Access to Zion Narrows ‘for sale’?
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Private landowner posts ‘no trespassing’ in world-famous route; hiking permits discontinued https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2018/09/26/private-landowner-pos...
No trespassing signs appeared this weekend. "Resort potential!"
Zinke was there Monday looking at the need for funding improvements. https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2018/09/24/interior-secretary-ryan/
In related good news, the federal lawsuits filed by conservation groups, native tribes, and others contesting the downsizing of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments will stay in DC and not be moved to Utah. https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/09/24/bears-ears-grand/
Also..." Judge Chutkan .... ordered the government to notify the plaintiffs within 48 hours of any “ground-disturbing activities” with the original boundaries. The plaintiffs had told the court they worried the Interior Department, which manages the lands, would approve mining or drilling operations that would permanently scar the landscape before the case could be decided."
And there's the latest environmental round-up from Utah. Now back to regular programming.
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Strangha
Hmmmm. Sorry. Try this link
Hmmmm. Sorry. Try this link for the Narrows story. https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2018/09/26/private-landowner-posts/
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Fucked up shit. Hopefully
Fucked up shit. Hopefully they can hold on until their is a shift in policy.
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A righteous administration
A righteous administration would be trying to purchase the land.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Strangha
Looks like the family has a
Looks like the family has a beef with the feds as to the value of an easement through the property they've owned for 50 years. They've been negotiating with the feds for a few years and when the Forest Service rejected the third-party appraisal of the property, the signs were the reaction. Some complications with Utah law on the easement as well and as to whether it would apply here.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2018/09/27/property-owner-zion/
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Access again until at least
Good news. Access again until at least the end of the year. New appraisal being done.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2018/09/29/zion-national-park-re...
From the article:
Scott Bulloch, who owns the property, told The Salt Lake Tribune that he wants hikers to be able to cross his family’s land in the Narrows and wants the federal government to own or at least hold easements on his 880-acre parcel — but federal regulations over land appraisals appeared to be getting in the way of that.
For the past few years, Bulloch and his sons have been negotiating an acquisition with the feds, who he contends are lowballing the property. Out of frustration, the family posted the controversial signs, which also announce the property is for sale.
Triggering that move was the federal government’s rejection of a third-party appraisal, commissioned by the nonprofit organization Trust for Public Land. The findings of the trust’s Park City-based appraiser are confidential, but he says he conducted a legitimate appraisal.
The Forest Service, which is overseeing the proposed transaction, rejected the appraisal because it used comparables the agency argues inflated the value of land with limited development potential. Another appraisal is in the works.
Zion is saddled with 3,000 acres of private inholdings, complicating management for the park service. Its boundaries do not cover critical access points for some of the park’s amazing places, including Orderville and Parunuweap canyons.