v Primary Ballots will be
mailed out the first part of June. VOTE
“The presence of one of the largest coal
reserves on Earth was precisely the reason President Clinton created Grand
Staircase Escalante National Monument. A plan to reopen a once productive
uranium mine was precisely the reason President Obama created Bears’ Ears
National Monument.”
“Bears Ears National
Monument, which the Trump administration is
in the process of downsizing, has long been at the center of the fight for public lands. It
also happens to be one of the best places in the Southwest to explore. For
starters, you can hike to the ruins known as House on Fire, Pueblo granaries at
the base of a rock feature with swirling marks resembling flames. Then there
are the North and South Six Shooters, twin sandstone towers that sit nearly
6,000 feet atop talus cones and are famous among rock climbers. What’s more,
the upper section of the San Juan River, from the put-in at the Sand Island
Recreation Area to the take-out at Mexican Hat, makes for a mellow paddle
through scenic canyon country, with thousands of petroglyphs etched into the
red cliffs. —Jayme
Moye”
San Rafael Swell bill: "It
protects less land as wilderness than is already
protected for those values. It makes off-road vehicle problems worse with an unprecedented
legislative scheme. It undoes a protected area for coal mining. It allows Utah
politicians to sue the United States to put off-road vehicles through areas
designated wilderness. And, as icing on the cake, it furthers the state of
Utah’s grab at our public lands by handing management of federal lands over to
local control, which will likely result in an ORV playground around Temple
Mountain and more crowding around Goblin Valley."
(Written 4 years ago in
the Canyon Zephyr. If you’ve never read
this article, tackle it now, including the comments at the end, and then
consider San Juan’s future.) “It was, after all, the Grand Canyon
Trust’s Bill Hedden who once proclaimed, “Industrial-strength recreation holds
more potential to disrupt natural processes on a broad scale than just about
anything else.” Twenty years later, Hedden and the Trust and other
“green” groups seldom talk about the recreation menace. Now, turning
wilderness into a cash cow is a favored strategy, not a shameless
exploitation.” Jim
Stiles
Other Articles/ Events of Local Interest
Winston Hurst has
written several articles about Cummings’ explorations in San Juan County. One is in Issue #13 of Blue Mt. Shadows
(1994)
~~~~~~~~
DO YOU READ THE CANYON ZEPHYR?
DO YOU BELIEVE IN A FREE
& INDEPENDENT PRESS?
THEY NEED YOUR SUPPORT...
Over the years, as far back as 1991, this
publication has expressed its growing alarm over a monolithic Industrial
Tourism economy. Consequently, we have understandably lost most of our former
Moab advertisers. We are now almost completely supported by small contributions
from our readers.
Sad to say, almost everything we predicted 25
years ago is happening--Moab has become a poster child for what NOT to become
as a tourist town. To the south in San Juan County, the corporate outdoor
industry is licking its chops as it moves forward to make that region "the
next Moab."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Documenting
Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016
