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Show Escalante Meetings Will Help Local Business Owners Face Challenges ESCALANTE Two meeting, meet-ing, set for the first week in September in Escalante, are designed to assist area business leaders in the challenges they face as the nature of their local communities emerge from their traditionally agricultural background back-ground into a dynamic and often unfamiliar tourist-oriented future. The timely seminars, sponsored spon-sored by the Escalante Chamber of Commerce are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, eve-nings, Sept. 2 and 3, at the Escalante Community Center. Both meetings will feature Luther Propst Featured speaker will be Luther Propst, executive director of the Sonoran Institute in Tucson, Ariz. Propst is co-author with Jim Howe, who works with The Nature Conservancy in Rochester, Roch-ester, N.Y., and Ed McMahon, director of the American Green-ways Green-ways Program at the Conservation Fund in Arlington, Va., of the newly-published book, "Balancing "Balan-cing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities. " Joining Joining Propst on Monday evening will be Jean Seiler who will address "Heritage Industries, an effort to create a networking system between artists and craftspeople crafts-people in Garfield County, with a goal of establishing a place where they can sell their work. The meeting is set for 5 p.m. Wednesday night's meeting, set for 7 p.m., on "Gateway Communities," will directly address ad-dress the challenge that elected officials and business leaders face in scenic rural communities impacted by their proximity to national parks, monuments and other tourist attractions. "With their scenic beauty and high quality of life, these 'Gateway 'Gate-way Communities' have become a magnet for those looking to escape the congestion and fast tempo of contempoirary American society," says the inside covet of the new book. Luther will assist merchants and community leaders in considering community-initiated tourism activities that capitalize on the recent designation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Na-tional Monument with a goal of preserving the unique attributes southern Utah's wild lands. This sustainable business initiative may involve certification, conservation conser-vation training, and business support sup-port of membership organizations. organiza-tions. "Increasing numbers of Americans are fleeing cities and suburbs for the small town and open spaces that surround national na-tional and state parks, wildlife refuges, historic sites, and other public lands," the authors say. They provide "practical and proven lessons on how residents (See Escalante Meetings Set To Help County Business Page 3A) L. Escalante Meetings From Front Page of gateway communities can protect their community's identity while stimulating a healthy economy econ-omy and safeguarding nearby natural na-tural and historic resources. Without savvy planning, the authors say that these gateway communities could easily meet with the same fate as the suburban communities that were the promised land of an eearlier generation. They can help, they sayu, to prevent this from happening hap-pening in Garfield County. "They describe economic de-, velopment strategies, land-use planning processes, and conservation conserva-tion tools that communities from all over the country have found effective. "Each strategy or process is explained with specific examples, and numerous profiles and case studies clearly demonstrate how different communities have coped with the challenges of growth and development." Among the western U.S. communities profiled areBoulder, Colo.; the greater Yellowstone region; Jackson Hole, Wyo.; Dubois, Wyo.; Moab, Utah; Estes Park, Colo.; and Red Lodge Montana. The Escalante Chamber of Commerce invites everyone interested inter-ested in preserving the character and integrity of their community without sacrificing local economic econom-ic well-being to attend. A no-host dinner is set for the conference room of the Ponderosa Restaurant at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, with a brief Chamber meeting at the Community Center at 6:30 followed by Propst at 7. "We look forward to joining hands across the county to plan for a future in which we can enjoy our lifestyle and prosper at the same time," says Chamber President Presi-dent Lance Jaggar. |