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I'm quite surprised not to see a discussion thread here on MJR about the Greater Canyonlands National Monument proposal. Many of us here on MJR have visited Moab and the surrounding areas, and probably hold it in the same high regard that we do our own backyard trails in the SBNF.
There has been a long, long, long thread on this on ExPo, which I would encourage you not to bother reading as a lot of it is just silly, but there has been some good solid info posted. Here is a link to the full thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...ional-Monument
More about the proposal:
"Yesterday, 40 Utah businesses joined 60 national outdoor brands in calling for the creation of “Greater Canyonlands,” a 1.4-million acre federal wildland surrounding Canyonlands National Park. This was no idle call to action: They put dollar signs behind their request to the White House. Not only do these companies add $42.5 million to the twice-annual Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake each year, but their letter cites data from the Western Governors’ Association showing that outdoor recreation in the West equals almost $256 billion annually and supports 2.3 million jobs. Ashley Korenblat, president of Western Spirit Cycling in Moab, joined a chorus of voices fighting for the tourism and outdoor businesses in the Beehive State: “The outdoor industry can’t just sit back and hope the conservation community will take care of it all. This is about jobs. If we start taking away pieces of the world-class setting around Moab, it will impact our economy…this whole thing is based on the assumption that the public lands are going to be worth visiting.” This latest salvo is part of a larger push to draw attention to Utah Governor Gary Herbert’s attempts to reclaim more than 30 million acres of federally controlled public lands. The list of signers includes nationally known brands including Patagonia, Camelbak, Eastern Mountain Sports, and prAna, plus Utah-owned businesses such as Black Diamond, Backcountry.com, Petzl, Rim Tours, Moab Cliffs and Canyons, and Canyon Voyages Adventure Co." via The Adventure Journal
Here is a direct link to the letter from the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), signed and endorsed by companies like Outdoor Research, Peak, Jetboil, etc...
http://www.suwa.org/wp-content/uploa...lersLetter.pdf
Many of you probably know Olaf Kilthau, who is very active with the Cleveland National Forest to our south, an active participant and leader in the San Diego Land Rover club, and the managing owner of Area BFE in Moab. He recently posted an excellent post in that ExPo thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...02#post1246002
In Olaf's statement, he linked to a fantastic Rebuttal to the OIA's proposal, based on some impressive credentials. (written by Lynn Jackson, who has lived and worked in southeastern Utah since 1964, in Carbon, Wayne and Grand counties, and was a geologist, supervisor and manager for the Bureau of Land Management in Hanksville and Moab for 32 years, retiring in 2010) Here is the rebuttal article: http://sagebrushcoalition.com/2012/1...ds-nm/#more-97
For comparison, here is the Proposal published by the nutjobs at SUWA (motto: "Close it all so no one can enjoy it!"):
http://action.suwa.org/site/DocServe...df?docID=11127
There has been a long, long, long thread on this on ExPo, which I would encourage you not to bother reading as a lot of it is just silly, but there has been some good solid info posted. Here is a link to the full thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...ional-Monument
More about the proposal:
"Yesterday, 40 Utah businesses joined 60 national outdoor brands in calling for the creation of “Greater Canyonlands,” a 1.4-million acre federal wildland surrounding Canyonlands National Park. This was no idle call to action: They put dollar signs behind their request to the White House. Not only do these companies add $42.5 million to the twice-annual Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake each year, but their letter cites data from the Western Governors’ Association showing that outdoor recreation in the West equals almost $256 billion annually and supports 2.3 million jobs. Ashley Korenblat, president of Western Spirit Cycling in Moab, joined a chorus of voices fighting for the tourism and outdoor businesses in the Beehive State: “The outdoor industry can’t just sit back and hope the conservation community will take care of it all. This is about jobs. If we start taking away pieces of the world-class setting around Moab, it will impact our economy…this whole thing is based on the assumption that the public lands are going to be worth visiting.” This latest salvo is part of a larger push to draw attention to Utah Governor Gary Herbert’s attempts to reclaim more than 30 million acres of federally controlled public lands. The list of signers includes nationally known brands including Patagonia, Camelbak, Eastern Mountain Sports, and prAna, plus Utah-owned businesses such as Black Diamond, Backcountry.com, Petzl, Rim Tours, Moab Cliffs and Canyons, and Canyon Voyages Adventure Co." via The Adventure Journal
Here is a direct link to the letter from the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), signed and endorsed by companies like Outdoor Research, Peak, Jetboil, etc...
http://www.suwa.org/wp-content/uploa...lersLetter.pdf
Many of you probably know Olaf Kilthau, who is very active with the Cleveland National Forest to our south, an active participant and leader in the San Diego Land Rover club, and the managing owner of Area BFE in Moab. He recently posted an excellent post in that ExPo thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...02#post1246002
In Olaf's statement, he linked to a fantastic Rebuttal to the OIA's proposal, based on some impressive credentials. (written by Lynn Jackson, who has lived and worked in southeastern Utah since 1964, in Carbon, Wayne and Grand counties, and was a geologist, supervisor and manager for the Bureau of Land Management in Hanksville and Moab for 32 years, retiring in 2010) Here is the rebuttal article: http://sagebrushcoalition.com/2012/1...ds-nm/#more-97
For comparison, here is the Proposal published by the nutjobs at SUWA (motto: "Close it all so no one can enjoy it!"):
http://action.suwa.org/site/DocServe...df?docID=11127
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