unique mix of economic development and education edu-cation enabled by the commitment of the Bureau of Land Management to the core scientific and educational values of the new monument. While prior models exist for various aspects or components of The Escalante Center, the proposed center is a novel and integrated approach ap-proach to economic development and education. To begin to understand under-stand the magnitude of the concept proposed. The center will combine the missions of a research institute, a field institute, a high school, an historical museum, a teaching institution, insti-tution, conference facilities and a national park visitor's center. Already, two Grand Staircase-Escalante Staircase-Escalante National Monument-based Monument-based courses will be held this summer. The first, July 12 - 16 will focus on the paleontology, geology and archaeology of the area, the second on the biology, ecology and social history of the monument. Faculty for the classes will be made up of both local experts ex-perts and nationally recognized scientists. sci-entists. Winters said that more information on the classes will be forthcoming The Escalante Center is a multi-faceted multi-faceted partnership of Southern Utah University, Garfield School District, Last Wagon History Museum, Mu-seum, Escalante Canyons Center for the Arts and Humanities, Garfield Gar-field County, State of Utah, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Located on 28 acres of land adjacent adja-cent to Escalante High School, The Escalante Center will leverage public pub-lic and private investments in the community to more effectively address issues of public lands management, man-agement, economic improvement and community well being. Offering Offer-ing accredited classes, field camps and research opportunities,- the multi-use facility is expected to become an exceptional resource for (See CENTER on page 4-A) CENTER From Front Page students, scientists, artists and Historians. His-torians. The combination of art, history and science with destination development for education and relaxation re-laxation capitalizes upon the coherence coher-ence between environmental preservation preser-vation and traditional uses. The Escalante Center is dedicated dedi-cated to creating a learning environment envi-ronment for students, researchers, and visitors to the area and to providing pro-viding an educational and research destination attraction, presenting the rich and dignified history of Escalante. Planners hope that the center will promote cooperation and collaboration col-laboration among citizens, busi-- busi-- nesses, non-profits, educational organizations and government agencies agen-cies to develop tools and processes for sustainable environmental protection pro-tection and preservation. A formal Board of Directors was established in March 1998 and Winters Win-ters was hired in August 1998. The unique synergy developing among the key players of The Center Cen-ter is dedicated to the concept of exploiting the job creation elements of high-end educational tourism with the learning opportunities presented by the players. The benefits bene-fits to the community, the partners of The Escalante Center and visitors to the area are multi-faceted. Winters said that the community commu-nity is expected to gain tourism dollars by attracting the high-end, educated tourist, thus creating additional addi-tional employment opportunities within the city. Escalante High School students and teachers benefit from new and expanded facilities and the unique opportunities to work along side and in conjunction with professional scientists and artists. SUU will have a facility to use for accredited classes which include unique opportunities for field camps, in-service training for teachers teach-ers and historical documentation study in conjunction with the museum. mu-seum. Additionally, the new auditorium audito-rium of the high school will be jointly used for live theater performances, per-formances, drawing upon local resources re-sources and talents resident within the university and the Shakespearean Shakespear-ean Festival of Cedar City. The Last Wagon History Museum Mu-seum will be expanded beyond the original vision, sharing some of the , services traditionally provided by a federal visitor's center and will gain additional visitation due to the other activities of the campus and archival archi-val and teaching resources of the university. The BLM will gain a facility , which will serve as a hub for its research efforts and those of the other scientists conducting research in the field. As an added benefit, junior and senior students from the high school will provide needed skilled labor for high school credit for cataloging, cata-loging, curating and investigating artifacts of scientific research while developing interest and motivation to further pursue scientific education. educa-tion. The arts and humanities group will exhibit the variety and talent of the local people and artisans and lectures by the BLM and other scientists, sci-entists, artists and historians will be presented in the auditorium. The Board of The Escalante Center meets monthly, generally on the second Wednesday of the month at the Escalante High School library. li-brary. The Center was officially incorporated and registered with the State in October 1998. Since then, the Board of Directors and Suzanne Winters have been diligently work- ing to make this dream a reality. Fund Raising efforts are underway under-way and ongoing. The center has . received a $25,000 grant from the Local Economic Development Ini- , tiative; $20,000 from, the Utah Travel Council Tourism Destination Destina-tion Grant and other private grants (confidential) Winters is working on procuring procur-ing federal funding during this Congress to initiate building next year. She has been meeting Utah's Congressional delegation and will be meeting with several people from the Department of Interior later this month in Washington D.C. The BLM, as a Task Order and at an estimated cost of approximately approxi-mately $200,000, agreed to include the development of a Master Plan for The Escalante Center under a contract which will include all of the visitor center facilities for the new monument. Selection of a suitable architecturalengineering firm is currently underway and the plan is expected to be completed in . (See CENTER on page 5-A) CENTER From Page 4-A July of this year. ' A Kick-Off event is being planned for May 29 for all residents . of Garfield County. Activities will include music by a local group, a . Star Party hosted by The Hansen Planetarium with several tele- " scopes, kids activities and a Dutch Ovenpot luck dinner. Details will be forthcoming. ; J.drunk, who will? Do whatever it takes. |