Sunday's Headlines!

[Zaronica@aol.com]

Are Bill Clinton's plans for the West The legacy we want? President's 
'protections' are drawing fire, praise by C. Patrick Cleary The Daily 
Sentinel (Grand Junction, CO) With one year left in office, President Clinton 
is using the Western landscape to carve his place in history -- with some 
concerned it will happen at the expense of the intermountain West's residents.
Clinton, before leaving office Jan. 20, 2001, has pledged to change the 
management of millions of acres of public lands, largely in the West.  If 
successful, the consequences would range from increased environmental 
protections to more limits on access and how the land could be used.  No 
other president since Lyndon B. Johnson, who expanded national seashores, 
created national monuments, and signed the Wilderness Act of 1964, has shown 
as much interest in how public lands in the West and the rest of the nation 
have been managed.  
So far, Clinton has:
* Signed a bill making the Black Canyon of the Gunnison near Montrose (CO) 
the nation's 55th national park.  Great Sand Dunes National Monument in 
southern Colorado could also soon be expanded and elevated to national park 
status
* Used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to declare 1.7 million acres of southern 
Utah as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
The monument was created in the back rooms of the White House, without any 
public input, and declared less than a year before the 1996 elections.
Public lands targeted for change in management.
In Colorado:
1. EXPANSION of the Colorado National Monument.
2. CREATING a monument or national conservation area west of Cortez.
3. TURNING the Great Sand Dunes into a national park and expanding its 
boundaries.

Other sites the Interior Department is expected to promote for additional 
protections include:
4. ONE MILLION acres northwest of the Grand Canyon.
5. 40,000 ACRES on Perry Mesa north of Phoenix.
6. EMPIRE RANCH near Tucson, AZ.
7. OTAY MOUNTAINS near San Diego.
8. SANTA ROSA Mountains near Palm Springs, CA.
9. CARRIZO PLAIN in Central CA.
10. MISSOURI BREAKS on the Missouri River in Montana.
11. STEENS MOUNTAIN in OR.

Clinton could use the same law, again without congressional or other public 
input, to expand the Colorado National Monument in Mesa County.  Also in the 
works are potentially new or expanded monuments near Cortez and in AZ, CA, MT 
and OR.

This article goes on for quite a long time but as we all know something is 
going to happen.  We have been discussing Trails and this represents 40 to 60 
million acres of trails that could potentially be closed to any type of 
competitive event be it CTR or     Endurance.  The only way the Outlaw Trail 
is allowed to continue is as a Historical Event and that only after LOTS of 
letter writing.
The article does not give any web sites or phone numbers or fax numbers but 
I'm thinking that if we all contact our Senators and Representatives and let 
them know how we feel and perhaps it would be a good idea to repeal the 
Antiquities Act of 1906 so that anything like the GSENM does not happen again 
it might do some good.  
You know I was riding on one of the loops of the Kokapelli Trail this past 
year and enjoying being all alone when I spotted a 4WD (SUV) coming down the 
narrow washed road toward me.  My first thoughts were 'they shouldn't be 
allowed here' then when they got close to me I noticed that the passenger was 
held in place by several seat belt type straps and he was obviously a 
quadriplegic (Vietnam Veteran) His wife was taking him out for some fresh 
air.  I revised my though process and was really grateful for his service to 
our country.  I was glad that he could be out and see and enjoy the back 
country and I decided that if more land were shut up people like this 
gentleman could not get out and enjoy what he fought for.  Anyway you could 
read the entire article at   www.gjsentinel.com  
Have a Merry Christmas one and all.  Lovell


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