Outdoor Companies Ask Obama To Create A New National Monument In Utah
The battle over control and protection
of undeveloped land in southern Utah continues to rage, with major
outdoor companies firing the latest volley.
Many of Utah's elected leaders have
been pushing for more state control over land belonging to the
federal government. Leaders of outdoor recreation companies have been
pressuring Utah to back away from that stand, threatening to move the
massive Outdoor Retailers show to another state.
Now the recreation industry has gone on
the offensive, asking President Obama to create a new national
monument to protect lands surrounding Canyonlands
National Park.
The proposal reminds Utahns of the
decision President Clinton made to create Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monument, to protect land around
Bryce Canyon
from coal development. Clinton stood at the Grand
Canyon, in Arizona, to announce creation of the Utah monument.
Many Utahns were furious, yet most of us now take pride in that
monument and the beautiful land it protects.
KSL has this
report about the new proposal. Below are excerpts.
"We believe
this sends a powerful message to all of Utah's congressional
delegation," said Peter Metcalf, president and chief executive
of Black Diamond Equipment Inc., a Salt Lake City-based company that
has been acquiring other hardware makers around the globe. "This
would become one of the greatest national monuments in the West."
The
outdoor-industry leaders say Utah is blessed with a $4 billion
recreation economy that's more important than mining or oil-and-gas
drilling on federal lands around Canyonlands National Park. A
monument would protect 2,200 square miles around a park one-quarter
of that size. It would take in more of the Colorado and Green rivers
and the Dirty Devil River, and such landmarks as Labyrinth Canyon,
Fiddler Butte and Robbers Roost.
With Congress
refusing to move any land-protection bills, the companies are
reaching out to Obama, who can use his presidential authority and
political capital after reelection to designate a monument on his
own, said Ashley Korenblat, president of Western Spirit Cycling in
Moab, a mountain biking town that draws people from around the world.
-- Dave Webb
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