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Show I " - -J! r,. ' ; i f - ' I t - j 1 ! I ..,''' 1 t ' J .. rv ' t 1 " - w i 'I : - .. t ' ' ' '" I ( ' v - . ' . r Members of one of four breakout sessions at the Escalante Highway 12 corridor meeting discuss highlights and concerns of intrinsic qualities along Scenic Highway 12. Each group expressed views at the end of the evening and identified scenic locations on maps that were provided. Public Meetings On Highway 12 Corridor Draw Interest And General Approval, Some Dissent ESCALANTE Local, state and federal representatives held a series of five public meetings last week to introduce the concept of advance planning for a corridor along Scenic Byway 12. Six years ago Garfield County was approached with the same njnnning concept and categorically "gave a thumbs down to the project. Although the overwhelming public consensus for the proposed Highway 12 Corridor Management Plan appeared to be positive this time around, local leaders said there were still holdouts questioning the wisdom of changing the highway's status from state to federal despite presenters' claims that the state would still be in control. Somme were still asking, "What can we expect? and "Can we believe what we are told?" Some county residents said they did not attend the meetings because of past frustrations over the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument hearings which they felt were shams. Although acceptance appeared to prevail, several concerns surfaced at the end of the evening meeting in Escalante and a couple of vocal citizens expressed mistrust of the government and said they did not want to participate in the process. Meetings were held in each community in the county beginning on Monday, July 9 in Panguitch with 10 attending, Tuesday, July 10 in- Bryce Valley with 15 attending; Wednesday, July 11 in Escalante with 45 in attendance, Thursday in Boulder and Friday in Torrey. On hand for the Escalante session were all three county commissioners, Maloy Dodds, Clare Ramsay and Dell LeFevre, Travel Council Director Bruce (See HIGHWAY 12 on page 5-A) HIGHWAY 12 From Page 5-A Fullmer, Ken Sizemore and Shane Luck with the Five County Association of Governments, Travel Council member Sheral Bernardo, mayors and city council representatives, Wayne County Travel Council Director Nan Anderson, and many others. Mayor Marjie Lee Spencer gave a warm welcome and expressed her gratitude to some 45 citizens who turned out to listen and comment on the proposed corridor plan for Highway 12 before turning the meeting over to Garfield Travel Council Director Bruce Fullmer. Fullmer, a Panguitch resident, said, "We are all proud of Highway 12." He had been selected to spearhead the project for Garfield County, along with Wayne County. He stated that a Corridor Management Plan was necessary to identify the highlights and concerns about a particular highway if it is to become a Federal Scenic Byway. History of Hwy. 12 Scenic Byway Designation Fullmer explained that Highway 12, from its junction with U.S. 89 along its course over Boulder Mountain into Wayne County, is a State of Utah-designated Scenic Byway. Fullmer said that about 10 years earlier, Federal Highways had expressed interest in developing a list of the nation's most spectacular highways. They challenged all of the states to identify their "Scenic Byways." Utah was the first state in the nation to accept the challenge and initiate the process. The Governor appointed a number of people to serve on a "committee, chaired by Clare Lee of Beaver, to look at all the highways in the state and they selected the list of Scenic Byways. In Garfield County two other highways are designated as Scenic Byways: Highway 143, from Panguitch up past Panguitch Lake to Brian Head and down into Parowan; and a portion of U.S. 89 that goes from the junction of Highway 12 south and continues on to Kanab. Opportunity To Nominate To Federal Status "We've had the opportunity for the last five or six years to nominate Highway 12 ... as a Federal Scenic Byway." said Fullmer. "Our commissioners, a number of years ago, took a look at this and felt that the timing wasn't right. "About last February ... the Dixie National Forest sent out an invitation to anyone that might have an interest in Highway 12 and said, 'Let's talk about doing a Corridor Management Plan again.' Fullmer said that about 45 people attended that meeting ... a lot of them Forest Service, BLM, county commissioners, some mayors, some private citizens, anyone with an interest in Highway 12. It was pretty much the consensus of that group that someone should do a Corridor Management Plan. "Any organization, ... Forest Service, the BLM, UDOT, Garfield County anyone can actually do this process that we are going through, that you are participating in tonight." said Fullmer. "And after some heated discussion some lengthy discussion it was very apparent, because we want this to be a local project. Fullmer said the commissioners had a great deal, of discussion but felt they needed to go forward with the project in order to have local input into the future of Highway 12. He said that Wayne County leaders concurred. Committee Formed "Our commission has allocated some money and various groups have allocated money and we've put together a committee," said Fullmer, some of the Forest Service, some BLM, some government people, some private individuals, Sheral Bernardo from Escalante here served very faithfully as a business person on Highway 12; Jerry Roundy, although he has (See HIGHWAY 12 on page 7-A) HIGHWAY 12 From Front Page not been to every meeting has been very involved and has given a lot of input," he said. "And the reason we are here tonight is to continue this process and see if we want to become a Federal Scenic Byway." Fullmer then turned the time over to Ken Sizcmore from the Five County Association of Governments to explain the planning process, differences between state and federal designations and the ground rules for the mapping exercise following his 15 minute presentation. Fullmer said that the commissioners had selected Sizemore as contractor "to pull everything together." He had served the county well as a member of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument planning team. "Ken is a great guy; we want him to do this project," said Fullmer. "That's why we've turned it over to him. We have to work very rapidly, but we want to make sure we are thorough and that we've got local input." He said that all three commissioners were present in Escalante to show that "we have good county support." Corridor Plan Presentation Ken Sizemore then gave a slide presentation, the essence of which is explained in the accompanying article below entitled "What Is A Corridor." Several handouts were set on a table for attendees to pick up one answering the most asked questions about the National Scenic Byways Program, one showing the makeup of the partners for the corridor plan, maps, excerpts from the Federal Register regarding National Scenic Byways, etc. Following Sizemore's slide presentation those in attendance were broken up into four groups and spent approximately 45 minutes identifying intrinsic qualities along Highway 12 and placing those on a map for later inclusion in the plan. Each group kept track of concerns and highlights along the highway and reported back to theVnain group at the end of the meeting. The following were among the intrinsic qualities identified: Archaeological Anasazi State Park. Granaries by Calf Creek and North Creek. Cultural Anasazi State Park. Hole-in-the-Rock. Escalante Main Street. Preserving The Cattle Drives in Escalante and Boulder. Historic Bryce Canyon Airport Hangar. Buildings in Escalante. Overlooks. Natural Kodachrome Basin Stale Park. Town of Escalante. Clean Air. Fewer People. Natural Quiet. Great Western Trail. Upper Calf Creek Falls. Wildlife. Recreational Hole-in-the-Rock Road. Motorcycle Trail. Hunting and Fishing at Wide Hollow, Posey Lake, Lower Bowns Old Reservoir. Scenic Bryce Canyon Scenic Highway. Petrified Forest State Park. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Anasazi State Park. Pulloffs on Hogsback and ' Calf Creek. Hogsback Overlook. Boulder Mountain Overlooks. Concerns on Hwy. 12 Bridge at Sawmill Gets Flooded. Turn at Barker Reservoir Too Steep. Passing Lanes at Bryce Canyon. Biking Lanes Needed. Wider Road Shoulder. Improved Traffic Safety in Towns. Intersection U.S.89Highway 12 Unsafe. Railings Along the Highway. Need For More Restrooms. Safer Pulloffs and Better Signing. More and Better Trash Cans. Speed Limit Concerns in Escalante. Signage at Entrance to State Parks. Structure and Integrity of Historic. What Price Will We Pay for Federal Highway Designation? What Restrictions? If Identifying Best Areas and Developing, What Does This Mean? Lack of Law Enforcement. Want To Remove All Billboards. Some Means of Identifying Services. If Highway Designation Goes, It May Be Good For Tourism But Will It Be Good For Other Livelihoods? Too Much Traffic. Putting International Concerns Before Local. Potential For Removal or Control of Certain Kinds of VehiclesTrucks. Tourism Changes Character of Area. Safety of Bicycles on Highway 12. Promote Main Canyon for Biking. Calf Creek Bottleneck. Concerned About Off-Highway Vehicle Access. Restrictions on Private Lands. Rights to Drive Cattle on Highway. . Highway to Become Four Lanes. Next week: Public Comments |