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Show It's Not A Political Chip The Escalante Center is not a political chip to force our county commissioners to sigh a roads agreement with the federal government. govern-ment. The Center is promoting education, educa-tion, local culture and history, art and science, and economics. But, because of possible federal funding, the Center is being targeted as a political agenda. Rumors are flying! Is the county roads issue tied to the success suc-cess of the Escalante Center? Are our county commissioners being pressured? Well, I'm sure they are. ..by all sides! There are those who would like to use the Center to manipulate others. The road issue has been around for a long time. We know that it is both a difficult and a delicate situation situa-tion in which both sides have to sit down and work it out. We, as board members of the Escalante Center, wish to encourage our county commissioners to deal with the roads issue in a manner that they feel will best represent the desires of the people in the county that they represent. We wish it to be clear that the Escalante Center does not have a political position on the roads issue. Clare, Maloy, Louise. ..we support you as our elected officials. The BLM is one of the partners of trie Escalante Center and has committed funds for the first phase of the project. This phase is the completion of a master plan. The master plan, though time consuming consum-ing and expensive, is a very important impor-tant step that will bring everyone to the table to discuss such things as land issues, school usage, museum, art, educational and science programs, pro-grams, and economics, input from everyone will be invaluable to formulate for-mulate the best ideas and opportuni ties. If you have questions or concerns, con-cerns, I urge you to contact a board member and discuss those items. There is a window of opportunity opportu-nity here.. .right here, right now. Although not popular from our own standpoint, the interest gener- That being the case, I feel that it is urgent that our community look into ways to protect our agricultural land from being gobbled up by development. de-velopment. The best way to protect pro-tect it is a land trust. Zoning regulations regu-lations can be changed in one city council meeting; deed restrictions will endure. This issue bears directly on another an-other issue, currently the occasion of much conflict in Escalante: the proposed new Wide Hollow reservoir reser-voir project. The existence of a local land trust guarding local farmers' farm-ers' and ranchers' lands from development devel-opment would go far to prevent the water impounded in a new reservoir from being diverted to non-agricultural non-agricultural uses. In such a context, con-text, the new reservoir would indeed work to perpetuate local agriculture, rather than fueling the growth of subdivisions and strip malls. Those who truly wish to preserve the character of our community would do well to investigate the possibility of setting up a local land trust. The Colorado Cattlemen's Association As-sociation is actively involved in protecting ranchlands through conservation con-servation easements (legalese for deed restrictions on development rights). If you can't trust them, who can you trust? Wake up, smell the roses of a good new idea, and call 303-431-6422 in Denver for more information. Or you can call Wendy Fischer at Utah Open Lands, 435-649-0220. Patrick Diehl Escalante |
