The
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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, November 19, 2015
Escalante’s Emergency Drill Evaluation: What Worked Well and What Didn’t
Issue # 1125
Parowan Young Women Enthused by Hole-in-the-Rock Venture
Part of a series by the Escalante Preparedness Committee by Karen Munson
ESCALANTE - “Your body can’t go where your mind hasn’t been.” That’s what Shannon replied when she accepted the assignment to be a block captain. Wow. It immediately struck me as profound with wide general applications. She was quoting an emergency presenter who had recently trained Interagency employees. “Your body can’t go where your mind hasn’t been.” It bears repeating. That is exactly why we set up an emergency drill for Escalante on October 26th. Overall we feel it was a grand success. Our goal was to test our system of giving and getting information as quickly as possible to and from Escalante citizens, and it accomplished that. We anticipated gaps and were eager to find and fix them. Within minutes of sending the emergency message at 6:00 pm to the committee members who would then contact their respective block captains, Es-
calante Preparedness Committee member Ron Rogers found a gap. One committee member didn’t acknowledge. The text didn’t get to her until 9:11 p.m. Ron simply tried another method and called her on her landline and she was able to activate her block captains. The scenario Ron came up with was very feasible. A 6.8 earthquake shook Richfield which sent us aftershocks of 6.0 to Escalante. The old red brick pioneer homes were unstable; some collapsed. The quake compromised one of the tanks on Hwy. 12 that holds a toxic gas so the highway was closed for an indefinite time and the rain saturated hill above the town’s water source slid, taking out some of the water lines to the town so no drinking water. A similar quake did indeed happen 21 years ago. The results weren’t the same, but this event is possible, perhaps even probable, eventually. The next challenge was that some block captains did not fully understand their re-
sponsibility of when to go, who to contact, and who to report to. This was due to the accelerated recruiting process. Two months ago as we refined the phone tree, it became evident we needed more volunteers, many more volunteers. During that last week I personally recruited about 30 block captains. The optimal phone tree has 3-7 members on each level. Some of our “branches” had 12 people, way too many for quick and efficient communication. As a result, the final recruiting process lacked time for full training. All block captains and anyone else willing to help in this process will have training in February. Please contact Karen Munson or Ron Rogers if you would like to be included in that training. Despite a lack of training, three committee members reported a 90% contact rate, others reported 83%, 70%, 40% and three were out of town Emergency Drill Cont'd on page 2
Blackburn Recreation & Supply Offers Local Source of Quality ATV, Hunting Gear and More
Courtesy Jerry Roundy
Left to right: Karlee Wood; Mia Townsend; Shelbey Townsend; Jerry Roundy, Escalante Center Board Chairman; Robin Stowell; Danni Horton; Briann Horton.
PAROWAN - During the summer of 2015 the Young Women of the Parowan First Ward, under the tutelage of Young Womens’ President Kacey Stowell and Sue Bassett, began studying Parowan’s participitation in the epic journey through Hole-in-the-Rock that resulted in the settlement of the Bluff area in south eastern Utah. Later in the summer the young women traveled to Escalante and visited the Escalante Heritage/Hole-in-the-Rock Center where volunteers Clem and Joyoce Griffin and Camille Shakespear spoke to them, and gave them added information about the Hole-in-the-Rock epoisode as well as giving them further information regarding the early settlement of Escalante. The girls were deeply impressed with what the Escalante Center is doing to preserve the history and decided they wanted to do something to help, so they organized a yard sale to raise money for the Center. When the people of Parawan learned what they were doing they all contributed generously to the sale. A total of $372.00 was raised. The Escalante Heritage Center is deeply appreciative to the Young Women and the citizens of Parowan. —Jerry Roundy
Christmas Tree Permits Available on the Dixie National Forest
Cut your own tree this year.
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Kade Blackburn of Blackburn Recreation & Supply shows off the gear in his favorite department. BICKNELL – Yet another venture was launched from the to what other businesses in the new business has opened just desire to provide ATV parts and county offer,” said Blackburn, this year in Bicknell, with the services to Wayne Countians, who oversees management of construction and opening of and that other recreation items the store. Blackburn Recreation & Sup- offered by the store followed Blackburn Recreation ofply. on from that—with the store fers a wide assortment of ATV The “offspring” of M&D specializing in ATV and hunting parts and supplies—mostly Auto, the business is located gear, and other outdoor sports for Honda and Polaris, as well right next to M&D in a brand supplies and farm and recreation as ATV tires. “We have lots of new building off of Hwy 24, supplies and tools. maintenance parts so people and, along with M&D, is “We built the store because don’t have to go to Richfield,” also owned by Michael and we could see that people needed said Blackburn. Kade Blackburn. Bicknellians ATV parts and stuff around here, Scouting the nicely orgawatched as the building sprout- and the other things came along nized aisles of merchandise, ed from the ground over last with that—we added the camp- there is a wide assortment of winter and spring, and the offi- ing supplies, sporting goods, other gear, including tents and cial store opening was on June 6 fishing and guns and ammo and sleeping bags, back packs and of this year. farm supplies. We’ve tried to camel backs, and a lot more. Kade Blackburn says the add something a little different A real draw to the store, in addition to ATV supplies, is the assortment of hunting gear,
REGIONAL WEATHER FORECAST FOR SOME BUT NOT ALL REGIONS REPRESENTED IN OUR NEWSPAPER COVERAGE AREA
THURS. NOV. 19 - WED. NOV. 25 WINTER - SORT OF. Forecast is for mostly sun this week, highs in the low 50s, lows in the high teens to low 20s. Clouds moving in Tuesday and Wednesday with temps dropping slightly and a slight chance of snow/rain.
Blackburn Recreation Cont'd on page 2
CEDAR CITY - Getting ready for the holidays? Bring some nature inside this holiday season! This year unplug the family from electronics and take a walk in the woods to cut your Christmas tree on the Dixie National Forest. For many this annual tradition of Christmas tree cutting conjures up images of kids bundled in snowsuits while sipping on hot chocolate as the family locates the perfect tree to fill their home with the fresh smell of pine. Whether tree cutting is already a family tradition or you are ready to start a new tradition of cutting the Christmas tree on the Dixie National Forest, you will need to obtain a permit. Permits for trees up to ten feet can be purchased for $10, and permits for trees above ten feet can be purchased for $20. “Receipts from this special forest program go back into a local fund that directly benefits recreation users on
Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground. —David Icke
Courtesy USFS
the Dixie National Forest,” said Dixie National Forest Public Affairs Officer, Marcia Gilles. Need more incentive to get the family out and cut a tree? In support of the national Every Kid in a Park initiative, the Dixie National Forest will offer one free Christmas tree cutting permit to fourth graders who present a valid paper or durable Every Kid in a Park pass. The limited number of free permits are good for trees under 12-feet and the fourth grader must be present with the parent at the time the permit is issued. The Every Kid in a Park pass can be obtained at www.EveryKidinaPark. gov. Print out the voucher and bring into any Dixie National Forest office location for the free tree permit. Special regulations dictate what types of trees can be cut in different areas of the forest. “For instance, on Cedar Mountain it is legal to cut white fir, subalpine fir, pinion,
and juniper. On the Powell and Escalante Ranger Districts, all tree species except bristlecone pine can be taken,” said Gilles. Permits are available at all Dixie National Forest Offices – St. George, Cedar City, Panguitch and Escalante – and through partner vendors, including, Ace Hardware in Cedar City, Boulder Exchange in Boulder, Clarke’s Market in Tropic, Antimony Merc in Antimony, Cottam’s Canyon Country in Escalante, DASIA at St. George Interagency Office, and Veyo Mercantile in Veyo. However, the 4th grade free tree permits are only available at Forest offices. A few things to remember when cutting your perfect tree • Christmas tree permit pricing: $10 for a tree up to 10 feet tall and $20 for a tree up to 20 feet tall • Five Christmas tree permits are allowed per household—for personal use only. • Trees must be cut within designated cutting areas. Cutting area maps are included with the permit. • Trees may be cut until December 24. There are no refunds on Christmas tree permits. • Tags, which come with the permit, should be attached to the tree when it is cut. • Tree Stumps should be left no higher than six inches, and any branches left on
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Permits
Cont'd on page 3 PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID RICHFIELD, UTAH PERMIT No. 122