WSP09988 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

. WILDERNESS REVIEW DEADLINE NEARS Conservationists across the country are urging President Nixon to issue an executive order which would protect wild lands in the public domain after the 1974 expiration of the Wilderness Act. In the seven years since the passage of the Act calling for review of pUblic lands to determine their wilderness character, agencies involved in the study have pro- gressed very slowly in cataloguing the wild areas under their jurisdictions. Of the 55 lil; 11; on acres whi ch were to be rev; ewed by 1974, only 10 million have so far been adcted to the Wilderness System, It seems unlikely that the remaining 40 million acres can be completely studied and recommendations for action on their proposed status be presented to Con9ress by 1974 when their protection from the loggers, road builders and developers will run out. Many conservationists feel that the Forest Service in particular has deliberately gone slow in holding public hearings on the lands it controls with the hope that delaying tactics will prevent wilderness status from locking up timber resources. The draft executive order also provides protection for de facto wilderness areas which were not covered at all in the 1964 Wilderness Act. Interim protection would be given to previously unclassified areas which appear to have a wilderness character until the President and Congress have decided on the suitability of the wilderness designation. Progress on Colorado areas has been good, con- trary to the national trend, and both conservationists and Forest Service representatives are hopeful that all areas will be reviewed by the 1974 deadline. RECREATION AREA FOR SAWTOOTH FAVORED Hearin9s were held June 7 and 8 on H,R,6957, a bill to establish a r~ational Recreation Area in the Sawtooth-White Clouds area of Central Idaho, The Idaho Congressional delegation has introduced the bill which calls for the establishment of a re 1 at i ve 1y sma 11 rec rea ti on a rea. ra ther than the 1.4 million-acre national park concept I....hich is favored by some conservationists. One danger some see in H,R, 6957 is that it would not affect existing mining claims. Several companies contem- plate future open pit operations in the area. At the June hearings, however. many conserva- tionists testified in favor of the bill. They feel that it would give some degree of protection to the area immediately while the National Park Service is preparing a proposal for giving park status to the region. The bi 11 provides a five-year moratorium on location and entry of new mining claims, and it subjects operations on existing clalms to regula- tion by the uepartments of Agriculture and Interior. In addition. this bill appears to have a good chance of passing both the House and Senate. Legislation proposed in previous years has always stalled in the House. STATUS REPORT He 11 s Canyon Governors of Idaho. Washington and Oregon join conservationists to protest possible construction of dams on Snake River; Senate has approved bill prohibiting dams for 7 years. -3- . Glenwood 1-70 Colorado Division of Highways pub- lishes draft environmental statement analyzing impact of construction On canyon and Cottonwood Pass routes. Copies may be examined at ROMCOE, Highway Division headquarters in Denver and Glenwood Springs, and Garfield, Ea91e, Pitkin County court- houses. Comments on statement are due at Division office in Grand Junction (606 5, Ninth Street) by Nov, 30. Date of public hearing in late fall not set. 1 99 Nevada State Board of Health refuses to allow Colorado River standards variance for Marina Vegas development. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN COLORADO GETS FEDERAL BOOST The Master Advisory Plannin9 Council (HAPC) has re- ceived a $40,800 9rant from the U,S, 1ffice of Educa' tion for the purpose of developing a master,plan for Colorado environmental and ecologicill education. Mari na Vegas MAPC, an informally structured group organized in ;.lay of this year to apply for the grant, has members representi ng many segments of Colorado soc; ety although attempts are underway to get broader geo- graphical representation. While t~APC retains con- trol of the funds and will have an advisory and re- vie\....ing function, the actual plan preparation ';/ill be done by a staff under the supervision of the Center for Research and Education (CRE), CRE worked with the Colorado Oepartment of Education (COE) during 1970 in developing the preliminary environmental education concept on which the MAPC grant application was based. ROMCOE assisted CRE and COE in the or9anization of MAPC, Richard Raccio assumed the duties of Project Oirector on August 1, The CRE office is at 2150 S. Bellaire Street in Denver. The first job of the staff will be to establish a network of contacts throughout the state and to make an inventory of envi ronrnenta 1 educati on opportuni ti es tha tal reaJy exist. The aim of the state master plan is to outline ways by which environmental education can be made a part of the traditional education system as well as of the informal education process which takes place out- side of the academic community. Upon completion of the master plan and approval of it by r~APC in the sprin9 of 1972, attempts will be made to get state and federal funding for its implementation. Other grants made in the Rocky Mountain region were: (1) $50,000 to the Social Science Education Consortium of Boulder. Colorado for curriculum development; (2) $18,000 to the Falls Creek Environmental Education I Foundation in Missoula, Montana for community environ- mental education; (3) $3,000 to the College of Idaho in Caldwell for curriculum development; and (4) $7,000 to the Wyoming Cornmi ttee for Community Environmental Awareness and Act;on, Division of Adult Education of the University of Wyoming in Laramie for dissemination of information. The 1972 appropriation for the Environmental Educa- tion Act is $3.5 million. The "Handbook on Preparing Proposals" to assist applicants for grants in 1972 may be obtained from the Office of Environmental Educa- tion. Office of Priority Management, Office of Educa- tion, Washington, D,C. 20202, The deadline for sub- mission of proposals will be announced in the fall. Two thousand applications were submitted in 1971, and 71 were approved.