The Wayne & Garfield County Insider August 15, 2019

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The

Insider

Serving Wayne & Garfield Counties, Utah

Loa • Fremont • Lyman • Bicknell • Teasdale • Torrey • Grover • Fruita • Caineville • Hanksville Panguitch • Panguitch Lake • Hatch • Antimony • Bryce • Tropic • Henrieville • Cannonville • Escalante • Boulder

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Rock Hall Garage Sale Roundup by Bonnie Mangold

TEASDALE - It appears that Rock Hall is the consensus name for our historic Teasdale red-rock hall that has had the monikers of Amusement Hall, Dance Hall and Cultural Hall during its century of existence. Rock Hall seems appropriate at this point in time as it describes the building itself rather than its past functions. The hope for our time is of course for it to be versatile and inclusive in its uses. All are welcome to use the hall for varied events. So until further notice, Rock Hall it is. To follow up on Janice King Schiefelbine’s thoughtful Op-Ed from the August 1st Insider, the truly amazing garage sale at the Rock Hall turned out to be an enormous success. I say amazing because I have never seen a non-commercial sale of this magnitude. The hall was filled with items displayed on Rock Hall

Cont'd on page 5

Issue # 1320

by Veronica Egan

Insider

One of five raptor vertebrae Dr. Joe Sertich, the curator of Dinosaurs at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and his team have recovered from the field. Sertich recently gave a lecture, New Dinosaur Discoveries of GSENM, in Escalante on August 8. ESCALANTE - The Bureau of Land Management hosted the latest installment of the Grand Staircase Escalante Partners' Community Lecture Series, New Dinosaur Discoveries of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, at the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center on August 8. Lecturer Dr. Joe Sertich, is the Curator of Dinosaurs at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. His focus, among oth-

ers, is on ecosystems during the Late Cretaceous period. Sertich discussed in his talk that there are five major dinosaur fossil supersites in the American West and stated that his goal was to convince the audience that, "Grand Staircase should be the sixth supersite, the sixth place where you would go in the Rocky Mountain West if you wanted to make major dinosaur discoveries." So far, there have been

Climate Change Will Mean More Multiyear Snow Droughts in the West by Adrienne Marshall, Postdoctoral Fellow in Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Sciences, University of Idaho, The Conversation

A valuable resource: Snowpack on Oregon’s Mt. Hood. WESTERN U.S. - As an environmental scientist, I’ve done plenty of hiking in the western U.S. – always with a map, water bottle and list of water sources. In dry areas it’s always smart to ration water until you get to a new source. Sometimes a stream has dried up for the season, or a pond is too scummy to drink from, so your supply has to stretch further than planned. On one memorable hike, I found that a water source was dry. The next one, three miles later, was dry too. And the one after that had a dead bear carcass in it. While one dry water source was tolerable, several in a row created a serious problem. Something similar is happening to snow resources in the western United States. Scientists have long known that the warming temperatures associated with climate change are diminishing the

Wayne County Commission August 5

Dr. Joe Sertich Discusses New GSENM Dinosaur Discoveries at the Latest GSEP Community Lecture Series

region’s snowpack, with more precipitation falling as rain, rather than snow. That’s a problem because snowpack is a critical resource, acting as a natural reservoir that stores winter precipitation. In a newly published study, my colleagues John Abatzoglou, Timothy Link, Christopher Tennant and I analyze year-to-year variations of future snowpack to see how frequently western states can expect multiple years in a row of snow drought, or very low snow. We find that if climate change continues relatively unabated, consecutive years with snow drought conditions will become much more common, with impacts on cities, agriculture, forests, wildlife and winter sports. Snow droughts affect ecoystems and people Snowpack is a critical resource in the western U.S. and Canada. Snow melts and

REGIONAL WEATHER FORECAST FOR SOME BUT NOT ALL REGIONS REPRESENTED IN OUR NEWSPAPER COVERAGE AREA

THURS. AUGUST 15 - WED. AUGUST 21

The monsoons seem to have abated for now, and this week we are in for mostly sunny skies, with a slight chance of rain on Tuesday and Wednesday. Highs will be in the mid 80s; lows in the upper 40s and 50s. Chance of precip is 10%.

USDA NRCS/Spencer Miller

runs off in spring and summer, when cities, farms and forests need water. It supports aniSnow Droughts

nine named dinosaurs over the past decade from the Kaiparowits formation alone, and he states that they could double that number once their more recent discoveries have been prepped and analyzed. For more information on the Community Lecture Series or volunteering with the Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument Paleontology lab, visit gsenm. org. —Insider

BLM Seeks Public Comment on Utah Test and Training Range Land Exchange

SALT LAKE CITY The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah State Office will release for public review and comment an Environmental Assessment (EA) for a proposed land exchange between the BLM and the State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. The exchange is directed by the Land Exchange Cont'd on page 8

WAYNE COUNTY Commissioners Blackburn, Harward and Wood were present. The first agenda item was a discussion of the placement of community trash bins on Donkey Flat Road outside of Teasdale. This was the third time this subject was discussed in 3 meetings. Resident Ron Remigi had earlier objected to the new area created for the containers, stating that the “pad” and containers encroached upon the eastern boundary of his property, and he wanted them and the pad removed. Brian Swanson, a resident of the Donkey Flat neighborhood, outlined the concerns of the roughly 25 households on the road. Included in the concerns were the new location of the site, which is closer to the Teasdale Road and consequently being

used by many non-residents which causes the bins to overflow in a few days creating an objectionable situation, and the decrepit condition of the current plastic containers. The residents offered a list of possible remedies including finding another, less visible site, the county providing new bins or a dumpster, and more frequent collections. Many of the residents chimed in, providing input on all three issues. Finally, the county's trash truck driver, Bruce Johnson said he could provide a much larger, dumpster-type container, called a roll-off, which could be placed in a different location, to be determined. What remains is to determine a suitable location, which will Wayne Commission Cont'd on page 4

Boulder Planning Commission August 8 by Tessa Barkan

BOULDER - At the August Boulder Town Council meeting, Zoning Administrator Curtis Oberhansly provided information about current building codes and permits to enhance public understanding. These codes and permits exist to protect the safety of the town and residents, for example preventing electrical fires. It is the town’s duty to enforce these provisions, so when codes are not enforced it is a liability. The ordinance states that permits are required for all buildings except for any building with a value under $1,000, as well as agricultural buildings in GMU areas that are unoccupied, used explicitly for agricultural purposes and do not have plumbing or electric. Members of the public are encouraged to contact

the Town Clerk to find out about the appropriate permits for any building projects. A public hearing then took place about the Sugarloaf Valley Farm Conditional Use application. No comments were made. The Commission then discussed the application. A request was made that section 1-6 of the Short Term Rental ordinance be adopted into the Conditional Use Permit (CUP), which addresses a number of points including requiring that contact information for a property manager as well as local contacts for emergencies are available. The Commission voted to approve the CUP. Boulder Planning Cont'd on page 3

Sunset from the Bryce Firehouse

Cont'd on page 4

Area Agency on Aging-Five County Wants Seniors' Voices to be Heard CEDAR CITY - The Area Agency on Aging has arranged for elected officials and policy makers to come together on August 27, 2019 from 2:00 - 4:00 PM at the Cedar City Senior Center to discuss key issues related to aging in Southern Utah. This free event will provide a venue for area Senior’s to share experiences and learn about current legislative issues. The Senior population Senior Voices Cont'd on page 7

Robert Pearson

"Summer at the Ruby Inn employee RV park. Besides the usual photo ops, I have been taking photos of other features of this fantastic area. Southern Utah is more than pretty piles of rocks." —Robert Pearson, Full-time RV, Last residence Seattle, WA. This photo was taken by Robert Pearson for The Insider photo contest. So many great photos were submitted, that we decided to highlight all of our favorites over the coming weeks. Thanks to all who participated! Keep them coming. We may feature yours in a future issue!

Knowledge is like underwear. It is useful to have it, but not necessary to show it off. —Bill Murray

ALL content for THE WAYNE & GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER must be submitted by FRIDAY AT NOON to be included in the following Thursday edition of the paper.

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PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID RICHFIELD, UTAH PERMIT No. 122


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