February 19. 2010 Excerpts from the Salt Lake Tribune
Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff says Secretary Ken Salazar asked the department's bureaus to identify areas that might be worth further study as possible management areas or spots for Congress to step in and designate as protected.
"The preliminary internal discussion draft reflects some brainstorming discussions within [Bureau of Land Management], but no decisions have been made about which areas, if any, might merit more serious review and consideration," Barkoff said. "Secretary Salazar believes new designations and conservation initiatives work best when they build on local efforts to better manage places that are important to nearby communities."
Bennett, who sent a stern letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, said he hopes that's true."What I'm hoping is that Secretary Salazar calls me and says this was just preliminary examinations of what was possible, and we're not going to drop it on you," Bennett said. "I hope he will call back and say, 'I understand how successful the Washington County process was, and we're delighted you're moving forward with San Juan County.' "
Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, released the seven-page Interior memo Thursday and warned that the Obama White House may attempt to use the 1906 Antiquities Act to bypass Congress and designate monuments. The seven-page document states that "further evaluations should be completed prior to any final decision," including gauging congressional and public support.
In 2002 Former Gov. Mike Leavitt once pushed to designate a large swath of south-central Utah as a national monument but said Friday any attempt by President Barack Obama to do so unilaterally would be a mistake.
Leavitt's 2002 proposal to protect 620,000 acres of the San Rafael Swell was generated locally, he noted, unlike what critics fear the Obama administration might do, based on a leaked Interior Department document outlining 14 potential new monuments in the West (including Utah's San Rafael Swell and, farther south, Cedar Mesa).
"There are significant portions of the San Rafael Swell that should be protected," Leavitt said in a statement Friday, noting that his plan would have included local, state and federal officials in a transparent process.
He argued such an approach would lead to better land use than the "ambush strategy" President Bill Clinton employed in 1996 to set aside the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said he already is working with leaders in San Juan County on legislation that would preserve Cedar Mesa and urged the administration to back off.
"Given the attention Congress gives to Utah wilderness, it should come as no surprise that the administration is considering protections for Utah's incomparable landscapes such as the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa," said Richard Peterson-Cremer, legislative director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
AP Excerpt Feb. 23, 2010 / SLTribune Excerpt Feb 19, 2010
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar met with Western governors over the weekend in Washington to assure them that President Barack Obama's administration doesn't intend to repeat Clinton's actions.
Republican Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said he doesn't have any reason not to trust Salazar, but it's a harder sell among some state residents.
Bennett joined with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, in recent years to break a logjam among stakeholders about how to preserve land in Washington County. That bill preserved 256,000 acres while allowing the government to sell up to 9,000 non-sensitive acres to developers in the burgeoning St. George area. Obama signed the Washington County bill last year, and Salazar praised it as a sound approach.
"I don't trust the present administration at all," said Gerry Williams, a Midvale man who was one of scores of off-road vehicle enthusiasts at the Capitol. "There are lots of us that physically aren't capable of hiking three or four days to a monument, but I can take my Jeep out ... and we can enjoy the beautiful scenery."
"It's sort of a spectacular scenic landscape. It's not surprising that the administration would try to protect it," said Heidi McIntosh, associate director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "The main conflict, generally speaking in both Cedar Mesa and the San Rafael Swell, is the out-of-control off-road vehicle use."
Interesting observation by Heidi McIntosh. On a personal note: My experience with gangs of Utah ATV riders with 2-way radios group hunting bucks and going off-road in Wyoming was eye-opening to say the least. When I spoke with several of the Wyoming locals about what I had witnessed their responses were quite candid. Excluding their descriptive expletives, they said it has become a yearly event for the Utahan ATV'ers during rifle opener.
So if Herbert says he trusts Salazar and the Washington County issues was resolved with respect to state representation and public input ending with Obama's signature, what's the issue?
I read the link and decided to read up on the subject. Although my experiences in Wyoming really did happen.
