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<br />rJ!)J1G~ <br /> <br />RECOMMENDED ADDITIONS <br /> <br />It is recommended that lands totaling 4,580 acres, as shown on Exhibit <br />B, be added to the proposed wilderness unit. <br /> <br />The added lands include the management zone shown in the <br />preliminary wilderness proposal. It is believed that actions needed for <br />the health and safety of the wilderness travelers, or for the protection <br />of the wilderness area, utilizing the minimum tool, equipment or <br />structure necessary, may take place within the wilderness. A major <br />portion of the monument boundary is fenced to protect the resources <br />from damage by trespass grazing of domestic livestock. The shifting <br />sands make fence maintenance a frequent and often extensive job. <br />Since the most effective and feasible way of performing this protective <br />maintenance is by means of an over-the-sand motorized vehicle, a <br />special provision in the designating legislation is recommended to <br />permit the continuation of this activity in the wilderness zone <br />immediately inside the monument boundary. <br /> <br />Also included in the addition are lands that extend eastward from the <br />wilderness, as close as possible to Medano Creek, except where the <br />lands bordering the creek are developed or are in private ownership. <br /> <br />POTENTIAL WILDERNESS ADDITIONS <br /> <br />Four additional tracts of private land, totaling 670 acres, are proposed <br />as potential wilderness. to be added to the wilderness unit upon their <br />acquisition by the National Park Service. A special provision is <br />recommended for inclusion in the legislation establishing wilderness at <br />Great Sand Dunes National Monument, giving the Secretary of the <br />Interior the authority to designate these lands as wilderness when he <br />determines that they qualify. 12. <br /> <br />OTHER AREAS RECONSIDERED <br /> <br />Suggestions were received that recommended wilderness designation for <br />34,000 acres within the monument, as indicated in Exhibit D. <br />Specifically, there were suggestions by those recommending an enlarged <br />National Park Service wilderness proposal that the Medano jeep road be <br />closed and that the proposed one-way motor nature road north of the <br />Pinyon Flat Campground not be constructed. There were further <br />suggestions that wi Iderness in the monument be extended down to <br />