An internal memo about more than a dozen natural areas considered for possible National Monument designation has surfaced. The areas that the Department of Interior is studying for management and protection by the National Park Service or other federal agency reported are:
- San Rafael Swell, UT
- Montana's Northern Prairie, MT
- Lesser Prairie Chicken Preserve, NM
- Berryessa Snow Mountains, CA
- Heart of the Great Basin, NV
- Otero Mesa, NM
- Northwest Sonoran Desert, AZ
- Owyhee Desert, OR/NV
- Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, CA (expansion)
- Vermillion Basin, CO
- Bodie Hills, CA
- The Modoc Plateau, CA
- Cedar Mesa, UT
- San Juan Islands, WA
Predictably, two Utah politicians immediately came out in opposition -- just in case the two potential monuments made it even into the official proposal state. Senator Orrin Hatch has already been quoted as threatening do everything in his power to prevent the proposal from moving forward, and Governor Gary Herbert keeps arguing that states should be allowed to manage their own natural resources. Click here for the leaked document that has raised the hackles of these rib-rock Republican aginners.
I suppose Messrs. Hatch and Herbert don't think of the economic benefit that accrue to their state annually from visitors to Utah's magnificent national parks: nearly 1 million Arches, more than 1 million to Bryce Canyon, nearly half a million to Canyonlands, about 600,000 to Capitol Reef and 2,689,840 who visited Zion. And that doesn't include those who visit Monument Valley Tribal Park at the Arizona border and assorted national monuments, federal wildlife preserves and other public lands under federal jurisdiction. Rather than tourist dollars, I suppose Utah's H-team prefers landmarks like the enormous, open-pit Kennecott Copper Mine, the world's largest, just outside of Salt Lake City or uranium mining, even though a tailings pile from a mill near Moab is still leaching into the Colorado River.
The Grand Staircase-Escanlate National Monument in southern Utah was declared and placed under Bureau of Land Management protection under the Clinton Administration, raised howl of indignant protests from the legions of highly placed Utah aginners, including Senator Hatch who called it a "land grab." It it was, the government grabbed 1.9 million acres, including land eyed for coal mining development Andalex Resources, a Dutch company.
Today, regardless of its stance then, the Kane County Chamber of Commerce now boasts: "Near the National Parks you will also find many State Parks and National Monuments, such as Kodachrome Basin State Park, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Pipe Spring National Monument, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. With ninety-five percent of county lands administered by State and Federal Agencies, you'll never run out of things to do, or places to go. Drive roads less traveled, and find a place to call your own." Unspoken is" and stay, shop, eat and pump gas in Kanab and other nearby towns. And people who never would have heard of the place without national monument status do just that.
Fingers crossed that the government ignores the likes of Hatch Herbert, creates more federally protected areas -- and provides the funding to manage them well
I suppose Messrs. Hatch and Herbert don't think of the economic benefit that accrue to their state annually from visitors to Utah's magnificent national parks: nearly 1 million Arches, more than 1 million to Bryce Canyon, nearly half a million to Canyonlands, about 600,000 to Capitol Reef and 2,689,840 who visited Zion. And that doesn't include those who visit Monument Valley Tribal Park at the Arizona border and assorted national monuments, federal wildlife preserves and other public lands under federal jurisdiction. Rather than tourist dollars, I suppose Utah's H-team prefers landmarks like the enormous, open-pit Kennecott Copper Mine, the world's largest, just outside of Salt Lake City or uranium mining, even though a tailings pile from a mill near Moab is still leaching into the Colorado River.
The Grand Staircase-Escanlate National Monument in southern Utah was declared and placed under Bureau of Land Management protection under the Clinton Administration, raised howl of indignant protests from the legions of highly placed Utah aginners, including Senator Hatch who called it a "land grab." It it was, the government grabbed 1.9 million acres, including land eyed for coal mining development Andalex Resources, a Dutch company.
Today, regardless of its stance then, the Kane County Chamber of Commerce now boasts: "Near the National Parks you will also find many State Parks and National Monuments, such as Kodachrome Basin State Park, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Pipe Spring National Monument, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. With ninety-five percent of county lands administered by State and Federal Agencies, you'll never run out of things to do, or places to go. Drive roads less traveled, and find a place to call your own." Unspoken is" and stay, shop, eat and pump gas in Kanab and other nearby towns. And people who never would have heard of the place without national monument status do just that.
Fingers crossed that the government ignores the likes of Hatch Herbert, creates more federally protected areas -- and provides the funding to manage them well
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