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Two events next week in the SLC area:
(1) UTAH FOREST WILDERNESS OPEN HOUSE
You are invited to to the unveiling of a new wilderness proposal for southern Utah's forests:
Wednesday, February 23, 7pm
Salt Lake City Library, 210 E 400 South, Conference Room B
This is a great chance to get involved at the start of an exciting campaign to protect the "other" Utah wilderness. Utah's National Forest wildlands contain high snowy peaks, redrock canyons, alpine meadows, 1000+ year old bristle cone pines, Anasazi cliff dwellings, weird rock formations, clear streams, ancient ponderosa forests, and much, much more.
Even if you have been exploring Utah a long time, it's likely that you will see something new in the slide show of National Forest proposed wilderness areas at this event.
This event is sponsored by the Utah Forest Network, which includes, SUWA, Red Rock Forests, The Wilderness Society, The Sierra Club, Save Our Canyons, The Wasatch Mountain Club, and several other groups.
Please join us for a beautiful slide show tour of Utah's southern forests and learn more about this new wilderness proposal.
(2) VERNAL BLM DRAFT PLAN IS INDUSTRY GIVEAWAY!
Attend a public meeting at the Salt Lake City Library to urge the Vernal Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to protect wild Utah! WE NEED YOU THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24 TO SUPPORT THE GREATER DINOSAUR / BOOK CLIFFS HERITAGE PLAN!
The Vernal BLM recently released its nearly-final land use plan for public comment. Please attend the Salt Lake City hearing on Thursday, February 24th at 6 p.m. The meeting will take place at the downtown public library (210 E 400 South) - look for signs in the lobby.
During the meeting and in your comment letter, you may want to mention the following:
* The BLM's preferred alternative must be balanced in order to provide for a full-spectrum of resource uses and recreational opportunities on our public lands. The BLM's draft alternative, which opens 93% of the area to industrial development and designates a spaghetti network of routes, works against this needed balance by foreclosing certain resource management options for these incredibly scenic and wildlife-rich lands.
* The draft EIS fails to consider a range of reasonable alternatives for recreation and travel, and mineral leases. In order to minimize resource and user conflicts, the BLM's preferred alternative should not designate routes or allow for oil and gas leasing in areas with wilderness characteristics including Bitter Creek, Upper Desolation Canyon, Wolf Point, White River, and lands surrounding Dinosaur National Monument.
* I support the Greater Dinosaur/Bookcliffs Heritage plan so that I can continue to enjoy camping, river-running, fishing, hunting, walking, wildlife viewing, and other traditional activities, on wilderness-quality lands that account for about 25% of the public lands within the Vernal planning area, without the disruptive sights and sounds of vehicles or industrial development.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Considering the Bush administration's "scorched earth" energy policy, we predicted that the BLM's draft Vernal Resource Management Plan would be a significant disappointment, but the agency's preferred alternative, released in January, is even worse than expected. The draft plan would open a staggering 93% of the incredibly scenic and wildlife-rich lands in the Vernal region to pump-jacks, sludge pits, pipelines and roads--including proposed wilderness adjacent to Dinosaur National Monument, and along Bitter Creek and the Green River. Outside of already protected wilderness study areas (WSAs), the agency's draft plan would leave less than 1% of the nearly 2 million acres of public land managed by the Vernal field office completely off-limits to oil and gas leasing.
The proposed Transportation Plan is no better than the oil and gas proposal. The BLM would designate nearly 5,000 miles of trails and routes open to motorized use (for comparison, there are 900 miles of motorized routes in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, comprised of roughly the same amount of public lands as in the Vernal area). Although the numbers are ridiculous, the locations of these routes are egregious. Routes are proposed in areas that the BLM previously inventoried and found to have wilderness character, including along the Green River in Upper Desolation Canyon, White River, Lower Bitter Creek, and areas around Dinosaur National Monument.
We must now hold Interior Secretary Gale Norton to her promise of using strategies other than WSA protection to prevent destructive activities on ALL remaining wilderness lands.
If you are unable to attend the meeting, you can submit written comments to the BLM. COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT PLAN ARE DUE APRIL 14, 2005.
SEE YOU AT THE MEETING!
Two events next week in the SLC area:
(1) UTAH FOREST WILDERNESS OPEN HOUSE
You are invited to to the unveiling of a new wilderness proposal for southern Utah's forests:
Wednesday, February 23, 7pm
Salt Lake City Library, 210 E 400 South, Conference Room B
This is a great chance to get involved at the start of an exciting campaign to protect the "other" Utah wilderness. Utah's National Forest wildlands contain high snowy peaks, redrock canyons, alpine meadows, 1000+ year old bristle cone pines, Anasazi cliff dwellings, weird rock formations, clear streams, ancient ponderosa forests, and much, much more.
Even if you have been exploring Utah a long time, it's likely that you will see something new in the slide show of National Forest proposed wilderness areas at this event.
This event is sponsored by the Utah Forest Network, which includes, SUWA, Red Rock Forests, The Wilderness Society, The Sierra Club, Save Our Canyons, The Wasatch Mountain Club, and several other groups.
Please join us for a beautiful slide show tour of Utah's southern forests and learn more about this new wilderness proposal.
(2) VERNAL BLM DRAFT PLAN IS INDUSTRY GIVEAWAY!
Attend a public meeting at the Salt Lake City Library to urge the Vernal Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to protect wild Utah! WE NEED YOU THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24 TO SUPPORT THE GREATER DINOSAUR / BOOK CLIFFS HERITAGE PLAN!
The Vernal BLM recently released its nearly-final land use plan for public comment. Please attend the Salt Lake City hearing on Thursday, February 24th at 6 p.m. The meeting will take place at the downtown public library (210 E 400 South) - look for signs in the lobby.
During the meeting and in your comment letter, you may want to mention the following:
* The BLM's preferred alternative must be balanced in order to provide for a full-spectrum of resource uses and recreational opportunities on our public lands. The BLM's draft alternative, which opens 93% of the area to industrial development and designates a spaghetti network of routes, works against this needed balance by foreclosing certain resource management options for these incredibly scenic and wildlife-rich lands.
* The draft EIS fails to consider a range of reasonable alternatives for recreation and travel, and mineral leases. In order to minimize resource and user conflicts, the BLM's preferred alternative should not designate routes or allow for oil and gas leasing in areas with wilderness characteristics including Bitter Creek, Upper Desolation Canyon, Wolf Point, White River, and lands surrounding Dinosaur National Monument.
* I support the Greater Dinosaur/Bookcliffs Heritage plan so that I can continue to enjoy camping, river-running, fishing, hunting, walking, wildlife viewing, and other traditional activities, on wilderness-quality lands that account for about 25% of the public lands within the Vernal planning area, without the disruptive sights and sounds of vehicles or industrial development.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Considering the Bush administration's "scorched earth" energy policy, we predicted that the BLM's draft Vernal Resource Management Plan would be a significant disappointment, but the agency's preferred alternative, released in January, is even worse than expected. The draft plan would open a staggering 93% of the incredibly scenic and wildlife-rich lands in the Vernal region to pump-jacks, sludge pits, pipelines and roads--including proposed wilderness adjacent to Dinosaur National Monument, and along Bitter Creek and the Green River. Outside of already protected wilderness study areas (WSAs), the agency's draft plan would leave less than 1% of the nearly 2 million acres of public land managed by the Vernal field office completely off-limits to oil and gas leasing.
The proposed Transportation Plan is no better than the oil and gas proposal. The BLM would designate nearly 5,000 miles of trails and routes open to motorized use (for comparison, there are 900 miles of motorized routes in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, comprised of roughly the same amount of public lands as in the Vernal area). Although the numbers are ridiculous, the locations of these routes are egregious. Routes are proposed in areas that the BLM previously inventoried and found to have wilderness character, including along the Green River in Upper Desolation Canyon, White River, Lower Bitter Creek, and areas around Dinosaur National Monument.
We must now hold Interior Secretary Gale Norton to her promise of using strategies other than WSA protection to prevent destructive activities on ALL remaining wilderness lands.
If you are unable to attend the meeting, you can submit written comments to the BLM. COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT PLAN ARE DUE APRIL 14, 2005.
SEE YOU AT THE MEETING!
