--- D.Burn@m.cc.utah.edu wrote:
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 17:07:53 -0700 From: D.Burn@m.cc.utah.edu Subject: (astro) Star Party Possible this Wednesday! To: astro@physics.utah.edu
The last 6 Wednesday nights have been raining, snowing, and/or cloudy so no star parties have taken place in about 7 weeks. Tommorrow might be different. It is "supposed" to be mostly clear. If it is we will enjoy the approaching Winter Sky from 6 pm to 8 pm at the South Physics Observatory. Tony Pantziris is bringing pizza so come and enjoy!
Pizzaly,
Dan Burn Dave Pawlowski Jason Sills www.utah.edu/astro
----- End forwarded message -----
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The Price BLM is writing the Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the BLM lands in that area. The Wedge Overlook is in this area, as is the whole area around the Wedge. You may have noticed that some areas of the Wedge are now marked as "No Camping" areas. The restrictions seem to be becoming more and more severe, and many roads in the area may be in danger of closing as well. If you would like to see the area stay open for use by folks like us, and others who use motor vehicles to visit the area, please send a letter of comment to the Price BLM stating your desires and use patterns. Ask them to keep the area open and not close roads. Ask them to restore the camping areas we all have used in the past. I am a member of an organization called the Utah Back Country Pilots. As an organization, the UBCP is also writing letters to comment on the new RMP. The UBCP web site has some suggestions and sample letters to help out. These are samples only. Please take the time to pen your own words. Your words are more powerfule than a form letter sent to the Price office. You can see these suggestions and the sample letters at this URL: http://www.utahbackcountrypilots.org/open_mic_frame.asp?menuID=9~9 These letters need to be submitted to the BLM at the following address: Price RMP Floyd Johnson - Assistant Field Office Manager Bureau of Land Management 125 South 600 West Price, UT 84501 435-636-3600 phone comments@pricermp.com You can visit this web site for more info on the Price RMP: http://www.pricermp.com/ The deadline for comment has been extended to around November 25. I am unsure of the exact date, but you will need to get your comments in very soon. You can be assured that the folks who would like to see the area closed are sending their comments in. Let's make our voice heard as well. Brent __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free! http://my.yahoo.com
According to the local sheriff, the restrictions for camping at the wedge are unrelated to the new BLM Resource Management Plan (BLM RMP). The camping restrictions are due to so many more people trying to utilize the wedge, especially for parties, and spreading out over too much of the land. As a result, law enforcement, erosion and dust problems were growing out of hand. The BLM decided to work with the State to shut down the excess camping in the area. This has already happened, and will not be affected by the BLM RMP. If you look carefully at the maps at the BLM website you linked to, and compare them to topographic maps of the area, you will see that the wedge area is still open to vehicles. The restricted (blue) area is an area that encompasses the actual canyon area known as Little Grand Canyon, Virgin Springs Canyon, and the upper two thirds of Saddle Horse Canyon, where there are currently no roads. (at least on the topo maps.) The other goal of this BLM RMP is to restrict the off road vehicle travel to existing roads, and to cut down the number of routes traversing the same area. If you do a careful read, you will see that this particular plan has been worked on pretty thoroughly by a number of groups. While it would be nice to not have any restrictions, the proliferation of irresponsible ORV users has resulted in the necessity of the BLM coming up with a plan stating in writing what we responsible ORV users already know. People are welcome to write anything they want to the BLM on either side of this issue, but I would hate for a campaign to be started that encourages us to write letters complaining about something that is not happening, (the wedge closed), and blaming this plan for the camping restrictions when they are unrelated to this particular BLM RMP. I am in favor of this particular BLM RMP, but I know that some on this group may well be opposed. All I ask is that we each educate ourselves prior to taking a position, so that we, as individual astronomers, come off as an intelligent, thoughtful group. That way, when we start talking about dark skies, we have a history with any and all of the governmental groups, as an organization worth listening too. Jo Grahn At 07:25 PM 11/19/2004 -0800, you wrote:
The Price BLM is writing the Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the BLM lands in that area. The Wedge Overlook is in this area, as is the whole area around the Wedge.
You may have noticed that some areas of the Wedge are now marked as "No Camping" areas. The restrictions seem to be becoming more and more severe, and many roads in the area may be in danger of closing as well. If you would like to see the area stay open for use by folks like us, and others who use motor vehicles to visit the area, please send a letter of comment to the Price BLM stating your desires and use patterns. Ask them to keep the area open and not close roads. Ask them to restore the camping areas we all have used in the past.
I am a member of an organization called the Utah Back Country Pilots. As an organization, the UBCP is also writing letters to comment on the new RMP. The UBCP web site has some suggestions and sample letters to help out. These are samples only. Please take the time to pen your own words. Your words are more powerfule than a form letter sent to the Price office. You can see these suggestions and the sample letters at this URL:
http://www.utahbackcountrypilots.org/open_mic_frame.asp?menuID=9~9
These letters need to be submitted to the BLM at the following address:
Price RMP Floyd Johnson - Assistant Field Office Manager Bureau of Land Management 125 South 600 West Price, UT 84501 435-636-3600 phone comments@pricermp.com
You can visit this web site for more info on the Price RMP:
The deadline for comment has been extended to around November 25. I am unsure of the exact date, but you will need to get your comments in very soon. You can be assured that the folks who would like to see the area closed are sending their comments in. Let's make our voice heard as well.
Brent
Jo, If you read my post carefully, you will notice that I specifically invited people to reply with what their uses of the area are, and NOT complain. I agree that complaints are not what we need to engage in. We do need to let the BLM know of our uses. If you read the instructions on the UBCP site you will notice that an adversarial relationship is DISCOURAGED. To be effective, the letter must be open, friendly, and honest stating the purposes and usage patterns we engage in. It is only through objectivity and a study of the facts that good decisions can be made. --- Josephine Grahn <bsi@xmission.com> wrote:
According to the local sheriff, the restrictions for camping at the wedge are unrelated to the new BLM Resource Management Plan (BLM RMP). The camping restrictions are due to so many more people trying to utilize the wedge, especially for parties, and spreading out over too much of the land. As a result, law enforcement, erosion and dust problems were growing out of hand. The BLM decided to work with the State to shut down the excess camping in the area. This has already happened, and will not be affected by the BLM RMP. If you look carefully at the maps at the BLM website you linked to, and compare them to topographic maps of the area, you will see that the wedge area is still open to vehicles. The restricted (blue) area is an area that encompasses the actual canyon area known as Little Grand Canyon, Virgin Springs Canyon, and the upper two thirds of Saddle Horse Canyon, where there are currently no roads. (at least on the topo maps.) The other goal of this BLM RMP is to restrict the off road vehicle travel to existing roads, and to cut down the number of routes traversing the same area. If you do a careful read, you will see that this particular plan has been worked on pretty thoroughly by a number of groups. While it would be nice to not have any restrictions, the proliferation of irresponsible ORV users has resulted in the necessity of the BLM coming up with a plan stating in writing what we responsible ORV users already know. People are welcome to write anything they want to the BLM on either side of this issue, but I would hate for a campaign to be started that encourages us to write letters complaining about something that is not happening, (the wedge closed), and blaming this plan for the camping restrictions when they are unrelated to this particular BLM RMP.
I am in favor of this particular BLM RMP, but I know that some on this group may well be opposed. All I ask is that we each educate ourselves prior to taking a position, so that we, as individual astronomers, come off as an intelligent, thoughtful group. That way, when we start talking about dark skies, we have a history with any and all of the governmental groups, as an organization worth listening too.
Jo Grahn
At 07:25 PM 11/19/2004 -0800, you wrote:
The Price BLM is writing the Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the BLM lands in that area. The Wedge Overlook is in this area, as is the whole area around the Wedge.
You may have noticed that some areas of the Wedge are now marked as "No Camping" areas. The restrictions seem to be becoming more and more severe, and many roads in the area may be in danger of closing as well. If you would like to see the area stay open for use by folks like us, and others who use motor vehicles to visit the area, please send a letter of comment to the Price BLM stating your desires and use patterns. Ask them to keep the area open and not close roads. Ask them to restore the camping areas we all have used in the past.
I am a member of an organization called the Utah Back Country Pilots. As an organization, the UBCP is also writing letters to comment on the new RMP. The UBCP web site has some suggestions and sample letters to help out. These are samples only. Please take the time to pen your own words. Your words are more powerfule than a form letter sent to the Price office. You can see these suggestions and the sample letters at this URL:
http://www.utahbackcountrypilots.org/open_mic_frame.asp?menuID=9~9
These letters need to be submitted to the BLM at
the
following address:
Price RMP Floyd Johnson - Assistant Field Office Manager Bureau of Land Management 125 South 600 West Price, UT 84501 435-636-3600 phone comments@pricermp.com
You can visit this web site for more info on the Price RMP:
The deadline for comment has been extended to around November 25. I am unsure of the exact date, but you will need to get your comments in very soon. You can be assured that the folks who would like to see the area closed are sending their comments in. Let's make our voice heard as well.
Brent
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Gallery update. I believe I have succesfully moved the gallery to the new (and hopefully) final server. I believe all the permissions and pictures are still intact. If anyone has trouble loggin in or uploading pictures, please let me know! Thanks, Cynthia
participants (5)
-
Brent Watson -
Chuck Hards -
Joe Bauman -
Josephine Grahn -
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