By David Grant Long

U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, who promised last spring to provide additional protections for the Anasazi ruins on 165,000 acres of BLM lands in western Montezuma County, has been urged to do little or nothing of the sort by Colorado’s two senators and Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Grand Junction).

At least not without the blessings of Congress as well as state and local officials.

"Strong local opposition has developed to any (national) monument designations or, in fact, to any federally mandated change in the current management of the southwestern area of Colorado," Babbitt was informed Thursday in a letter signed by McInnis as well as Republican senators Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Wayne Allard.

"We believe the Congress and the public have the right to participate in the declaration of national monuments on federal lands and also to have their concerns respected," they added.

After Babbitt’s visit to the Anasazi Culture Multiple-use Area of Critical Concern (ACEC) in May, a series of public meetings was held in Cortez this summer by a BLM advisory group to gather reaction to Babbitt’s purposefully vague proposal, and to forward any suggestions as to how this added protection might best be accomplished.

The apparent options discussed at the meetings included elevating the lands to national-monument status -- overseen by either the BLM or National Park Service -- imposing more stringent use regulations with no change in status, or providing the BLM with more resources to enforce the existing regulations.

A report distilled from that process, during which considerable opposition to any more regulations was expressed, was then presented to Babbitt at low-profile meeting at the Anasazi Heritage Center in August, but a written response to that report promised by the secretary hasn’t yet materialized.

"We believe the Southwest Resource Advisory Council (RAC) has been very clear in stating its conclusion that the current management status of the southwest region can adequately address the areas’ needs and concerns," McInnis declared.

Repeated calls to Babbitt’s office Friday elicited no informed response. A spokesman said the secretary had probably not received the letter yet, since he was in Colorado at a greenbelt ceremony in Wheatridge yesterday.

However, the Montezuma County Commission has endorsed the thrust of the advisory group’s report, according to Mike Preston, the county’s federal-lands coordinator.

"They’re supportive of the consensus that was developed through that working-group process," Preston said yesterday, "and they are doing what they can to encourage Secretary Babbitt and the Congressional delegation to work toward a solution that fits that consensus."

The legislators’ missive also referred to President Clinton’s abrupt declaration of the Grand Staircase/Escalante area in southeast Utah as a national monument just before the 1996 election and cautioned against any such precipitous action here.

"Our fellow Coloradoans do not want to face an experience similar to (that) heavy-handed federal action," the letter asserted.