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Show USU students to help design AF River plan Preliminary studies for a proposed American Fork River Parkway Master Plan Project got ' underway this week with a meeting between 27 students from Ar-chitectual Ar-chitectual Design classes at Utah State University and county, state, federal and local leaders. The proposed project, which directors say is at the "conceptial stage," would develop a parkway along the American Fork River from the Tibbie Fork area in the North Fork of American Fork Canyon to Utah Lake, and including the Adventure and Learning Park. Lyle Gomm, Recreation and Lands Branch of the Uinta National Forest, asked the students - all juniors or graduate students who are completing the project as a school project - to come up with six alternative plans on how a parkway could be developed along the river to encompass the many demands of today's recreationists. These plans will be juried to determine their feasibility, officials said. The challenge, Gomm said, is to "take all the resources and demands and uses projected for the canyon and wield them together to meet the needs." He told the students to look for "distractions" for the project, to try and come up with a program to help clean up some of the clutter found in the canyons, and to look at possible development through the high density population area in the valley floor. "Look at the influences all around here. We can't tolerate more development in the canyon. We have reached saturation but we can absorb ab-sorb more recreation in the lower areas," he said. He said because of the demands, no agency can deal with this role by themselves, but all need to work together in order to meet the needs of the people. At the same time, each agency wants to maintain their own identity for their area whether it be the Forest Service, Utah County, American Fork City, or someone else. There are 26 areas that can be developed in the entire American Fork canyon and "most of this is already developed," Gomm said. Malcolm H. Beck, Utah County Commissioner and former mayor of American Fork, said he believed the greatest thing they were trying to accomplish was the tying together of the universities with the other agencies. By doing this, Beck said, everyone becomes more involved and "we can do things collectively that we couldn't do alone and in this way get more for our money." He said, "We need to protect our environment and our heritage" by everyone working together. Beck says if you can take individuals in-dividuals when they are about eight years old and get them involved in recreation of some type, you can keep them from getting involved in crime. "The biggest amount of money in the udget of American Fork and in Utah County is spent for the police force," he said. Beck added it costs less to develop recreational activities than it does to keep someone in institutions. Also speaking to the students, explaining facts about the area were Gordon Williams, Forest Landscape Architect on the Uinta National Forest; Mike Timmons, Professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental En-vironmental Planning Department, USU; Dennis Burns, of the Utah State Parks and Recreation Department. Also Clyde Naylor, Utah County Engineer; Morgan Thomas, Utah County Travel Council; Bob Robison, Geologist, Utah County Planning Commission; Buck Rose, Utah County Planning Commission; Owen Dean, Co-ordinalor of Special Services, Utah State Training School. Scott Issacson, Assistant Superintendent, Timpanogos Cave National Monument; and Steve Winslow, Recreation Staff, Pleasant Grove Ranger District, Uinta Naitonal Forest. The students met Monday at Timpanogos Cave National Monument Visitor Center to hear background of the proposal, then were taken into the canyon via skis or snowmobiles. They were to spend Tuesday going along the river to the lake to gather facts about the area, then to go back to Logan where they will be divided into groups to come up with their proposals before the school quarter ends. |